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PureMessage Exchange and SQL Downtime?

ricdgr

Hi,

What happens when the SQL Server used by Puremessage Exchange is not available?

Is all email traffic blocked? Or just the spam actions are impacted?

Thanks

:42878


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  • 0

    I would also be extremely grateful for a response to this question.

    Many thanks in advance,

    Simon.

    :43713
  • 0

    I have just tested this scenario as best I can by setting up an instance of PureMessage with a remote database and then testing with / without the database instance running.

    With the database stopped, mail continues to flow, which is good.

    The usual "Sophos Update has completed an update on PureMessage spam rules" continues to be logged in the Application event log at regular intervals.

    I can also confirm that some sort of scanning must still take place, as a test e-mail with a blocked phrase created an alert e-mail and generated the following event in the Application log of the PureMessage server:

    Database was unavailable while trying to quarantine message '<b1efda52-1485-449d-a2db-e3416bc98868@EX1.domain.com>'. Message has been queued for quarantining. Please check the database availability

    I also see events as follows:

    Reporting data could not be written to the database at this time (error: -3).  Additional attempts will be made for 3 days.

    Nothing was logged to confirm PureMessage reconnected to the database, but the quarantined message appeared in the PureMessage quarantine list approximately 5 minutes after I restarted the SQL instance.

    I hope that helps others looking for answers to this question.

    Best regards,

    Simon.

    :43717
  • 0

    Hi,

    The general answer is that things should carry on as normal from a scanning and protection perspective.

    PureMessage has 4 databases:

    SavexCnfg - Configuration

    SavexDir - Directory/AD

    SavexQuar - Quarantine

    SavexRprt - Reporting

    As access to these is not available, PureMessage will act accordingly:

    * The PureMessage console is not available as this requires access to SavexCnfg

    * SMTP policy exceptions are not applied, as the email addresses are stored in SavexDir

    * Quarantine data is cached, ready to be written to SavexQuar later

    * Reporting data is cached, ready to be written to SavexRprt later

    From PureMessage 3.1.3 onwards, SQL needs to be online for the Sophos PureMessage service to start - but if already running when SQL goes offline it will continue.

    Regards,

    Reginald

    :43787
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