Elk M1 Email Capabilities or lack there of

[gatchel]

Well my email notifications have stopped working suddenly. No rhyme or reason. I am using FIOS and have not had any problem with it even after the port 587 change several months ago. I get an email every day based on a rule so that I know things are good. About 2 weeks ago that email didn't come.

I have tried every email setting from DNS changes to a new account and password to updating to the latest firmware and nothing or any combination of things seems to work. I have tried the username with"verizon.net" and without. I have tried port 25 and port 587 with the combination of changes previously mentioned. I have used the server IP and the DNS name, still nothing...

It really frustrates me the with all of the email issues that have been posted here in the last several years that there is no way to troubleshoot where the emails are failing built in to the newer firmware. The email capabilities have always been lackluster at best even from the get go.

I have always tried to support Elk when others have slammed the product for similar reasons but it's getting harder and harder to do.

I have read about using other PC based devices to relay email messages but that goes against the whole reason I decided to spend the money on an Elk system, the lack of a need to have a PC running...

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Lagerhead]

Better diagnostics would be a plus. Fortunately so far I have not had trouble with XEP email.

However, in a similar vein I often wonder about the daily NTP updates. I know it works most of the time, at least, because my M1 clock tends to lose a few seconds a day, so after a few days I would surely notice the problem. But never ever have received any status indications, pro or con, on NTP, and I can't believe it has been 100% over the years.

 

[Steve]

It's kind of hard to believe that if nothing changed it would just stop working. Stupid question - did you happen to connect via RP to the system from some pc and forget to disconnect? Did anything change on the mail server - do other mail clients continue to work?

 

[gatchel]

No go with RP connected or not. The one part that I don't understand is that there is a Test button on the XEP setup screen that allows you to hit test and RP stays connected. Not only do I have a rule set to fire at 6:00PM every day to send and email I also have F6 set to send an email as a test. I honestly don't know what else to do. I called Elk support and they think it is a settings issue (of course) although nothing was changed until my troubleshooting escapade.

I under stand that things can stop working for practically no reason. I am just frustrated that there is no way to determine where the failure is. Can it see the mail server? Does it connect? Is it an authentication issue? Password? Who knows...

edit:

I just configured the same settings from the elk into outlook and all of the outlook tests pass and I get the welcome to outlook messages. Ironically the outgoing server works on port 25 or 587. I tried poth ports in the XSP and neither worked.

 

[electron]

Plug the XEP into a hub and run a packet sniffer if you are brave enough B) Could also point it to an internal SMTP test server, and see if that works. If it doesn't then you should be able to log how far it got.

 

[nov0798]

Have you tried rebooting the XEP?

 

[blmxm]

Well my email notifications have stopped working suddenly. No rhyme or reason. I am using FIOS and have not had any problem with it even after the port 587 change several months ago. I get an email every day based on a rule so that I know things are good. About 2 weeks ago that email didn't come.

I have tried every email setting from DNS changes to a new account and password to updating to the latest firmware and nothing or any combination of things seems to work. I have tried the username with"verizon.net" and without. I have tried port 25 and port 587 with the combination of changes previously mentioned. I have used the server IP and the DNS name, still nothing...

It really frustrates me the with all of the email issues that have been posted here in the last several years that there is no way to troubleshoot where the emails are failing built in to the newer firmware. The email capabilities have always been lackluster at best even from the get go.

I have always tried to support Elk when others have slammed the product for similar reasons but it's getting harder and harder to do.

I have read about using other PC based devices to relay email messages but that goes against the whole reason I decided to spend the money on an Elk system, the lack of a need to have a PC running...

Anyone have any suggestions?

Well I noticed the same thing on my Fios about a week ago. After a lot of hair pulling, I configured the XEP for my AOL account, and it works fine. So my guess is verizon is cracking down and now considers the XEP as a server, threat, or something. Just a guess, but other than email addy and password, and going back to port 25, I made no other changes to get it to function.
I like the test email idea. Maybe I would have noticed the issue sooner. I'll be adding that one. Thanks!

