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Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

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    Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

    Hi All,
    I have been using email_send_mandrill() for a while and it works beautifully without issues, but today I started getting complains from users getting errors while sending emails.

    This is basically my code, and the pResult.error is always .T. but the pResult.result array is always empty so when I try to assess any of its properties like pResult.result.name, it will crash because it does not exist.I have been using email_send_mandrill() for a while and it works beautifully without issues, but today I started getting complains from users getting errors while sending emails.

    This is basically my code, and the pResult.error is always .T. but the pResult.result array is always empty so when I try to assess any of its properties like pResult.result.name, it will crash because it does not exist.
    Code:
    '--////////////////////////////
    '-- Send email here.
    '--////////////////////////////
    dim pResult as p
    dim mandrillKey as c = ""
    pResult = email_send_mandrill(mandrillKey,ms)
     
    dim resultMessage as c = ""
    if pResult.error then
         if eval_valid("pResult.result") then
              resultMessage = "There was an error sending your email:<br>Error: " + js_escape(pResult.result.name) + "<br>Message: " + js_escape(pResult.result.message)
         else
              if eval_valid("pResult.errorText") then
                   resultMessage = "There was an error sending your email:<br>Error: " + js_escape(pResult.errorText)   
              end if
         end if
    else
          resultMessage = "Your email was sent successfully to:<br>" + sendToAlias + " (" + sendToAddress + ")"
    end if
    I found an notification in Mandrill Blogs http://blog.mandrill.com/updated-ssl...-mandrill.html that today 12/17/2014 they are updating their SSL CERTS to use SHA-2 hashing, could this be affecting AA when using the Mandrill API?
    If you maintain the server or application that's using Mandrill's API or SMTP integration, you'll want to be sure your SSL library handles SHA-2. For example, if you're using Python, support will depend on which OpenSSL version you're using.
    P.S.
    My application is also using an SSL certificate.

    Thanks
    Last edited by Progytech; 12-17-2014, 03:08 PM. Reason: Add Mandrill quote about using API
    Edhy Rijo
    Progytech
    (Computer Consultants)
    The makers of CardTracking.Net
    www.progytech.com

    #2
    Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

    Jason at Zebrahost has already contacted Alpha. It would appear to be an Alpha issue because we started having the same issue about an hour ago.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

      FYI, our SMTP call works because that's how I received a notification from our system. I also emailed Mandrill and informed them that I was quite upset that they didn't send out any notification email.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

        Further FYI, our system sends out around 700,000 emails per month and our current API code has been working for over 6 months so it is not a code issue.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

          Hi Jay,
          Thanks for the confirmation, that is what I suspected, specially after reading Mandrill's blogs with today announcement.
          It is very concerning that they would make a change that can result in users not been able to send emails without previously notifying their user base with enough time to plan for this change.

          I also reported this to Alpha but I have not received any confirmation from them yet. Will let you know if I get any news.
          Thanks again!!!
          Edhy Rijo
          Progytech
          (Computer Consultants)
          The makers of CardTracking.Net
          www.progytech.com

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

            Edhy, did you send a report to the bugs email address? If so, it has not come through. But in any case, Jason at Zebra contacted about this as Jay mentioned, and we are investigating it now. Alpha Anywhere and the Application Server generally have no issues connecting to servers with no SHA-1 support so we are unsure of the cause at this time but will provide a solution as soon as possible if it is something on our side.

            -Lenny

            Lenny Forziati
            Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
            Alpha Software Corporation

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

              Hi Lenny,
              Originally posted by Lenny Forziati View Post
              Edhy, did you send a report to the bugs email address? If so, it has not come through.
              Nope, I emailed Jerry directly.
              My website is using SSL, don't know if that is the case for Jay, maybe that may have something to do.
              Edhy Rijo
              Progytech
              (Computer Consultants)
              The makers of CardTracking.Net
              www.progytech.com

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

                The cause of the problem has been identified and addressed. Mandrill's server now uses an SSL certificate with an unrecognized CA root and the unrecognized CA prevented the SSL connection from being established.

                The update to work with their new certificate will be included in tomorrow's release.

                Alternatively, you may write your function to make the Mandrill API calls directly instead of depending on the email_send_mandrill() internal function.

