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Home News 26th March 1998

Well, I think I finally have a solution for my strange email problem. I wish that I could say that it was highly technical, that someone else was to blame or that it was in any was not caused by my own stupidity. But alas, stupidity is what it came down to.

You see, (and here comes a long and involved explanation to try and redeem some self esteem), my previous ISP had mail and smtp servers named mail.interalpha.co.uk and mail.interalpha.co.uk. When I switched ISP's to Globalnet, I received a whole lot of info from them, but ignored that and set up the email connection as mail.globalnet.co.uk for both mail and smtp servers. This seemed logical, and I am sure that if it hadn't have worked, I would have read the "READ THIS FIRST" piece of paper (or whatever it was called). But it worked.

Now you see, Globalnet routes any outgoing mail from mail.globalnet.co.uk to their smtp server called smtpmail.globalnet.co.uk. Well normally they do - unless their mail server is busy, then they just post back a failure message saying "we do not route". So the effect is that it works…sometimes.

Now this would have all been fairly easy to solve. If it had just stopped working, I would have phoned Globalnet (as I did this morning) cried HELP (as I did this morning) as be put right (as I was this morning). BUT - after about a week of a seemingly working connection to Globalnet, I decided to install Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 onto Hooligan. There really wasn't much point in doing this. All our incoming mail already got routed to both client machines (Tomcat and Chatterbox), and the prospect of us writing emails to each other was just too dorky to contemplate. But I did.

That pesky Exchange Server 5.5 CD-Rom had been sitting there on the CD-Rack pleading "load me…load me…load me" for months.

So I did. The install was quite uneventful, and I even managed to get past the "Contact your Network Administrator for this…" type information seemingly unscathed. And wow - it worked. For incoming mail. But not outgoing ???

So OBVIOUSLY one of the gazillion options in the Exchange Server install was incorrectly set. My Datak Mail Server (unfortunately named HOOLIGAN) seemed to be connecting to the outside world and making itself known. But just couldn't get the mail.

No panic. Rip through to www.amazon.com and order two of the best looking Exchange Server books - Exchange Server 5.5 Unleashed and Internet Mail Connector (a component of Exchange Server)). Three days later and 20 quid cheaper that I could have got the books in the UK - and no VAT (not really an issue being bought through Datak), and I began reading. Well skimming - as you do - for the bit which jumps out and says "set this to X and all your problems will be over".

What I found (in the IMC book) was a section with wording which said something along the lines of "…a lot of people find they can't connect their Exchange Server to a normal ISP. This is because most ISP's do not provide a full SMTP interface, but only provide client level SMTP access" (SMTP = Simple Mail Transport Protocol, for those who are wondering). So bugger, damn - and NO I am not going to pay for a full SMTP connection. OK, lets rip Exchange Server out.

Is there a simple Uninstall - NO. Ok, into Control Panel - Services and just stop the thing running. Now lets get back to what we had before and send a Home News.

"we do not relay"

So who asked you to relay - I just want you to send the email. - "we do not relay" - . Ok, so maybe Outlook 98 (also recently installed) is still trying to use Exchange Server. Lets reinstall that. - "we do not relay". Ok, lets download Pegasus from the Net, install that and see if it is really Outlook's problem.

"we do not relay"

Ok, now even though we have disabled Exchange, we are still going through Proxy Server (now on version 2 - after another recent install). Maybe that is also the problem. So hook up the trusty 33.3 modem and dial out to Globalnet on an analogue line.

"we do not relay"

Ok, but that was on Chatterbox, which still has the old copy of Outlook 98. Bugger, lets just reinstall the server and both clients. Bootup Hooligan in Win95. Kill WinNT, and Exchange directories, and reinstall NT Server 4.0 (Enterprise Edition), Proxy Server, SQL Server, IIS, Zip Driver, and the partridge in the pear tree. Uninstall Outlook 98 on Tomcat and Reinstall it.

"we do not relay"

Bugger.

…phone Globalnet Technical Support

…oh, really - it's called smtpmail.globalnet.co.uk not mail.globalnet.co.uk

…bye…

Sigh.

Now if that doesn't work, you wont receive this lengthy explanation and I will just receive - you guessed it - "we do not relay".

I will try and retrieve all the mail sent in the last three weeks and resend it - if you think I have missed out any replies to yourself, let me know and I will try and put it right. Sorry about the hiccup - stupidity and the resulting chaos strikes at the most inconvenient of times.

Now to matters non technical - well non information technical then. Red Monster is being a monster again. In the latter stages of winter in the UK (ie until a week ago), I had noticed that the air conditioner was blasting freezing air on Maggie's side of the car and sauna air on my side. This explained her wearing thick jackets and ski pants and me in my swimming costume bathed in sweat. I have always been quick to notice these subtleties.

This was not so bad in winter, and as long as I remembered to re-attire myself before braving the English "Spring" weather - things were fine. In Summer (the two weeks of weather we had in May - it's gone now), the bast of hot air just got too much to bear.

Unfortunately Parchment Motors had gone bust (a testament to how well Red Monster had been behaving himself) and was now Stuart's Garage. So Red Monster reacquainted himself with Wiggens and made friends with a stunning 840 sitting in the show room saying "buy me…buy me…buy me". In typical BMW fashion they didn't fix the problem but came with tales of woe, doom and gloom, end of the world and lots of money which was needed to replace (and there was I thinking that the problem could be fixed) the heater housing unit thingamy jig. And no they didn't have the part, but yes if I deposited my life savings in a Swiss bank account under the names of "Greedy BMW Shareholders" or "To pay for buying Rolls Royce" - they would condescend to getting it.

I am not holding my breath - but I have fitted a nifty sprinkler system which douses me with water from some piping mounted on the roof. (only kidding but it's almost got to that).

