Re: [Declude.JunkMail] OT: Disk pattern 0xDF in files

[Matt]

This is why I tend to hold off a while before applying the monthly hotfixes unless there is an active exploit.  The July one for Windows 2003 relied on having the files to uninstall a very old hotfix (a change in some Australia time zone thing).  I deleted old hotfix uninstall files on all of my servers months ago, and as a result the update would fail every time.  There were lots of postings on support lists all over the place concerning this.  Where Microsoft has reps, they were pretty much mum except to say that they had heard of some having issues.  Then about 25 days later, that hotfix disappeared from my Windows Update queue.  There was never a KB article or nuttin'. I guess the moral of this story is that you might not find confirmation from Microsoft unless it gets press, and you also probably not see a fix for weeks...if it is their fault.  Uninstalling the most recent hotfixes seems to make a lot of sense.  Keep in mind also that this probably affects more than just <= 4KB images. Matt Andy Schmidt wrote: Hi, Yes it started around this weekend - and, in our case too, those are small JPEG/GIF thumbnail images of up to 4K (so probably exactly one allocation unit). I've asked my client to intentionally change the compression factor to create the files slightly larger than 4096 bytes - to see if this theory holds true. It's pretty unlikely that no larger files would be effected by a hardware error, considering that they should have a higher chance to be effected (due to their larger size). Are you using an on-access virus scanner? We use McAfee - just trying to cover every base. Best Regards Andy Schmidt Phone: +1 201 934-3414 x20 (Business) Fax: +1 201 934-9206 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Heimir Eidskrem Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 06:46 PM To: declude.junkmail@declude.com Subject: Re: [Declude.JunkMail] OT: Disk pattern 0xDF in files we are having the exact problem on one of our servers. We create small thumbnail pictures about 4k in size. They work fine at first but later they are corrupted. Windows 2000 server. I have no clue what it could be at this time. It started around this weekend I think. Please keep me posted if you find something. H. Andy Schmidt wrote: Hi, I have two older servers (but not same models or same purchase years) running Windows 2000 with mirrored disks (software Raid-1). Two days ago a customer noticed that they uploaded files to their FTP space, and initially they see the files on the browser - but a while later the data is corrupted. I investigated - and oddly enough the problem so far always seems to appear with small thumbnail graphics files that occupy less than 4095 bytes. When I inspect the files I may see the "correct" data through a share, but if I access the files through some other method, I always see the byte pattern of 0xDF. I ran a standalone checkdisk a day ago against the first server, sure enough, it reported and fixed several problems "Windows replaced bad clusters in file xxxx". But, the problem recurred the next day. Now, my first instinct was that ONE of the two mirrored disks was truly on its way out and depending on which drive was being used to read the data it would either get good or bad data. However, a day later a second customer had the same complaint but on an entirely different machine. In this case, the error occurs with a set of relatively new SCSI drives (not even a year old). So now that I'm looking at two totally different server models, from entirely different years, one with fairly new disks - what are the chances that the SAME problem and symptom would show at the same time. Both on software mirrored disks, in both cases files that are less than 4 MB large. Now I'm wondering if this is some "software" issue. Best Regards Andy Schmidt Phone: +1 201 934-3414 x20 (Business) Fax: +1 201 934-9206 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of David Barker Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 03:53 PM To: declude.junkmail@declude.com Subject: RE: [Declude.JunkMail] Trying to install Declude 3.1.20 anew When the decludeproc services start under your windows services and the first email is processed. A file call diags.txt is created in your \Declude directory. This should contain the version and diagnostics. The valid options on decludeproc from the cmd prompt are: Decludeproc -v displays the version and build Decludeproc -i installs the decludeproc service Decludeproc -u uninstalls the decludeproc service David B www.declude.com