This page lists frequently asked questions (and frequently given answers) for SME 7, problems you may have installing SME7 for the first time or upgrading from SME6.x, including from a modified version of SME6.x

This page is a work in progress, SME7 is still in development. Please submit bugs to the bug tracker first, this page is to be used to document problems that cannot or will not be fixed through development of SME7.

ATTN Docteam Volunteers

These items need to be documented on this FAQ page:
http://bugs.contribs.org/buglist.cgi?product=SME+Server+Documentation&bug_status=__open__&component=FAQ
Please use the title from bugzilla as the heading, summarize the problem/solution suggested in the bug report and provide a link, as has been done for all the other FAQ entries below. Feel free to add a category if needed - Thanks, Greg


FAQ Categories:

Hardware

VGA problem with VIA EPIA board
Once the installer loads the VGA display loses sync and it is impossible to read what is being displayed. There is a workaround, see this bug report for details:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1359718&group_id=96750

SME7 in VMware: clock runs too fast
If you are testing SME Server on VMware, you may notice the clock doen't keep time accurately. See this bug report for details and a possible fix.
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1303401&group_id=96750&atid=615772

D-Link DFE 530TXS rev. A1 Ethernet adaptor not recognized (a.k.a. DL10050, Sundance)
Redhat doesn't support this ethernet adapter, so unfortunatly it won't work with SME7. See the Redhat Bugzilla entry below for more information.
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1359597&group_id=96750&atid=615772
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=154349

Boot failure after install if you have enabled hardware raid
There sometimes seem to be conflicts with the SME Server automatic software raid setup in combination with hardware raid. Disabling the hardware raid in you motherboard or controller card's bios is the suggested fix. See these bug reports for details:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1286560&group_id=96750&atid=615772
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1304784&group_id=96750&atid=615772

Realtek 8169 Ethernet is not recommended
The driver included in Centos 4.1 is out of date and has problems. See this bug listing for details, and please update the bug if you have a solution (ie. updated drivers):
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1293290&group_id=96750&atid=615772

Booting in SMP Mode results in kernel panic with certain hardware
The combination of a 2MB Cache P4 3.0GHZ CPU, and a Giga-byte GA-81848P775-G (Intel 848P chipset) motherboard produces this problem. Other simialar hardware may be affected. If you encounter this problem, see this bug report for a workaround.
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1325350&group_id=96750

Legacy megaraid driver is no longer included
Certain raid cards that worked under SME6, do not work under SME7. Adapters with the following PCI vendor ID and device ID pairs are not supported by the megaraid_mbox driver: vendor, device = 0x101E, 0x9010; 0x101E, 0x9060; 0x8086, 0x1960. The lspci -n command can be used to display the IDs for adapters installed in a particular machine. Products with these IDs are known by (but not limited to) the following model names: Broadcom 5820, Dell PERC (dual-channel fast/wide SCSI) RAID controller, Dell PERC2/SC (single-channel Ultra SCSI) RAID controller, Dell PERC2/DC (dual-channel Ultra SCSI) RAID controller, Dell CERC (four-channel ATA/100) RAID controller, DRAC 1, MegaRAID 428, MegaRAID 466, MegaRAID Express 500, HP NetRAID 3Si and 1M. Both Dell and LSI Logic have indicated that they no longer support these models in the 2.6 kernel. As a result, these adapters are no longer supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 1, upon which SME7 is based. See this bug listing for details, there is an unsupported workaround if needed:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1274199&group_id=96750

aic7xxx driver hangs on installation boot
On some Compaq Proliant servers (specifically an ML370 G2), & possibly others, the aic7xxx driver will hang if there is nothing connected to the adaptor or if it is not terminated correctly. On most Proliants you can tell the BIOS to not allocate an IRQ to the device which effectively disables it; the ML370 G2 uses an AIC-7899 chip on the motherboard. This problem also exists in the CentOS 4.3 base. SME 6.0 loads fine which would seem to indicate that the newer driver in CentOS 4.3 can't handle the older system (this Proliant is probably 5 years old).

Enabling UPS support using NUT
Details of using NUT to drive a UPS can be found here: HomePage.html/APC%20Smart%20UPS and here: http://forums.contribs.org/viewtopic.php?t=32533&start=0 and list of Nut drivers and UPS types here: http://www.networkupstools.org/compat/stable.html

<b>Manual recovery (Raid1) for disks of different size fails

awaiting clarification....

