What does it mean if the message "Collection failed: Timeout waiting for input during message collect"

Issue

What does it mean if the message "Collection failed: Timeout waiting for input during message collect" appears in the SMTP logs?

Solution

The "Collection failed: Timeout waiting for input during message collect" message might appear in the log during the data phase of SMTP transaction. It means the Mirapoint or RazorGate did not receive any data input for 10 minutes, even though the connection was not dropped by the client.

The SMTP client established an SMTP connection to Mirapoint or RazorGate, specified "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" and then issued the DATA command. After that, it did not send any data for 10 minutes.

The following log entry is an example of what could be seen:

user@domain.com

ABP61201

19:09:02 rejected timeout waiting for input from host.domain.com

19:09:02 received CLR 0 1 host.domain.com [nn.nn.nn.nn]

19:09:02 collection failed: timeout waiting for input during message collect

This message might appear in the log as a result of a DOS attack that attempts to tie up system resources at the SMTP data phase. Lots of these messages may be indicative of this. There may also be a problem with the SMTP client (remote system).

Check the network connectivity, firewall setup, etc., to discover the root cause.