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Veeam does not send automated emails but email test configuration works


Userlevel 2

Hi everyone, i’ve been having this problem for a while now…

Email notifications after backup completion are not being sent anymore to the specified email address, but when i test the credentials the email arrives successfully to my email account. I’m using the Veeam Agent 5.0 on a windows server 2012 r2. No veeam B&R is implied, just the agent making backups to a local disk.

Additional informations:

i recently changed the email server for the email account, before changing it everything was fine and the backup emails arrived, so at a first glance it seemed a problem with the email server; but i made a clean installation of veeam agent 5.0 on another server, using the same credentials, and the emails for the backup job are arriving regularly; so this excludes the fact that it may be a problem of the new email server(and also the fact that the email tests arrive without any problem).

So i thought this may be a problem related to some veeam files regarding the old installation, so here’s what i did:

-uninstalled veeam from the exe;

-removed the following directories and files:

c:\programdata\veeam

c:\program files\Veeam

c:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\

After the removal of the directories listed above i reinstalled the veeam agent 5.0, configured the job using the “map backup” option, clicked the old .vbm so that it keeps track of the older backups, and then finished it. I also configured from scratch the email parameters and sent the email test, it worked just fine. So i started the backup job and, after it finished, nothing has arrived….

I already opened a ticket but i also wanted to share what happened to me so that it might be useful to someone else in the future that encounters the same problem as mine. Hope i gave you guys a clear panoramic of the situation, thanks in advance.

Gabriele.

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Best answer by regnor 28 August 2021, 12:02

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25 comments

Userlevel 1

Hope to get a solution soon!

 

We have the same problem here, no EMail Notification after backup, however Testmails arrive without problems.

The issue startet after installing Windows Client 5.

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

I've found the following topic in the R&D forums: https://forums.veeam.com/post421776.html?hilit=Notification#p421776

According to that it could be a problem with TLS. If your mail server enforces TLS1.2, Veeam would/could still try to use TLS 1.0. Perhaps this is your issue.

https://www.veeam.com/kb2853

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Mhh, you say, with your old mail address all was working fine...

Are you using another mail provider now?

Perhaps your corporate firewall or mail relay is dropping mails with the new mail domain?

Userlevel 2

Mhh, you say, with your old mail address all was working fine...

Are you using another mail provider now?

Perhaps your corporate firewall or mail relay is dropping mails with the new mail domain?

I don’t think so, as i said in the previous message both email tests and automated emails from a completely new installation of veeam on another server are being sent without any problem of a kind.

I also said that i didn’t change the email address, but just the email server(SMTP), and i tested it with email test.

I want to make clearer the fact that i installed and configured the veeam agent on a completely different machine that has NOTHING to do with this one that is giving me problems, and the automated emails to the SAME email account are arriving. This is the thing that i can’t figure out.

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Hi @gabriele.fr 

Have you seen the helpcenter documentation for this? Enabling Email Notifications - Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Guide

 

That emails arrive when you test but not during the actual job process sounds like an issue with the notification settings, what are these currently set to? I understand you’ve said that this happened after changing mail server, but I’m just making sure we’ve got all the details right.

 

Is this an internal mail server you’re sending to or external? Have you checked the Veeam Agent logs to see if it says whether it tried to send the email and failed etc? If the email server is internal it should be easy enough to get the logs from also to see if Veeam Agent did try to send the email.

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

I think @jszanto12063 means the usage a TLS 1.0 in the Veeam agent.

As far as I know there is TLS 1.0 used only in the moment. Perhaps this is changed in the next versions. Unfortunately I don't have further information about this topic.

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

This is a real shame.  Multiple months for VEEAM only supporting TLS1.0 which has been deprecated for good reasons (e.g. BEAST attack) by all secure mail providers (such as M365).  No support response to the “free community” - this sends a negative message to the community.  Come on VEEAM … do you take security seriously?

This is the community. If you need a response from veeam, then try R&D forums. Veeam employees (product management) are active there. But not the support department. For that you need to open a support case.