                -Lenny
                Last edited by Lenny Forziati; 12-17-2014, 05:09 PM.

                Lenny Forziati
                Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
                Alpha Software Corporation

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

                  Mandrill has now updated the certificate chain being sent by their servers, and that chain is properly recognized. Alpha users can now use the Mandrill functionality again without any update of Alpha Anywhere or the Application Server required.

                  Lenny Forziati
                  Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
                  Alpha Software Corporation

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

                    Thanks Lenny. And thanks for the quick response, as always.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

                      Hi Lenny,

                      Originally posted by Lenny Forziati View Post
                      Mandrill has now updated the certificate chain being sent by their servers, and that chain is properly recognized.
                      Thanks for the information. Now learning from this experience, we can assume that if Mandrill does anything on their side that would prevent emails from being sent, that the wrapper function email_send_mandrill() could be aware of that situation and simple update the resulting pointer variable so our code does not crash and we can just display a message to the end user, hope this can be enhanced since this function and the Mandrill functionality is just awesome!!!
                      Edhy Rijo
                      Progytech
                      (Computer Consultants)
                      The makers of CardTracking.Net
                      www.progytech.com

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

                        Hi Edhy,

                        The returning code from Mandrill will tell you if the call was successful. That's actually how we knew. If the call fails, we send an email to our support notifying us of the failure and we give the user a message that the email did not go through and to either try again or contact customer support. By luck, the failure email to our support staff used the SMTP call, not the API call so it went through.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

                          Hi Jay,

                          Code:
                          dim pResult as p
                          dim mandrillKey as c = ""
                          pResult = email_send_mandrill(mandrillKey,ms)
                          Yes, but in this case only the pResult.error will return .t. or .f. and the rest of the properties we used to inform the user of the error, will be invalid or not created, so my code posted before will crash, here one of the error from the log file:
                          Code:
                          ==========================================================
                          Wed Dec 17 11:40:33 2014
                          
                          
                          Thread: AppServerWorker5
                          Request URI: /__a5RunGrid.a5w?__pageName=__a5runGrid.a5w&__gridFilename=StudentAgingOutReportQueryGrid&__alias=TBI_STUDENTAGI_231350MSAC&__unsaved=no&_isLookupGrid=false
                          Line: 121 			resultMessage = "There was an error sending your email:<br>Error: " + js_esca
                          Property not found 
                          pResult.result.message subelement not found.
                          Execution Stack:
                          0#1 evaluate_shared_private(           
                          0#37 OOhttpdServerClientMIME(ptemp,"AppServerMain")
                          0#2 A5WCallResult = evaluate_a5w_to_response(page_contents,Response,quote(" " + eval_settings.global.Request.ScriptName),eval_settings,EVALUATE_A5W_TIMEOUT,RequestBundle.RequestInfo.Filename.Path)
                          0#62 x_out = a5_ajax_grid(tmpl)
                          0#121 resultMessage = "There was an error sending your email:<br>Error: " + js_escape(pResult.result.name) + "<br>Message: " + js_escape(pResult.result.message)
                          I can simply use pResult.error and said email was not sent, but it is better if the result array can be populated and it is normally when the email could not be sent by any other reason like invalid email, or something like that.
                          Edhy Rijo
                          Progytech
                          (Computer Consultants)
                          The makers of CardTracking.Net
                          www.progytech.com

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

                            Received this from Mandrill this morning (and also forwarded to Alpha so they're in the loop). Explains why it began working again yesterday afternoon.

                            ______________________________________________________________________________________________
                            Thanks for the email. I really do appreciate that this interrupted your business, and we do apologize for the inconvenience it would've caused. It was a mistake on our part that we didn't provide better notice of the change, as the blog post wasn't read by many of those affected. We've definitely learned from the experience, and we'll absolutely provide better notification of similar changes that occur in the future, including sending an email with more information.

                            In the mean time, our developers have decided to modify our configuration to accommodate those requiring SHA-1 root certs—this should help address the majority of yesterday's issues. Of course, if you ever any lingering questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let us know. We'll be here to help.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Unable to send emails via email_send_mandrill() today 12/17/2014

                              Alpha does NOT require SHA-1 certificates or roots in any way.

                              Lenny Forziati
                              Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
                              Alpha Software Corporation

                              Comment

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