IBM Support

Unable to send emails from Cognos Server but no errors appear in the cogserver.log file

Troubleshooting


Problem

Scheduled emails are not been send from Cognos Server and there is no specific error related to SMTP server connection.

Symptom

Schedule emails not being received. Testing Email server connection in Cognos Configuration for SMTP server fails. The below steps would only help if you are having connection issue with your SMTP server.

Environment

Windows, Linux

Resolving The Problem

Steps to resolve the issue :
1) From the Cognos BI Server ping the SMTP server which has been specified in Cognos Configuration. The ping should be successful. If this step is successful then only proceed with further steps.

2) Confirm the following details from your Mail Server administrator and set the same in Cognos Configuration.
a) SMTP Mail Server IP address or Fully Qualified Domain Name.
b) SMTP Mail Server port number is by default 25. However if SSL connection is only excepted by your Mail server then the port number should be 465. This information should be know to Mail server administrator.
c) Check if login credential is required to connect to SMTP server. If yes, get the username and password and enter the same in Cognos Configuration. If you are making an ESMTP connection then username and password is mandatory to be entered.
By this step the connection should test successful, however if it still does not succeed you can go for step 3.

3) Send email in a Hard Coded way using commands as below :
a) On command line enter the below command
telnet <SMTP_IP/hostname> <Port number[25/465]>
After you hit enter it should login you in successfully. If not then you may have to check with OS Administrator/Firewall administrator if there is something blocking the connection between Cognos BI Server and SMTP server.
b) Post successfully connection you can follow the below steps from Cognos BI Server:
HELO <Domain_Name> [Hit Enter Key]
MAIL FROM: [email protected] [Hit Enter Key]
RCPT TO: [email protected] [Hit Enter Key]
Type word DATA [HIT Enter Key]

On the next line, type SUBJECT: test and [Hit Enter Key] twice. Replace “test” with your desired subject

Type your message. When you’re done, [Hit Enter Key]

Type a single . to end the message, then [Hit Enter Key]. You should see a message that confirms your message was accepted or queued. This message varies across servers.

Post this if you see any error message, this needs to be reported to your Mail Server Administrator.

QUIT [Hit Enter Key] to come out of the command line window.

This will confirm is the email is actually been send or not.

4) Post this if the issue still exist then please contact Support so that they can help you to generate SDS trace to figure out why the emails are not being send out.

[{"Product":{"code":"SSEP7J","label":"Cognos Business Intelligence"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU059","label":"IBM Software w\/o TPS"},"Component":"Install and Config","Platform":[{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"10.2.2;10.2.1;10.2","Edition":"All Editions","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB10","label":"Data and AI"}},{"Product":{"code":"SSEP7J","label":"Cognos Business Intelligence"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU053","label":"Cloud \u0026 Data Platform"},"Component":"Install and Config","Platform":[{"code":"","label":""}],"Version":"","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"","label":""}},{"Product":{"code":"SSEP7J","label":"Cognos Business Intelligence"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU053","label":"Cloud \u0026 Data Platform"},"Component":"Report Studio","Platform":[{"code":"","label":""}],"Version":"","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"","label":""}},{"Product":{"code":"SUNSET","label":"PRODUCT REMOVED"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU053","label":"Cloud \u0026 Data Platform"},"Component":"ReportNet","Platform":[{"code":"","label":""}],"Version":"","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"","label":""}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
28 November 2022

UID

swg21339824