Userlevel 2

Hi @gabriele.fr 

Have you seen the helpcenter documentation for this? Enabling Email Notifications - Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Guide

 

That emails arrive when you test but not during the actual job process sounds like an issue with the notification settings, what are these currently set to? I understand you’ve said that this happened after changing mail server, but I’m just making sure we’ve got all the details right.

 

Is this an internal mail server you’re sending to or external? Have you checked the Veeam Agent logs to see if it says whether it tried to send the email and failed etc? If the email server is internal it should be easy enough to get the logs from also to see if Veeam Agent did try to send the email.


Hi, yes all the configuration settings are correct, as the test emails work fine. In the notification settings both entries(enable control panel notifications - enable email notifications) are marked. The email server is external.

these are the logs that i see(note: i’ve modified the email address on purpose, the address is not(obviously) made by only asterisks):

[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Info     Sending email notification, server '**********@******.com', port '587', timeout '180000', use ssl 'True', to '**********@******.com'
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error    Failure sending mail. (System.Net.Mail.SmtpException)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error       at Veeam.Backup.Common.Network.SendMailEx.SendMailWithCancellation(SmtpClient client, MailMessage message, CancellationToken token)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error       at Veeam.Backup.Core.Components.Reports.CReportMailer.SendMessage(ISmtpClient smtpClient, MailMessage message, Nullable`1 cancellationToken)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error    A call to SSPI failed, see inner exception. (System.Security.Authentication.AuthenticationException)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error       at System.Net.Mail.SmtpConnection.ConnectAndHandshakeAsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult result)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error       at System.Net.Mail.SmtpTransport.EndGetConnection(IAsyncResult result)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error       at System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient.ConnectCallback(IAsyncResult result)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error    The function requested is not supported (System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Info     Failed to send email notification: Unable to connect to SMTP server because of invalid credentials or connection settings.
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error    One or more errors occurred.
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error    Unable to connect to SMTP server because of invalid credentials or connection settings.   at Veeam.Backup.Core.Components.Reports.CReportMailer.SendMessage(ISmtpClient smtpClient, MailMessage message, Nullable`1 cancellationToken)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error       at Veeam.Backup.Core.Components.Reports.CReportMailer.SendMessage(MailMessage message, NetworkCredential credentials, Nullable`1 cancellationToken)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error       at Veeam.Backup.Core.Components.Reports.CReportMailer.SendMessage(MailMessage message)
[06.07.2021 09:40:44] <01> Error       at Veeam.Backup.Core.Components.Reports.CSessionReportMailer.TrySendReport(CReportMailContents contents, String to, String subject)

I know it says unable to connect to smtp server, but:

  • the test email works perfectly fine with the same parameters
  • when performing a backup, my colleague monitored the logs of the mail server and nothing seemed to happen there, as if the email never reached the mail server(which is what it’s currently happening)

Hope i’ve been clear, thanks for the support and sorry for the late reply!

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

The email server is EXTERNAL, with a FQDN and a PTR properly configured.

The point is that emails get sent with no issues at all when pushing the test configuration button.
That means that Veeam can reach the email server and can successfully authenticate and relay.

On the other hand, upon a job completion, no notification is sent, with the errors reported in the logs above.

We are running the 5.0.0.4301 version, so I guess we aren’t entitled to commercial support, but we believe this relates to a bug in the product that should be fixed anyway.

In the meantime, while investigating and fixing, we would really appreciate to workaround the issue, if possible.

Thanks a lot for any advice you will offer.

Hi,

 

That is the latest version, it’s just a matter of whether you’re using the free “Community” Support or you’re paying for support. Veeam paid support has both phone and email based support, whereas Community edition is a best-effort basis, email only support, so you can still raise a case, if it is a bug, they'll appreciate the reporting of it.

They’ll want to see some evidence though so definitely collect all your logs and any appropriate network captures.