From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Andy Schmidt Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 3:43 PM To: declude.junkmail@declude.com Subject: RE: [Declude.JunkMail] Trying to install Declude 3.1.20 anew Dave - That's what I call catch 22: D:\IMail>decludeproc -diag Invalid command line parameter: -install Install Declude -diag Print diagnostics Hm - so let's see, after "-install", I used "-diag" to figure out what's wrong. But, "-diag" is invalid. The ony valid parameters are... "-install" and "-diag"? Best Regards Andy Schmidt Phone: +1 201 934-3414 x20 (Business) Fax: +1 201 934-9206 ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Andy Schmidt Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 03:09 PM To: declude.junkmail@declude.com Subject: RE: [Declude.JunkMail] Trying to install Declude 3.1.20 anew Hi Dave, thanks. Next question: I noticed that your Virus.CFG is missing two options from Version 2: AUTOFORGE ON BANEZIPEXTS ON If I recall correctly, the idea was that: BANZIPEXTS OFF # BANEXT EZIP BANEZIPEXTS ON would PERMIT banned extensions inside zipped files (where they could be scanned), but DENY banned extensions if they were contained inside encrypted zipped files. Where those options forgotten in your config file - or are they no longer available in Version 3? Best Regards Andy Schmidt Phone: +1 201 934-3414 x20 (Business) Fax: +1 201 934-9206 ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of David Barker Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 02:43 PM To: declude.junkmail@declude.com Subject: RE: [Declude.JunkMail] Trying to install Declude 3.1.20 anew The Program Files\Declude is a temp directory that can be deleted after the install. The original purpose of this directory was to make available the latest configs as we do not overwrite your configs. This has since been removed in version 4.x where you will find a \Declude\Resources directory which has the same purpose. David B www.declude.com ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Andy Schmidt Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 2:36 PM To: Declude.JunkMail@declude.com Subject: [Declude.JunkMail] Trying to install Declude 3.1.20 anew Hi, I'm trying to set up a server from scratch and thus downloaded and ran: Declude_IM_N310.exe and chose the option to let it do its install (rather than the option for "experienced" admins). PS - that screen has a typo! The setup created a C:\Program Files\Declude folder that contains just the 5 config files it also created the SAME files in: D:\Imail\Declude together with binaries and the various other Declude files. I'm at loss! Which location is the "right" one for the config files (I'm assuming the D:\Imail\Declude)? What's the point of creating a "dummy" Folder in the C:\Program Files\ that contains no programs and that contains files that are not being used at all (assuming that being the case)? Should I be deleting this Program Files folder to avoid confusion when someone else maintains this server? Come on, the cold war has been over since Reagan - are we still trying to confuse the Russians? Best Regards Andy Schmidt Phone: +1 201 934-3414 x20 (Business) Fax: +1 201 934-9206 ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 03:25 PM To: Declude.JunkMail@declude.com Subject: Re: [Declude.JunkMail] Experience with 4.x Andrew, Thanks for your notes and their history. I'm using the following settings right now: THREADS 30 WAITFORMAIL 500 WAITFORTHREADS 200 WAITBETWEENTHREADS 100 WINSOCKCLEANUP OFF INVITEFIX ON AUTOREVIEW ON There are a few reasons for trying these values. THREADS 30 - I'm pretty confident that dual 3.2 Ghz Xeons and RAID can only handle 30 threads with average messages. In reality, one single message can spike the system to 100%, but these are uncommon. I figure that if I open this up too wide and I am dealing with a backup or something, launching more threads when at 100% CPU utilization will actually slow the system down. This was the same with 2.x and before. There is added overhead to managing threads and you don't want that to happen on top of 100% CPU utilization. I am going to back up my server later tonight to see if I can't find what the magic number is since I don't want to be below that magic number, and it would probably be best to be a little above it. WAITFORMAIL 500 - On my server, this never kicks in, but if it did, it wouldn't make sense to delay for too long because I could build up messages. A half second seems good. WAITFORTHREADS 200 - This apparently kicks in only when I reach my thread limit; sort of like a