Mail service stuck starting in Mavericks

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Level 2

344 points

Mail service stuck starting in Mavericks

After installing Mavericks server I've got a problem with the mailserver. In the Server.app it keeps showing as starting, but it never starts.

the terminal command 'serveradmin fullstatus mail' shows that everything is started as it should, except the Mail Transfer Agent. It shows the error Warning: SMTP mail service is enabled but not running.

The command 'serveradmin start mailtransferagent' results in the error "CANNOT_LOAD_BUNDLE_ERR"

Console shows no helpfull messages except the obscure "serveradmin: posting dist not" right after entering the 'serveradmin start mailtransferagent' command.

Any idea how I can get the mail service to start?

Aperture 3, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), iMac 24" 3.06 GHZ Core2Duo; 8GB RAM

Posted on Nov 3, 2013 12:56 PM

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Answer 1

UptimeJeff

Level 4

3,479 points

Nov 3, 2013 2:48 PM in response to Ir. Bob

serveradmin start mailtransferagent

Is not a valid command.

to start mail from terminal

serveradmin start mail

but thats the same as doing so from the Server app

Please stop mail.

Then start mail and post the relevand lines from

/var/log/system.log

/var/log/mail.log

/Library/Logs/Mail/mailaccess.log

I assume you have an upgraded system?

Whats the history with it? Likely you have an old config parameter and those logs entries are likely to reveal it.

Jeff

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Answer 2

Ir. Bob Author

Level 2

344 points

Nov 3, 2013 9:55 PM in response to UptimeJeff

It's sort of an upgraded system. The Mavericks installation is actually a fresh one, but data was then restored with TimeMachine from a previous 10.6 system. So old configs are a possibility.

Belowe is all that showed in the log. Besides some (IMHO) non critical permission warnings, there is nothing. The mailaccess.log was actually empty.

Mail.log:

postfix/postfix-script[67467]: warning: group or other writable: /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/./custom_header_checks

postfix/postfix-script[67468]: warning: group or other writable: /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/./master.cf.default

postfix/postfix-script[67469]: warning: group or other writable: /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/./master.cf.orig

postfix/postfix-script[67470]: warning: group or other writable: /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/./virtual.db

postfix/postfix-script[67471]: warning: group or other writable: /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/./virtual_domains

postfix/postfix-script[67472]: warning: group or other writable: /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/./virtual_users

System.log:

mds[63]: (/)(Warning) IndexQuery in virtual bool SISearchCtx_FSI::performSearch(struct PartialQueryResults *):Retried searchfs 4 times

mds[63]: (/)(Warning) IndexQuery in virtual bool SISearchCtx_FSI::performSearch(struct PartialQueryResults *):Throttling slow file system query

xpcd[916]: restored permissions (100600 -> 100700) on /private/var/root/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit/Container.plist

WindowServer[107]: disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "TextEdit" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.

com.apple.appkit.xpc.openAndSavePanelService[68212]: Bogus event received by listener connection:

<error: 0x7fff7af06b50> { count = 1, contents =

"XPCErrorDescription" => <string: 0x7fff7af06e60> { length = 18, contents = "Connection invalid" }

}

quicklookd[68202]: generateImageInProcess Failed to composit image for binding VariantBinding [0x203] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x103] - extension: pps, UTI: com.microsoft.powerpoint.pps, fileType: ????.

quicklookd[68202]: generateImageInProcess Failed to composit image for binding VariantBinding [0x403] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x303] - extension: GIF, UTI: com.compuserve.gif, fileType: ????.

WindowServer[107]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "TextEdit" after 5.36 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)

quicklookd[68202]: generateImageInProcess Failed to composit image for binding VariantBinding [0x603] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x503] - extension: gif, UTI: com.compuserve.gif, fileType: ????.

quicklookd[68202]: generateImageInProcess Failed to composit image for binding VariantBinding [0x803] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x703] - extension: tiff, UTI: public.tiff, fileType: ????.

quicklookd[68202]: generateImageInProcess Failed to composit image for binding VariantBinding [0xa03] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x903] - extension: gif, UTI: com.compuserve.gif, fileType: ????.

kernel[0]: Sandbox: xcscredd(164) deny file-read-metadata /private/var/root

--- last message repeated 11 times ---

birds-srv-03.local sandboxd[191] ([164]): xcscredd(164) deny file-read-metadata /private/var/root

--- last message repeated 7 times ---

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Answer 3

Nov 4, 2013 7:42 AM in response to Ir. Bob

Sounds like postfix is not properly configured. Try to find the postfix binary. Something like "sudo find / -name *postfix*" might find it.

