Using "DELMSG" dump utility prompts for a password??? 1

[BudSW]

We're running a four node Sierra cluster running release 3.10. I'm attempting to run the dump level "DELMSG" command to delete an individual message from a mailbox. The command takes the mailbox number, message ID, and scramble code as parameters. I believe I have the syntax correct, but the system is prompting me "Please Enter Password:". I've tried every password I can think of, including the system and mailbox password, but keep getting "Incorrect password, please try again:".

Here's a print of the output:
D> delmsg 1121212 83100054/04
Please Enter Password:

Incorrect password, please try again:

Incorrect password, please try again:

Incorrect password, please check your password.
D>

Any ideas what this password could possibly be?

Thanks.
- BudS

 

[BudSW]

Haven't gotten any responses yet, maybe if I add more detail if someone out there wants to try it on their system? The DUMP level is accessed by entering the service/debug level, either thru Menu 20.9, or by entering the date in MMDD format at the main menu prompt.

Once you get the "> " prompt, enter "DUMP", the prompt changes to "D> ". It's at this level that I'm trying to run the DELMSG command. You can see the expected syntax by typing "Help", command is on the first page of the help output.

Desperate to find a solution for this, so any help would be very much appreciated. I'm wondering if the command needs to be run from the SMT terminal, as I'm trying it through an MTA port?

Thanks.

 

[kxboy]

Just curious as to why you need to delete a message with this command? Is it damaged somehow and it can't be deleted using the phone?

 

[BudSW]

I'm actually using it as a mitigation strategy, to free up space on the system and defer expanding storage. I ran a scan on the system using the DUMP's "LM" command to list all messages in every mailbox (used a Procomm script). There were thousands of messages that were more than a few years old. These messages obviously will never be listened to, as the mailbox is either dormant or incorrectly provisioned. By using the DELMSG command, I can remove these old messages and free up a great deal of space.

 

[kxboy]

You can also just delete the mailbox, or change the COS to delete the message after X days. The COS has to have the "Deletion Warning" set to 1. Any other value will leave the messages in the mailbox until the user logs in.

Also, run an unitialized mailbox report,and then compare that to your mailboxes that have a lot of messages. If the mailbox is unitialized, then delete it. The message aging report can be helpful. Any message over 365 days will have *** in the age field.

 

[BudSW]

I was hoping to avoid using the deletion warning and mailbox profile manipulations, gets a little awkward when trying to manage 150K accounts in this way. Using the DELMSG utility would have simplified both the process and scripting required.

I'll also take a look at the uninitialized mbx report, although I don't know if it will run in a clustered environment.

Thanks for the help kx.

- BudSW