vms mail attachement size

[Gérard Wendling]

Hello,

openvms alpha 7.3-1 : i would like to know what is the maximum attachement size in vms mail and if it is configurable.

Thank's in advance.
Gerard

[Hoff · Accepted solution]

I don't know that the OpenVMS MAIL utility particularly "cares" about this sort of thing (inside the limits of the user's disk quota and the disk storage capacity and the RMS file limits), but the intermediate SMTP servers involved with most mail traffic most certainly do care about this sort of thing, and to have limits here. Send a big message to OpenVMS and MAIL basically creates a gigantic disk file, and links to it via an entry in the user's MAIL.MAI file.

If you're interested, run some basic tests and report back. This should take ten or fifteen minutes of your time to test this in your particular environment, using MIME or SFF or otherwise to add an attachment and then toss it to your mail server.

If you're seeing a specific error, disconnection, dropped message or other untoward behavior, please consider identifying the configuration, the command(s) used, the (mis)behavior and any error(s) received.

The MIME tool has had its share of bugs in older releases, so do look to load the current ECO kit or (better) upgrade to an OpenVMS release more current than V7.3-1. SMTP, too, has had some bugs and a current ECO kit for TCP/IP Services (or whatever IP stack you're using) is appropriate; MIME stuff generally means IP, which means an IP stack and any number of intermediate pieces.

Stephen Hoffman
HoffmanLabs LLC

[Hein van den Heuvel]

Bonjour Gérard. Bienvenue.

VAXmail does not really do attachments.
Those are in the eyes of the Email content interpreters.
Short messages are stored as data in a single RMS, timestamped, record. Larger messages, ( more than 3 block (1536 bytes) or messages SEND/FOREING are stored as pointers to external files.
Interestingly, the VAXmail API provides the message size in RECORDS.

Internally it uses a LONGWORD bytes counter, so the max message is 2 Gigabytes ( or 4 if the code was written very carefully using unsigneds throughout ) that size is then further stored, and manipulated in BLOCKS (of 512 bytes).


fiw,
Hein.

[Gérard Wendling]

thank's to all for th quick answes.

I ll get some more details and come back...

[Gérard Wendling]

hello,

Here is the error message when sending large files:
%MAIL-E-SENDERR, error sending to user HUGUES.ROOS@MGEL.FR at LOCAL:.MGEL2
-MAIL-E-READERR, error reading $1$DGA1:[PROG.HUG]ENVOI.MIME
-RMS-W-RTB, 47213 byte record too large for user's buffer
%TCPIP-E-SMTP_ABORT, SMTP session aborted

look's like a user's quota no ?
Witch one could it be?

Thanks
Gerard

[Joseph Huber_1]

>> RMS-W-RTB, 47213 byte record too large for user's buffer

This error is not due to the size of the message, but means the record structure is bad.
Either the file header RFM lies: e.g. says it is RFM:STM but in fact is RFM:STMLF, so no line terminator is ever seen.

Do a DIR/FULL of the MIME file.

How was the MIME file constructed ? Imported from another system by which method ?

[Gérard Wendling]

Hello,
This is the way the mime file is created

$! P1 = Name of the attachment file

$! P2 = Destination address

$! P3 = Subject (facultatif)

$

$ define TCPIP$SMTP_FROM "informatique@mgel.fr"

$

$ OPEN/WRITE FILE MIME.COM

$ WRITE FILE "$ MIME :== $SYS$SYSTEM:MIME.EXE"

$ WRITE FILE "$ MIME"

$ WRITE FILE "NEW/NOEDIT ENVOI.MIME"

$ WRITE FILE "ADD ''P1'"

$ WRITE FILE "SAVE"

$ WRITE FILE "EXIT"

$ CLOSE FILE

$ @MIME

$ MAIL/SUBJECT="''P3'" ENVOI.MIME "''P2'"

$ DELETE ENVOI.MIME.*

$ DELETE MIME.COM.*




You mean a dir/full of the mime file or the attachement file?

Thank"s

[Joseph Huber_1]

>>
You mean a dir/full of the mime file or the attachement file?


I mean the MIME file, because that's the one where the "record too big" error happens, i.e.at mail input, not the result.

I wonder what happened to the MIME generated file, the result should be
Record format: Stream_LF

[Joseph Huber_1]

And control the file using TYPE:
it should be a text file with lines no longer than 80 bytes.
For Your problem file, type would get the same "record too big" error than mail.

[Hein van den Heuvel]

When VAXmail creates the extension/external files, it uses OpenVMS RMS record IO.
RMS records are limited to roughly 32KB (16 bits, exact number depends on file type).

Hein.