Determining problems with e-mail

You can use simple steps to determine what is causing a problem with e-mail.

To identify likely sources of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) problems, follow these steps:

1. Verify that TCP/IP is configured for e-mail.

   1. Ensure that any required PTFs are installed.

   2. Check e-mail servers to ensure that the necessary servers are started and running.

2. Verify the local domain name.

   1. In iSeries™ Navigator, expand your system > Network.

   2. Right-click TCP/IP Configuration and select Properties.

   3. Click the Host Domain Information tab and verify the local domain name.

3. Set the SMTP retry values lower.

   1. In iSeries Navigator, expand your system > Network > Servers > TCP/IP.

   2. Double-click SMTP.

   3. Click the Outbound Mail Retries tab.

4. Verify that the user ID and address of the receiver are in the system distribution directory.

   1. In iSeries Navigator, expand your system > Users and Groups > All Users.

   2. Right-click the Profile of the user ID and select Properties.

   3. Click Personal, and go to the Mail tab to verify the address.

5. Verify whether a host table entry is necessary for the e-mail to reach the destination address.

   1. In the character-based interface, type CHGTCPHTE (the Change TCP/IP Host Table Entry command) and enter the e-mail server's Internet address.

   2. If no host table entry appears, then enter the host name for that Internet address.

6. Ensure you have not exceeded your storage threshold

   1. In iSeries Navigator, expand your system > Configuration and Service > Hardware > Disk Units > Disk Pools.

   2. Right-click the source disk pool that you want to view and select Properties.

   3. Select the Capacity tab.

   4. If your system usage is greater than your threshold, mail might stop working. For more information, refer to Independent disk pools in the Backup and recovery topic.

7. Verify that e-mail splitting is disabled.

   1. In iSeries Navigator, expand your system > Network > Servers > TCP/IP.

   2. Double-click POP. The POP Properties dialog appears.

   3. Click the Configuration tab.

   4. For the Message Split Size field, verify No maximum is selected.

8. Run the Trace TCP/IP Applications command. In the character-based interface, type TRCTCPAPP.

9. Check component journals to locate the problem.

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Related concepts
Controlling e-mail access Independent disk pool examples Controlling Post Office Protocol access Solving problems with the QtmmSendMail API