ACE Manual

Troubleshooting

General troubleshooting

One of the most important things to know about ACE is that it keeps logs of everything it does. These logs can often help you track down a specific problem. The ACE server's log is found on your virtual server in ~/usr/log/ace (this log is cleared and rotated by ACE whenever you clear or rotate logs). The ACE client, which runs on your computer, keeps the logs "out" and "err" in the ACE program directory. On a typical Windows installation, the files can be found in "C:\Program Files\Ace\".

Files

ACE makes use of several files and programs on your virtual server. If you are having troubles with ACE, the first thing to check is that all the necessary files exist. ACE double checks many of these items when you first log in to your server and will alert you to any problems it detects and cannot fix automatically.

The following files are modified by ACE and must be both readable and writable:

• ~/etc/passwd (user information)
• ~/etc/aliases (alias information)
• ~/etc/spammers (spammer information)
• ~/etc/virtmaps (virtmap information)

The following files, derived from the files above, must be writable by ACE:

• ~/etc/pwd.db
• ~/etc/spwd.db
• ~/etc/aliases.db
• ~/etc/spammers.db
• ~/etc/virtmaps.db

The following files must be readable by ACE:

• /usr/local/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (Apache web server configuration)

The following programs must be readable and executable by ACE and must be stored in one of your virtual server's binary directories (~/bin, ~/usr/bin, or ~/usr/local/bin):

• sendmail
• date
• uname
• gzip
• autoreply

ACE also needs to be able to read and modify the following directories:

• /etc
• /tmp
• /usr/local/etc/httpd/conf

Java VM

Make sure that your Java VM is compatible with ACE. ACE needs a Java 1.1 virtual machine in order to run properly. Java 1.0 or 1.2 virtual machines may cause problems and should not be used to run ACE.

ACE server and client version mismatches

ACE will detect the server version automatically. If the server if newer than the ACE client, then you will be notified that there is a new client available for download. If the client is very out of date (obsolete), then it will not allow you to connect to the server at all and you will need to download the latest version.

Specific problems

ACE refuses to connect to my server

This can be caused by several problems: bad password, network trouble, or failed server installation are the most common.

First, verify that you are using the proper password and that you gave the right machine and user name for your virtual server. ACE will not be able to log in to your server unless this information is correct.

If there is a network outage, ACE will be unable to connect. Be sure that your network connection is up and functional. ACE will attempt to connect on outgoing port 5150. Since some networks and firewalls may not allow such connections, you may need to verify that your network routing will allow ACE to communicate with the virtual server. (Your network administrator or ISP should be able to determine this.)

Finally, it is possible that the automatic ACE server installation has failed. If this is the case, then ACE will terminate the connection. For help getting the server side set up properly, if you think this is the problem, simply contact our support department.

ACE seems very slow

There are many factors which can affect ACE's runtime speed. If you have an older or slower CPU, this will obviously cause problems. The Java VM you use can also have a significant effect on ACE's speed. (A faster virtual machine could easily double or triple ACE's performance!)

The most significant factor, however, is the speed of your network connection -- latency and bandwidth are very important. Because most of ACE's commands must be sent over the Internet and then wait for a response from the server, a slow network connection can grind things to a near-halt. If ACE is extremely sluggish, try to obtain a better network connection if possible.

ACE sometimes exhibits erratic behavior

Because the Java language and virtual machine are still in relative infancy, they are not bug free. As a result of ACE's dependency on Java, occasionally you might experience unusual, slow, or erratic behavior when using ACE. For example, the mouse pointer may incorrectly display (or not display) the wait cursor or the windows may not be drawn correctly.

You can reduce these effects by making sure that Java is installed correctly on your computer. Furthermore, quitting and restarting ACE will typically eliminate most problematic behaviors. We have extensively tested ACE and purposefully avoided triggering bugs known to exist in the Java runtime, so this type of problem should be very rare.

The autoresponder (or alias) that I added with ACE isn't working

This usually happens when you have a virtmap that redirects the mail before the aliases file has an opportunity to handle it. Check your virtmaps carefully to see if there is a "catch all" virtmap that is sending the mail to a different location. You may need to either remove the catch all or create a new virtmap to map specifically to the alias or autoresponder.

Parts of the port scan fail, even when I know the services in question are working

This can happen if you are either behind a firewall or you use an ISP that blocks certain types of port traffic. Firewall users will typically see the HTTP port scan fail. Anyone who has to configure their browser to use an HTTP proxy will see this problem. The FTP port scan can fail for the same reasons. Many ISPs block outgoing SMTP traffic in an effort to control would-be spammers. As a result, you may see the SMTP port scan fail.

The only workaround to this is to use a network or ISP which doesn't block traffic to certain ports. A future version of ACE will allow customers with multiple virtual servers to have one server scan another virtual server. This allows a scan to take place on a network where it is sure that none of the scan will be blocked, making the scan more reliable.

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