GW to Exchange: ATT_IN directory disappears

[MacSteveH]

We are converting from GW 6 to Exchange 2003. All Internet mail now coming into the new Exchange server, then using the Groupwise Connector to route mail to our Groupwise users that have not yet converted. Problem: about two or three times a day mail stops flowing through the connector. I finally determined that the ATT_IN folder for the Exchange Gateway is disappearing. If I stop and restart the Exchange Gateway API on the Groupwise server, the folder is recreated and things work fine again for a few more hours.

Any ideas on what is happening to the folder? I don't see any obvious errors in the logs for either the GW or Exchange machine, except for the ones that appear after the folder disappears.

My first thought is that it has something to do with the Symantec virus protection software running on the Exchange server, but I don't know how to prove it.

Thanks for any insite.

 

[pertis]

Hi MacSteveH

We have the same problem as you have. Did you solve your problem? Please contact me.

Regards Pertis

 

[MacSteveH]

It was a Symantec Problem. Removing and reinstalling Symantec AntiVirus for Exchange fixed it. I was probably just lucky. The install seemed to go fine both times. Good luck.

 

[pertis]

So what you say is that the Symantec Antivirus that is installed on the Exchange server was the problem.
Not the Antivirus program on the Groupwise server!?

I wonder because the folder ATT_IN is located at the Groupwise server.

Thanks for the tip!

/Roger

 

[MacSteveH]

Correct. It was the anti-virus Symantec Anti-Virus for Exchange Server that seemed to be causing it. We had no anti-virus on the GroupWise (Netware 5.0) server, and we were not running the "regular" Symantec Anti-Virus client. (You are supposed to run both SAV for Exchange and the regular SAV client, but I'm only running the former.)

Yes, I know that the ATT_IN folder is on the GroupWise server, but the folder must be part of a mapped drive, so Symantec certainly has access to it. Weird, I admit, but I'm convinced that was the problem.

One more thing to note, on several occasions Symantec has released virus definition updates that would break communication between GroupWise and Exchange via the GroupWise Connector/Exchange Gateway. All other traffic would flow in and out fine--only that moving across the connector would fail. The symptom would be mail backing up in the queue on the Exchange side. Reverting back to the previous virus definition would fix the problem. In each case, I'd turn off the Live Update service, wait for the subsequent release from Symantec, turn Live Update back on, and everything would work fine. This has happened on three occasions.