 

Thanks

Userlevel 2

ok, i’ve opened a ticket, hope i’ll receive a response as soon as possible. Thanks for now.

Gabriele

So, when is Veeam going to deprecate use of less secure protocols and switch to TLS 1.2/1.3?

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

So, when is Veeam going to deprecate use of less secure protocols and switch to TLS 1.2/1.3?

@JMeixner once create a post about supported encryption standards: 

Maybe he has an answer?

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

This needs to be shouted out about more as systems such as Office 365 only support TLS 1.2+
 

Thanks for sharing.

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Check DNS and then put a glance at TLS 1.2+ if works correctly
https://docs.microsoft.com/it-it/mem/configmgr/core/plan-design/security/enable-tls-1-2-server

Hi

same Problem. It works for a long time on two maschines. From on day to another it stop working.

Test Mail Button works.

Send Mail after Job finish doesn’t work any more.

Failed to Send email notification: Unable to connect to SMTP Server because of invalid credentials or connection settings.

test button works and mail received mailbox.

test email has been successfully send...

i think it is a bug. Please fix it!

thanks

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Hi @Xerver ,
please open a support call.

Hi

i habe open a case.

hope Veeam will help free users.

bye

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

It is a best effort support for free users and it can take some time.

Hi

Thanks regnor.
It works!!! Mails were send by backup job.

have a nice day :-)

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Hi

Thanks regnor.
It works!!! Mails were send by backup job.

have a nice day :-)

That's great, thanks for your feedback 😊

 

This is a real shame.  Multiple months for VEEAM only supporting TLS1.0 which has been deprecated for good reasons (e.g. BEAST attack) by all secure mail providers (such as M365).  No support response to the “free community” - this sends a negative message to the community.  Come on VEEAM … do you take security seriously?

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

The "free community" is made up of sysadmins like you who try to help other people in their free time, nobody pays us for it and we don't work for Veeam. We try our best to help and grow all together.

Better open a ticket to Veeam’s support team.

Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Thanks for getting back to us. Are you aiming at an FQDN or an IP address for the mail server? I’ve seen funky things whereby an FQDN is set to perform DNS round robin and answer as one of multiple email servers and that causes issues.

 

If you are fully licensed I’d recommend a Veeam support ticket as they’ll do a remote session with you to help with any captures necessary to troubleshoot as we’re getting into potentially sensitive information territory here. If the mail server is internal I’d rule DNS out by aiming at the IP address.

It could be worth a packet capture on your device you’ve got Veeam Agent running on, so you can see exactly what IP address it’s trying to reach and confirm that is the mail server and what port etc. I only mention this as you said it sounds like the email isn’t making it to the mail server when the backup is running, so it would be good to validate the packets are leaving the device as expected.

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

This is a real shame.  Multiple months for VEEAM only supporting TLS1.0 which has been deprecated for good reasons (e.g. BEAST attack) by all secure mail providers (such as M365).  No support response to the “free community” - this sends a negative message to the community.  Come on VEEAM … do you take security seriously?

Which product are you referring to? Veeam Agent or Veeam Backup & Replication?

For Backup & Replication Update v11a should have solved the issue about TLS and 1.2 should now be used. I’m not sure if this also counts for the Veeam Agent 5.0.1.4584; but I would suggest to update and check if it works. If not, you can still force TLS1.2 with this KB: https://www.veeam.com/kb2853

Userlevel 2

The email server is EXTERNAL, with a FQDN and a PTR properly configured.

The point is that emails get sent with no issues at all when pushing the test configuration button.
That means that Veeam can reach the email server and can successfully authenticate and relay.

On the other hand, upon a job completion, no notification is sent, with the errors reported in the logs above.

We are running the 5.0.0.4301 version, so I guess we aren’t entitled to commercial support, but we believe this relates to a bug in the product that should be fixed anyway.

In the meantime, while investigating and fixing, we would really appreciate to workaround the issue, if possible.

Thanks a lot for any advice you will offer.

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