Once you do that run it as root in terminal and what errors kick back. Restoring from 10.6 wasnt a good idea, Server has changed a lot since 10.6

A better idea would have been to export all of the users mailboxes in apple mail and reimport them on the new server.

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Answer 4

Ir. Bob Author

Level 2

344 points

Nov 4, 2013 8:30 AM in response to alexrmc92

Hi Alex,

To note, I first installed Mavericks base system, then did a restore, and then installed Server. Technically it is thus an upgrade. This was the only way to go as the original discs are missing.

Here's what I just did:

serveradmin stop mail

serveradmin start mail (According to the server app the mail is not running after this command)

-->mail:state = "STARTING"

serveradmin fullstatus mail

-->Protocol SMTP, state: STOPPED, "Warning" SMTP mail service is enable but not running

/usr/sbin/postfix start

-->fatal: the Postfix mail system is already running

/usr/sbin/postfix stop

serveradmin stop mail

serveradmin start mail

/usr/sbin/postfix status

-->postfix not running

/usr/sbin/postfix start

serveradmin fullstatus mail

-->Protocol SMTP, state: STOPPED, "Warning" SMTP mail service is enable but not running

All in all, this just doesn't make any sense to me. No error messages whatsoever, what the ** is going on here.

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Answer 5

UptimeJeff

Level 4

3,479 points

Nov 4, 2013 8:35 AM in response to Ir. Bob

You don't want to restore your old system ontop of Mavericks... that would be a crazy mix of components.

If you start with a clean Macericks machine, then you'll want to Migrate the data from your time maching backup.

A migration will grab all your old config files and data and massage it to fit the new server.

You're going to have to erase/re-install Mavericks, then migrate.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5381?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

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Answer 6

Ir. Bob Author

Level 2

344 points

Nov 4, 2013 8:39 AM in response to UptimeJeff

Maybe I did not explain myself correctly, but this is exactly the process followed.

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Answer 7

Nov 4, 2013 8:40 AM in response to Ir. Bob

Ir. Bob wrote:

Hi Alex,

To note, I first installed Mavericks base system, then did a restore, and then installed Server. Technically it is thus an upgrade. This was the only way to go as the original discs are missing.

Here's what I just did:

serveradmin stop mail

serveradmin start mail (According to the server app the mail is not running after this command)

-->mail:state = "STARTING"

serveradmin fullstatus mail

-->Protocol SMTP, state: STOPPED, "Warning" SMTP mail service is enable but not running

/usr/sbin/postfix start

-->fatal: the Postfix mail system is already running

/usr/sbin/postfix stop

serveradmin stop mail

serveradmin start mail

/usr/sbin/postfix status

-->postfix not running

/usr/sbin/postfix start

serveradmin fullstatus mail

-->Protocol SMTP, state: STOPPED, "Warning" SMTP mail service is enable but not running

All in all, this just doesn't make any sense to me. No error messages whatsoever, what the ** is going on here.

because postfix is failing to start, it should be in the postfix logs but may not be if the config files are wrong.

You can't restore anything from server 10.6 to 10.9, the software is completely different.

So you wiped 10.6 off of your server and replaced it with 10.9, then your grabbing mail data from a 10.6 time machine backup and copying it to 10.9? This is not going to work well, the structure is completely different.

The only thinkg you can do here without a 10.6 server running is migrate the data like UptimeJeff is suggesting

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Answer 8

Ir. Bob Author

Level 2

344 points

Nov 5, 2013 2:40 AM in response to Ir. Bob

I don't know exactly what happend, but it may have been some permission or harddrive error after all. I have repaired the permissions, and have run DiskWarrior to rebuild the directory tree and now everything works fine.

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