Is there Hope for Lost E-Mail?

7.4

Is there Hope for Lost E-Mail?

by Ron Herardian
©1999 Global System Services Corporation (GSS)

IT departments blame "the Internet" but usually when e-mail is lost it is because of incompatible systems and human error behind the scenes.  Although the Internet is a dangerous place for a lone e-mail message, there is hope for lost e-mail.

To users e-mail is like the telephone.  It's ubiquitous, easy to use, always available, and generally reliable.  But sometimes when you place a phone call the call doesn't go through.  Most of the reasons why e-mail doesn't get delivered are similar to the reasons why a phone call doesn't go through--it's the wrong number, the circuits are busy, the number has been changed or disconnected, or you have the wrong area code.  The same things apply to e-mail messages.

With e-mail, a system may be too busy to send a message for several hours, you may have a wrong e-mail address, an account may have been deleted, an address may have been changed, or you may have the wrong Internet domain name.  These common problems cause e-mail messages to be returned to the sender with an explanation of what went wrong.  Sometimes, however, e-mail messages don't 'bounce' but instead they seem to 'just disappear'.

While the telephone network is consistent in the technologies that make it up, e-mail is a patchwork of fundamentally different technologies.  If you have a cell phone you may notice that you sometimes loose your connection when moving between 'cells' while driving.  A similar situation occurs in the e-mail world.

Ron Herardian explains that e-mail travels from point to point in a series of 'hops'.  Often, an e-mail message will actually pass from one kind of e-mail system to another with each hop.  Unfortunately, not all e-mail technologies are created equal and the multiplicity of e-mail systems can make the tremendously complex behind the scenes.

The main cause of 'lost' mail is that each e-mail technology uses a different kind of address.  When an e-mail message travels between different systems it may pass through 'gateways' that link two or more fundamentally different e-mail system together.  Gateways have to rewrite or map addresses from one system, such as the Internet, to another system, such as Microsoft Exchange, and then back again.  This process is often fraught with errors and it is the main cause of 'lost' e-mail.

E-mail messages don't "just disappear."  When an error occurs that causes a message to be 'lost' there is usually an error reported to the administrator of the system where the message got stuck.  Sometimes a message is sent to an administrator and at other times messages are held in a queue waiting for someone to correct whatever the problem is.  Unfortunately, e-mail administrators, and especially ISPs, are often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of 'postmaster' or 'administrator' e-mail created by different kinds of errors and by user queries and complaints.  The sad truth is that most 'lost' e-mail isn't really lost.  It is deleted by administrators who just can't keep up.

If an e-mail message is ‘lost’ there may still be hope.  When users at a major company complained that they were receiving all of their messages almost exactly 24 hours after they had been sent (e-mail was expected to take about 5 minutes).  A baffled customer called Global System Services.  GSS found that the problem was caused by an overloaded e-mail gateway that would become so backlogged during business hours (when there was a lot of e-mail traffic) that it couldn't catch up until just before the next business day began.

After 3 days of frustration, another GSS client called for help.  The IT department explained that they could observe e-mail messages coming into their system on the same machine where they were supposed to be delivered, but the e-mail seemed to 'disappear'.  GSS found that the e-mail was being forwarded because of a configuration error from the machine where it should have been delivered to another machine where it got stuck (the messages couldn't be returned to the sender or delivered).  Although the problem was fixed the same day and all of the e-mail was delivered, the machine where the e-mail had been stuck for as long as 3 days was dubbed the 'black hole'.

Many things can go wrong but there is always a solution.  With properly designed, configured, and operated e-mail systems 'lost' e-mail is virtually impossible; and often e-mail messages that are missing in action and presumed 'lost' are actually awaiting rescue on some distant machine.  Unfortunately, e-mail messages that have gone astray are more likely to be summarily deleted than to be saved.

About GSS

Global System Services Corporation (GSS) is the leading provider of consulting and professional services for large-scale and distributed infrastructure systems such as email and messaging, directory services, groupware, and wireless solutions. GSS customers include Fortune 500 companies, large services providers and telecom companies, government agencies, major messaging product vendors, and innovative technology startups.

GSS provides a complementary suite of services including strategic technology consultation and competitive vendor and product analysis, product and system architecture and design, system development deployment, customization, and testing, technical support, email migration, and other IT services. GSS has been directly responsible for some of the largest global systems and solutions and counts as customers many of the largest companies in the world.

From its offices in the Silicon Valley California, GSS delivers services and solutions to customers worldwide through a network of mobile consultants and qualified GSS Affiliates. With industry certified professionals on staff, GSS is a Qualified Lotus Business Partner, a Certified Microsoft Solution Provider (MCSP), a Principal Partner in the Sun Partner Advantage program and a member of the Sun Software Partner Council, as well as a member of key industry organizations.

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©1995-2005 by Global System Services Corporation (GSS). Portions of this material are copyright ©1995-1999 by Ron Herardian