This bug refers:http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6

Installation (not hardware related) & Initial Configuration

Delay after verifying admin password
There is a delay (2-5 seconds) after verifying admin password. This is because we are actually setting the password and checking it at this point. Everything else we wait until the script is done to perform any actions.
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1264659&group_id=96750

Use /server-manager, not /e-smith-manager
In previous versions, both aliases worked, but in SME7 you must use /server-manager to access the server manager.
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1275334&group_id=96750

system cannot be named 'mail', 'ftp' or 'www'
If you choose one of these for the hostmane of your server, the atalk (Appletalk) service will have errors and fail. See these bug listings for details:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1223012&group_id=96750 https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1264588&group_id=96750

No option to create reinstallation disk
There is no option to create a reinstallion disk during installation or later from the Administration section of the server manager.
This is intended, since it required to much effort to keep it up-to-date as kernels change. The CD contains a rescue mode, which is a better environment for fixing problems, and a reinstall followed by a restore of the configuration works well without us supporting another method.
Additionally, the kernel has grown too large for a floppy plus initrd. Even RH installs no longer offer to create a boot floppy at install time.

http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=792

4 disk install - md1 is raid1 and md2 is raid5
Even if you have 4 (or more) disks, which are supported by your motherboard and CentOS, md1 is always set up as a 4 disk raid1. This is, because you can't boot off a raid-5. md1 is the boot partition and must either be non-raid or raid-1. md2 will be set up as a 4 disk raid5 as expected.
http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=759

Upgrades from SME 5.x and 6.x

rpmdb: fatal region error detected
A corrupt rpm database may cause an upgrade form SME6 to SME7 to fail. This should be a rarely seen issue. See this bug listing for details if you encounter this error:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1222353&group_id=96750

IMPORTANT: Remove any contrib rpms incompatible with SME7 installed by an "update script"
If you attempt to upgrade a SME6.0 server with the smeplus.sh "Update Script" to SME7, you will be left with a broken mess. Please see this bug listing for details:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1303356&group_id=96750&atid=615772

Email

Firefox 1.0.x: Webmail columns misaligned from time to time
A bug in Firefox causes the the webmail columns to be misaligned. See this bug listing for details. Upgrading to Firefox 1.5 fixes this problem:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1290681&group_id=96750

How to set spamassassin for automatically deleting junkmail.
You can change the "days" that spamassassin sets to automatically delete junkmail, to do this just type at command line...

db configuration setprop spamassassin MessageRetentionTime 60

Where 60 is the value you want, then do...

signal-event email-update


Originally posted - http://forums.contribs.org/viewtopic.php?t=31213

How to add the admin user as an admin for horde.
You can set up the admin user as an admin for horde. What this does is give you the ability to view the horde config via the webgui. The webgui explains what the settings are actually for. This is helpful if you are developing any of the additional horde addon modules as you can see what the config should look like, then build the default templates based on that output. By default, no user has the ability to update the default configuration files from the web gui. If you want to make a change, you can change it from the gui, then click on generate configuation. You will get an error stating that you could not save the backup configuration file, but the output is still displayed so you can see what the settings should be. To add this function, you will need to create a custom template. Here are the steps to take:

mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/home/httpd/html/horde/config/conf.php
cd /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/home/httpd/html/horde/config/conf.php/
cp /etc/e-smith/templates/home/httpd/html/horde/config/conf.php/120Authentication .
pico -w 120 120Authentication

remove
$conf['auth']['admins'] = array();
and add
$conf['auth']['admins'] = array('admin@{$DomainName}');

expand-template /home/httpd/html/horde/config/conf.php

More /home/httpd/html/horde/config/conf.php to verify your new entry.

Login to webmail as admin. You should have an administration icon on the sidebar. Click setup, then your horde application. You must use the sidebar if you want to use the administration features.

WORD OF CAUTION, DO NOT USE ANY OTHER FEATURE OTHER THAN SETUP AS YOU COULD CAUSE SOME DAMAGE TO YOUR INSTALLATION. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Originally posted - http://www.contribs.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=831

I get "421 per host concurrency limit reached" when I try to send an email using IMAP
Fix is in here... http://forums.contribs.org/viewtopic.php?t=33124&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Backup/Restore

Using a combination of hardware and software compression for tape backup causes errors
You should use only one of software or hardware compression. Doing both may exercise bugs, and won't reduce the size of data on the tape - it is more likely to increase it.
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1276860&group_id=96750

Backup to desktop 4GB limit
As in previous versions of SMEServer, the backup to desktop function has a limit of 4GB. It's not fixable until we know where the limit or limits are. All these components are involved in transferring the backup file, and at least one of them is truncating at 4GB: tar, perl, mod_proxy, apache, TCP stack, browser at desktop end. See this bug listing for details (This bug is still open):
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1206492&group_id=96750

Client Computers

Samba trust relationships lost?
This is a possible bug with an upgrade from SME6. After an upgrade, local workstations cannot log in. If you are experiencing this problem, please have a look at this bug for a fix, and provide followup:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1234009&group_id=96750&atid=615772

Windows XP Clients - Patch to logon to SME domain
To be used as Windows XP clients won't be able to log on to the SME domain
The registry patch is located here:
http://servername/server-resources/regedit/winxplogon.reg
Just double click on the winxplogon.reg file and the settings will be added to the Windows Registry.

Windows 95/98/ME/2000 Clients - How to disable password caching
To be used if you don't want Windows clients to remember password for shared folders on SME.
The registry patch is located here:
http://servername/server-resources/regedit/win98pwdcache.reg
(Says win98, but it is for 95/98/ME/2000)
Just double click on the win98pwdcache.reg file and the settings will be added to the Windows Registry.