 

[wuench]

Verizon probably changed their SMTP authentication scheme, of which there are several possibilities. SMTP was not developed as a secure protocol so there are several standards that were created to bolt on and make it secure. There could also be a bug/incompatibility in either Verizon's server or the M1. This happens a lot since there are several levels of SMTP standards and the RFC's aren't always implemented consistently on different platforms.

I don't have Verizon, but what I have done to take control of my email and ensure security is to install stunnel on a PC and point my HA systems that don't support SMTP over SSL at that.

If you could get a sniffer trace as mentioned above we could probably figure out what is going on. Or you could call Verizon and ask what has changed. If I had to guess, they probably have disabled non-SSL (port 25) SMTP and only allow SSL. This is the way everyone is going because it is the most secure option and fully encrypts emails between the client and the server. All the other options still send your emails in the clear so anyone along the way can read them.

 

[Sacedog]

Mine stops working every few months or so, and I just reboot the XEP. That always does the trick for me.

 

[nov0798]

I have FIOS also, and mine works fine. In fact I never changed the outgoing number either when we were told to, but all still works fine!

Well correction to the above post. My Verizon FIOS email has also suddenly stopped working as of today. Just like above, I have done NOTHING to change it. URGHHH!

 

[gatchel]

Verizon probably changed their SMTP authentication scheme, of which there are several possibilities. SMTP was not developed as a secure protocol so there are several standards that were created to bolt on and make it secure. There could also be a bug/incompatibility in either Verizon's server or the M1. This happens a lot since there are several levels of SMTP standards and the RFC's aren't always implemented consistently on different platforms.

I don't have Verizon, but what I have done to take control of my email and ensure security is to install stunnel on a PC and point my HA systems that don't support SMTP over SSL at that.

If you could get a sniffer trace as mentioned above we could probably figure out what is going on. Or you could call Verizon and ask what has changed. If I had to guess, they probably have disabled non-SSL (port 25) SMTP and only allow SSL. This is the way everyone is going because it is the most secure option and fully encrypts emails between the client and the server. All the other options still send your emails in the clear so anyone along the way can read them.

I will look into the sniffer option as that would be the tell tale sign of what is going on. Verizon claims that nothing has changed but I usually make 3 or 4 calls to actually believe the information I am given. In the first call "nothing has changed"...

As far as ISP's moving to SSL, I agree with your statement. What frustrates me is that the whole "industry" has known this and has been saying this for at least a few years and Elk has made no move to support a now current format for sending email. Apparently the XEP may not be cabale of sending SSL due to hardware (I read this in another post here somewhere) and ELk has no solution at this point. That is really what frustrates me. I have only had the unit for about 3 or 4 years and now its unofficially obsolete? Frustrating.

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe there's a huge release about to break. In that case I'll stand corrected.

 

[wuench]

I totally agree, SSL can be an expensive thing to implement as far as CPU impact, code size, and time. But it is very quickly becoming a requirement not just an optional feature. Elk needs to implement it in their SMTP setup and also implement SSL to replace their non-standard JAVA security in ElkRM. BTW, their secure port is just telnet over SSL, so it has to be in their code somewhere already...

As far as the sniffer trace, if you do post it, make sure to clear out your email address, username, and password. Those will all be readable in the trace.

 

[cmerlino]

Just wanted to add my voice - using FIOS, my daily armed message stopped coming last week. Verizon says - "no changes" - not that I believe them...
Thinking of putting up and SMTP server - ouch.....

 

[cmerlino]

Some additional observations - changed to use my e-mail host (Go Daddy) for smtp. They offer 4 non-ssl ports (25,60,587,3535), and both 25 and 587 did not work, but 3535 did (didn't try 60). Looks like Verizon is blocking more than just port 25.... For now, I'm back in business...
BTW - specifically asked Verizon if they were blocking any ports - the answer - "Not us!!".....

 

[etc6849]

I don't have an Elk-M1, but I've worked out a solution found here: http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17504

You'll have to do a little homework to learn Premise and get it installed, but the idea is to use Premise to send the email for the Elk M1. To do this install Premise (follow the link found here: http://www.cocoontech.com/wiki/Premise ), connect the PC with Premise installed on it to the Elk M1, import the example xdo file referenced in the post above... You'll also have to initially set up the email module for Premise and set the port the Elk M1G is connected to by following the directions linked in the post above.