throttle. I don't want it to be too long because this should only happen when I am hammered, but it is wise not to keep hammering when you are at 100%. Sort of a mixed bag choice here. WAITBETWEENTHREADS 100 - I see this setting as being the biggest issue with sizing a server. Setting it at 100 ms means that I can only handle 10 messages per second, and this establishes an upper limit for what the server can do. I currently average about 5 messages per second coming from my gateways at peak hours, so I figured that to be safe, I should double that value. INVITEFIX ON - I have it on because it comes on by default and I don't know any better. I know nothing about the cause for needing this outside of brief comments. It seems strange that my Declude setup could ruin an invitation unless I was using footers. If this is only triggered by footer use, I would like to know so that I could turn it off. I would imagine that this causes extra load to do the check. AUTOREVIEW ON - I have this on for the same reason that Andrew pointed out. When I restart Decludeproc, messages land in my review folder, and I don't wish to keep manually fishing things out. If there is an issue with looping, it would be wise for Declude to make this only trigger say every 15 minutes instead of more regularly. Feel free to add to this if you want. Matt Colbeck, Andrew wrote: I'd second that... on both the observed behaviour and the request for documentation. I'm attaching my highly commented declude.cfg as a reasonable sample. Andrew 8) ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 10:36 AM To: Declude.JunkMail@declude.com Subject: Re: [Declude.JunkMail] Experience with 4.x David, That did the trick. I can't even see any messages in my proc folder any more. I might suggest adding your explanation to the comments in the file just in case others feel the need to turn this on like I did. I recalled the issues from the list and I turned it on because I didn't want the possibility of DNS crapping out and the leakage that this would cause. Here's a screen cap of what my processor graph looks like now: Thanks, Matt David Barker wrote: The purpose of WINSOCKCLEANUP ON is to reset the winsock, what happens when using this setting is that when the \proc directory hit 0 decludeproc will finish processing all the messages in the \work before checking the \proc again. As WINSOCKCLEANUP is to be used only by those who experience DNS issues I would suggest running your tests again with WINSOCKCLEANUP commented out and see how the behavior differs. Also having the WAITFORMAIL to low can cause the CPU to process very high as it is constantly checking the \proc I would suggest a minimum of 500-1000 David B www.declude.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 8:12 PM To: Declude.JunkMail@declude.com Subject: Re: [Declude.JunkMail] Experience with 4.x Darrell, I put up two Windows Explorer windows side-by-side under normal volume and the pattern was consistent where the proc folder grows while the work folder shrinks until the work folder hits zero at which point the proc folder empties out and everything lands in work and then the pattern repeats with proc growing while work shrinks. My settings are as follows: THREADS 50 WAITFORMAIL 100 WAITFORTHREADS 10 WAITBETWEENTHREADS 50 WINSOCKCLEANUP ON AUTOREVIEW ON INVITEFIX ON Matt Darrell ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: It's a faulty design that leaves more than half a server's CPU capacity unused due to the mere fact that they wait for all threads to complete before moving in a new batch. I can't speak to what you see on your server, but that is not how it is running on my server. I just double checked again to make sure I am not crazy, but as I watch the thread count on my server (decludeproc) the threads fluctuate between 7 - 30 ( threads currently set to 50). It is not uncommon to see the threads move as follow: 11,8,10,7,15,.... While I was watching it I never seen a case where it went down low enough for the WAITFORMAIL setting to kick in. Watching the proc/work directory you can see files moving in and out, but never really emptying out. Its possible what I am seeing is an anomaly or maybe I am interpreting it wrong. Maybe David can comment on this. Darrell ------------------------------------------------------------------------ invURIBL - Intelligent URI filtering plug-in for Declude, mxGuard, and ORF. Stop spam at the source the spamvertised domain. More effective than traditional RBL's. Try it today - http://www.invariantsystems.com --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com.