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Strange Error

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J

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Dec 1, 2005, 7:00:22 PM12/1/05
to
I've just put together a new mail server running Redhat Linux 4 and the
bundled up Sendmail included with the server software. I'm seeing an error
in the log that is throwing me a bit. The error has to do with Bad File
Descriptor:

Dec 1 15:57:13 mail sendmail[3376]: jB10b7Ht008703: to=
<scru...@scrubbed.com>, delay=23:19:49, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=esmtp,
pri=229383, relay=mailin-03.mx.aol.com., dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Bad file
descriptor

I've searched for an answer to this but I've come up empty handed.This is
the first time I've come up against this sort of error. I can take one of
the messages and send it directly out using the sendmail -qI<qid>. What
causes this error and how can I fix it?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Tim

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Dec 2, 2005, 12:13:55 AM12/2/05
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On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 00:00:22 +0000, J wrote:

> I've just put together a new mail server running Redhat Linux 4 and the
> bundled up Sendmail included with the server software. I'm seeing an error
> in the log that is throwing me a bit. The error has to do with Bad File
> Descriptor:
>
> Dec 1 15:57:13 mail sendmail[3376]: jB10b7Ht008703: to=
> <scru...@scrubbed.com>, delay=23:19:49, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=esmtp,
> pri=229383, relay=mailin-03.mx.aol.com., dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Bad file
> descriptor
>

Something very wrong with scrubbed.com. Doing a DNS lookup gets:
tim@marvin:~$ dig scrubbed.com ns

; <<>> DiG 9.3.1 <<>> scrubbed.com ns
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 22384
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;scrubbed.com. IN NS

;; ANSWER SECTION:
scrubbed.com. 7200 IN NS ns1.hitfarm.com.
scrubbed.com. 7200 IN NS ns2.hitfarm.com.

;; Query time: 4413 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.13.254#53(192.168.13.254)
;; WHEN: Fri Dec 2 18:10:28 2005
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 74

tim@marvin:~$ dig scrubbed.com mx @ns1.hitfarm.com.

; <<>> DiG 9.3.1 <<>> scrubbed.com mx @ns1.hitfarm.com.
; (1 server found)
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 62458
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;scrubbed.com. IN MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
scrubbed.com. 7200 IN MX 10 nullmx.scrubbed.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
nullmx.scrubbed.com. 7200 IN A 127.0.0.1

;; Query time: 218 msec
;; SERVER: 64.40.102.32#53(64.40.102.32)
;; WHEN: Fri Dec 2 18:10:41 2005
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 69


I suspect that they don't really want to receive *any* email, if they are
advertising the loopback address 127.0.0.1 for their mail server.

It may pay to send an email to the DNS admins at hitfarm.com
(hostm...@hitfarm.com) asking them if the IP address is correct for that
server.

> I've searched for an answer to this but I've come up empty handed.This is
> the first time I've come up against this sort of error. I can take one of
> the messages and send it directly out using the sendmail -qI<qid>. What
> causes this error and how can I fix it?
>
> Thanks in advance for the help!


Tim

J

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Dec 2, 2005, 12:47:56 AM12/2/05
to
Tim <te...@netscape.net> wrote in
news:pan.2005.12.02....@netscape.net:

Sorry, shoulda mentioned I took out the actual address when I posted my
question. It's all different domains that I receive this error for when
I try to send. Anything from AOL to Yahoo. If I send it out
individually, the mail messages tend to go out. Please help!

Rob

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Dec 2, 2005, 4:53:08 AM12/2/05
to
Hi J
I am in the same position, I've got a server with Redhat 4 and Sendmail
and in my mail queue, I have messages stacking up with the error

Deferred: Bad file descriptor

The emails are all TO aol.com addresses.

Apart from that the server is sending email perfectly.

This has only started happening in the last week and I can't figure out
what the problem is

Have you had any luck

Cheers
Rob

Claus Aßmann

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Dec 2, 2005, 10:26:41 AM12/2/05
to
J wrote:
> I've just put together a new mail server running Redhat Linux 4 and the
> bundled up Sendmail included with the server software. I'm seeing an error

Which version?

> in the log that is throwing me a bit. The error has to do with Bad File
> Descriptor:

If you have a version older than 8.13.5: upgrade.

If you have 8.13.5: is the problem reproduceable? If so, please give
more details how you get this error. Note: sometimes this is "just" a
bogus error message (as the error code (errno) isn't always cleared),
but sometimes sendmail 8 doesn't deal with all "wierd" ways how the
SMTP dialogue can be "broken". See the release notes for examples.

--
Note: please read the netiquette before posting. I will almost never
reply to top-postings which include a full copy of the previous
article(s) at the end because it's annoying, shows that the poster
is too lazy to trim his article, and it's wasting the time of all readers.

J

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Dec 2, 2005, 1:24:34 PM12/2/05
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Claus Aßmann
<ca+sendmail(-no-copies-please)@mine.informatik.uni-kiel.de> wrote in
news:dmpp3h$r66$1...@obelix.informatik.uni-kiel.de:

Thanks Claus, I installed the newest version of Sendmail (8.13.5) and
I'm watching it. So far it seems to be working fine. If I have any more
problems I will post again. Thanks!

Rob

unread,
Dec 9, 2005, 4:45:41 AM12/9/05
to
Hi J
Just wondering if upgrading to 8.13.5 has fixed this problem of the
"Bad File Descriptor".

I am running 8.13.1.

Did you have any problems with the upgrade?

Cheers
Rob

J

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Dec 21, 2005, 7:35:27 PM12/21/05
to

Sorry for taking a while to get back to you, but upgrading to the newest
version of sendmail did seem to work for me. Knock on wood, everything
seems to work fine.

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