Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!unido!fauern!NewsServ!k2
From: k2@bl.physik.tu-muenchen.de (Klaus Steinberger)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Re: 554 System file missing
Keywords: sendmail
Message-ID: <k2.666383675@woodstock>
Date: 12 Feb 91 18:34:35 GMT
References: <3447@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>
Sender: news@newsserv.informatik.tu-muenchen.de
Organization: Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany
Lines: 65

nims@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Christopher Nims) writes:

>We're running sendmail-5.65+IDA-1.3.5 on a uVax II running Mt.Xinu 4.3 BSD.
>This machine is being used as a mailhost for many worstations on campus and
>recently many users are getting messages bounced back with the following
>info in the header:

>...
>451 makeconnection: server "smtp" unknown: Address already in use
>554 casbah.acns.nwu.edu (tcpld)... 554 System file missing
>554 <galanter@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>... System file missing
>...

>One problem is that we can't find a deterministic method of reproducing the
>problem.  If a message bounces, quit often sending it a second time will
>get it through.


I've suggest you are running YP (NIS) on your machine?
I've seen this problem on my systems also. The problem comes from
ypserv, which can't serve simultaneous accesse correctly in
many implementations. We found this bug on our PCS/Cadmus
system as well as on a CDC box (really a MIPS ). Both systems
have now a patched ypserv installed, which clearly resolves the problem.

There is a simple way to determine if YP is the problem.

Write a simple program, which querys for a service in an endless loop,
and start it twice (in background). Here is my test program:
If YP is the problem it should dwarf about unknown service sometimes.


#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#define SERVICE	"time"

main(argc,argv)
int argc;
char *argv[];
{
	struct servent *sp;
	long	i;

	i = 0;
	for (;;i++)
	{
		sp = getservbyname(SERVICE, "tcp");
		if (sp==NULL) {
			fprintf(stderr, "%s: unknown service, loop %d\n",SERVICE,i);
		}
	}
}


Sincerely,
Klaus Steinberger
--
Klaus Steinberger               Beschleunigerlabor der TU und LMU Muenchen
Phone: (+49 89)3209 4287        Hochschulgelaende
FAX:   (+49 89)3209 4280        D-8046 Garching, Germany
BITNET: K2@DGABLG5P             Internet: k2@bl.physik.tu-muenchen.de