LDAP Directory Gives Errors on Outlook 2002 or Outlook 2003
In Outlook 2002 or 2003 when someone tries to find a contact using the LDAP server, a message stating that "Unavailable critical extension" and then a second message saying "The search could not be completed. MAPI_E_CALL_FAIL" shows up and nothing shows up from the search. The directory works beautifully in Thunderbird 1.5 as well as Outlook 2000, but not 2002 or 2003. See: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;555536&sd=rss&spid=2559 Bugzilla Link http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1406

Setting admin rights for users in a Windows domain
If you are using SME Server as a domain controller and the workstations have joined the domain then the following is possible.

The domain always has three groups created, "Domain Admins", "Domain Users", "Domain Guests". These are usually assigned to as follows:

Domain Admins => admin Domain Users => shared (everyone) Domain Guests => nobody

However if you create a group and name it whatever you want but put one of the above for the description then the newly created group will replace the above mapping.

So if you create a group called "admins" and give it a description of "Domain Admins" then anyone you assign to this group will be a domain admin and also a local admin on ANY box that has joined the domain.

Information extracted from here: http://forums.contribs.org/viewtopic.php?t=31009

Databases

How can I access mysql from LAN?
You can use PHPMyAdmin from within an Ibay on the SME box, but you can't connect to Mysql with ODBC connector or Mysql Administrator from the network without config changes. The mysql database daemon is configured by default to accept only local connections (i.e. it is not accessible via the local network or internet).
This is a security precaution, since mysql only requires access from localhost by default installations.

If you wish to enable local network access, execute the following commands on a SME Server shell as root:

/sbin/e-smith/config setprop mysqld LocalNetworkingOnly no
/sbin/e-smith/expand-template /etc/my.cnf
/etc/rc.d/init.d/mysqld restart


This issue is described here:
http://forums.contribs.org/viewtopic.php?p=123869#123869 and is documented in http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=339

Translations

Is it possible to translate the server-manager? If so can it be done in one file, or is it necessary to translate many files?
There is one file per server-manager panel, plus a few others.
I have uploaded the latest translations here:
http://www.contribs.org/contribs/gordonr/smeserver-locale-1.0.0.tar.gz
To translate to another language:

For more information look here:
http://forums.contribs.org/viewtopic.php?t=29298

Firewall/Port Forwarding,Opening,Blocking

How do I configure the firewall?
The server manager is the GUI front end for the firewall. The firewall is modified automatically in response to changes you make in the configuration, such as enabling/disabling services, marking them public/private, forwarding ports, etc.

If you wish to make changes beyond those provided for by the server manager, you can do so by providing custom templates

How do I allow public access to a service I've added to SME7?
The procedure has changed and is now much simpler in SME7. For this example the service you have installed is called 'manta' and 'nnn' is the TCP port number that needs to be opened. Watch your capitalization with the command below:

  config set manta service access public status enabled TCPPort nnn

For UDP services, use UDPPort instead of TCPPort.
Note that you can also set restrictions with AllowHosts and DenyHosts: 

  config setprop manta ~AllowHosts 1.2.3.4,10.11.12.0/24
  config setprop manta ~DenyHosts 16.17.18.18

Then, to activate, do: 

  signal-event remoteaccess-update

Web Applications

Wasn't mod_perl installed in previous versions? How do I install it? It may have been, but it was not used so it is no longer included. If you do want to install it do the following (watch the capitalization on the second line):

yum install mod_perl
config setprop modPerl status enabled
signal-event post-upgrade
signal-event reboot

The directory structure is visible. How do I disable indexes in ibays?
SME 6.0, 6.0.1, and 6.5 all had the following for the ibays/html directory - "Options Indexes Includes". This would indicate that indexes were allowed for html directories. In 7.0 we made this a parameter and defaulted it to enabled to be compatible with < 7.0 installations.

To disable indexes for an ibay in 7.0 do the following: (Be careful to use the exact capitalization)

db accounts setprop //ibayname// Indexes disabled
signal-event ibay-modify //ibayname//

This issue was first reported here:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&aid=1275351&group_id=96750

Password Strength

Users are complaining the password strength checking is too strong. How do I change it?
First a warning - Far too many systems out there have weak passwords and they will be broken into. Educating your users on the necessity of strong passwords is the best option. If that fails, here is how you change the password strength checking from 'strong' to 'normal', which was the setting in previous versions of SME. Be careful to use the exact capitalization.

config setprop passwordstrength Users normal
config setprop passwordstrength Ibays normal

It is also possible, but strongly discouraged, to disable password strength checking:

config setprop passwordstrength Users none
config setprop passwordstrength Ibays none

This issue was first reported here:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=615772&&aid=1228269&group_id=96750

Log Messages

Log message regarding permissions on /var/spool/qpsmtpd/
You may see messages similar to this in your log file:

@400000004326e9472eccc42c 3243 trying to get config for spool_dir
@400000004326e9472ed518fc 3243 Permissions on spool_dir /var/spool/qpsmtpd/ are not 0700

They can be safely ignored. Clamav runs under a different user and needs read access to the spool area to avoid copying the file.
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1314168&group_id=96750&atid=615772