Messages Not Being Scanned for Spam When Debug Log Shows Error Message: Error gathering message data in preparation for SPA processing

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

Premium Antispam is not detecting spam or the performance is severely degraded on Exchange 2007.

 Symptoms

• Mail Security for Exchange (SMSMSE) Debug log shows following error message:

Error gathering message data in preparation for SPA processing

See the following KB article on how to collect an SMSMSE debug log: How to Obtain Debug Logs for Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE). The relevent section is: To enable logging for transport scanning issues on Exchange 2007 or 2010 (including AntiSpam issues)


• Exchange Transport logs show the helo command issued with no domain following. For example <,helo, instead of <,helo example.com,

To enable Exchange transport logging, complete the steps listed under "To use the Exchange Management Console to enable or disable protocol logging on an existing Receive connector" heading in the Microsoft Technet document 'How to Configure Protocol Logging'

Correlate the timestamps of the "Error gathering message data in preparation for SPA processing" entry in the DebugView log with the message in Exchange Transport logs. If the message in the Exchange Transport logs is the format <,helo, this defect is the cause of your missed spam issue.

 

Cause

Symantec Premium Antispam (PAS, also abbreviated SPA) is unable to process messages when the message contains incomplete header information.

Resolution

Upgrade to Mail Security for Exchange 6.5 or higher. To learn how to obtain the latest version, read Where to download the latest version of Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange.

 

 

Applies To

Microsoft Exchange 2007