This weekend was piano moving time. We invited Dad, Stuart, Alan and Rhona for a braai (barbecue for the Brits/Aussies) at Parliament Place, and then sprung the good news on them. Well, it wasn't that bad, and apart from an impromptu concert from Stuart and Dad at the top of the garden stairs (photo's on the Web Site) - it all went fairly quietly, smoothly and easily. Unfortunately on Sunday Maggie decided that the lounge was just not the place for it. What do you know - they didn't buy the "come for another braai" rouge. And I was left moving the damn thing single handed - well actually I used both hands. Luckily there were no stairs involved. Unluckily the room into which it is was moved was full of dining room furniture - which then also had to be moved. Even more unfortunately the lounge was still full of sewing machines and cupboards which had to be moved to the Dining room . Which was full of piano. Suspecting that I could easily spend the rest of my life moving furniture - I gave up there.

The Snooker table has been modified to fit on top of the dining room table (now in the lounge - and which is now called the lounge/dining room). The old dining room is now called the "music room and sewing room" - and has a convenient hatch to the kitchen, which is still called the kitchen.

Alan and I had a few games (well quite a few - from about 20:00 until 01:30 and then a few hours after breakfast) of Close Combat 2. After some months of playing the game, he finally dawned upon the fact that you could scroll down the troop selection list to select other units. Somehow this made the game more difficult for me. Still after many attempts of storming the town (a scenario we had constructed with Battlemaker) -I finally hit upon a winning strategy - swamping the place with SS storm troopers - and leaving the 17 pounders looking silly without any armoured targets.

Nicky's friend, Rosie has moved into Parliament place (number 28, just up the road) so we now either have a house without Nicky or with Nicky and Rosie. Well almost not - Rosie was introduced to roller-blading by Nicky and Tarryn and almost came a serious cropper flying down Parliament Place towards a brick wall. Luckily she opted for the "slide on the bum and graze the elbow" strategy rather than the "lets see how strong this wall is" one.

Nicky now has a paper round - 196 papers to deliver at 4p per paper. 8 pounds a week (it is a weekly paper) - for about two hours work. Not exactly contracting rates - but she is pleased and already has a shopping list worked out for her new found wealth.

Maggie finally landed a job which satisfied her stringent criteria - walking distance from home - fun Ms-Office/VBA stuff - good money, and starts next week. The only problem is that it is right next to Kings school and the kids are terrified that she will walk with them to school, holding their hands - which will be way uncool - just sad in fact. Of course this won't stop them getting a life by Batmobile if the weather is bad. We now have the ultimate threat - "If you don't …. then Mom will walk with you to school, give you a big kiss outside the gate and had you your lunch in a brown paper bag."

The Datak software/hardware collection, undaunted by the recent hiccup with Exchange Server and email in general has expanded to include a 2Gb Jazz drive and 4 disks, another 8.4Gb Quantum drive, Ms-Publisher 98 and a few tons of new books from Amazon (Professional Business Objects and About Face being the best of the bunch).

Now that the Piano is out of the study in the lounge (no dear in the dining room - a bit more to the left - what about against that wall - more to the right…) the updated master plan for the Datak office is close to completion. We have some new tabletops (two at 4mx900mm and one at 3mx900mm) arriving last Thursday (that was the promise anyhow) which are going to replace the existing computer area. Hooligan, Tomcat and Chatterbox will be getting two new friends (not named yet) - probably 100Mhz Intel BX motherboards, Intel 400MHz PII, 64Mb 100MHz SDRAM, 8.4Gb Quantum Fireballs, Internal 100Mb Zip, HP7200 CD-Writer, Matrox 8Mb AGP, SB64 Value, Viewsonic 19", Intel 10/100 PCI lan card and the usual menagerie of Logitek mice and Microsoft keyboards. I will probably run NT4.0 W/S on them and keep Tomcat and Chatterbox running Win98 for games - sorry for research into user interfaces. I will also be getting a fast Ethernet hub (100Mhz) to keep them all chatting nicely.

Of things boats, and world cruising…We have shifted from a normal racing/cruising yacht 9one mast to the uninformed) to a more sedate - leisurely sloop or clipper (with two masts). We got a rough quote for a Nauticat 50' with a few optional extras like a sauna (it is a Swedish designed boat) - and it came in at a jaw dropping, blood draining 500,000 pounds. Maybe the sauna is not so essential after all, or maybe we can fit the one from the BMW. The French 48' Jeaneau Sunseaker at 180,000 pounds suddenly looks more appealing again. And the Laser Pico's at 5,000 for two AND a trailer look great. I just wonder how good they would be in the middle of the Atlantic though…

The web site has been maintained despite the email hiccup, and for those who have browser access, point yourself to www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~datak and then browse around from there. I have also started a "Home News" page with links to current and past Home News. The "What's New" and "Site Map" are quite useful to the new user and "Links" contain links to Nicky and Tarryn's own sites and to www.datak.co.uk which is still being constructed. Hopefully soon you will also be able to find book reviews for all the books on my bookshelf and a link to amazon for you to purchase them. Yes, Datak has been approved as a Amazon partner (may have something to do with how many books I have bought from them) - and will be receiving a percentage on books bought via our links.

The Microsoft studying is taking a rest. I have passed my Certified Professional and Certified Professional Solutions Developer exams, and now sport the MSCP-SD logo on my business card. The "Microsoft Inside" tattoo on the forehead turned out to be an extra cost option, which I declined. The Systems Engineer exams are on hold for the moment while I finish off the various bits and pieces that I have been working on. Business Object Browser (BOB) will hopefully be released soon via the Datak web site. I am also working on a VB code exchange service via the Datak site, which would allow for web-working and hopefully pave the way for gainful employment while we are sailing the world's oceans in 2005.

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