Ok, since lot of people have problem with this kind of error and none of you supporters gave the shadow of an answer, I decided to write once per day a topic about this: sorry if this would seem bad, but if it's the only way to get your attention maybe it's worth it...

Well, I wrote (www.dmxzone.com/forum/link.asp?TOPIC_ID=30333) some months a go a support requst: Camillah answer was unuseful, and I had no answer anymore...

Now, I tried with CDONTS, CDO, AspEmail and all give the same error:
-----------------------------------
msxml3.dll error '80072ee2'

The operation timed out

/shr/ScriptLibrary/incSmartMailer.asp, line 1161
------------------------------------
The timeout script is set to 30000, so this is not the problem
As in this topic: www.dmxzone.com/forum/link.asp?TOPIC_ID=29684, only a few mails are sent, then there's an Operation timeout
Of course, the Flash shows a "Can't load progress information" after a while, but even if this doesn't work as it should, this is not the main problem..
The main problem is that can't send the newsletter 'cause of the Timeout

That's all
See you tomorrow for another topic about this, since you don't solve our problem

The timeout is generated by msxml object. I suppose you use a template, the msxml is used to load this template and this is generating the timeout.

Is the template an asp-page or a simple html?

The flash progress is a known problem, the file with the progress information get locked and flash can't access it anymore. There is currently not a solid solution for this, the problem only exists on large number of emails and the best way is to edit the include script that it does update the progress file less often to prevent locks.

--------------------------------------------------
Patrick Woldberg
Web Developer at Dynamic Zones
Administrator at DMXzone.com, FLzone.net, FWzone.net and DNzone.com
--------------------------------------------------

HI Ivan,

It seems that when the SmartMailer tries to load the template page - it times out.

Is the template page very heavy?

there can be other timeouts defined, see www.aspfaq.com/show.asp?id=2407
but the defaults seems ok to me ... it should work in normal situation.

Could you see after how many mails this happens? Also are you sending all the images bundled in the mail or linked to your website?

Greetings,
George

--------------------------------------------------
George Petrov - Founder of the Dynamic Zones
DMXzone.com, FWzone.net, FLzone.net, CFzone.net,
DNzone.com, FlashFocus.nl
--------------------------------------------------

Also maybe your webserver is behind a proxy?

Then the administrator of your server should look at:

msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/xmlsdk/html/serverxmlhttpproxy.asp?frame=true

Greetings,
George

--------------------------------------------------
George Petrov - Founder of the Dynamic Zones
DMXzone.com, FWzone.net, FLzone.net, CFzone.net,
DNzone.com, FlashFocus.nl
--------------------------------------------------

Hi George, at first thanks for the answer... This is a really strange problem that I don't know how to solve...

About the template: the page code is 32Kb with three Recordset applied (two of them are "filtered", and one is not but it extracts less than 15 records)...

The parsed page, with images, is about 80 Kb

I also tried this: www.aspfaq.com/show.asp?id=2407, adding the right code to the incSmartMailer.asp page (before the objHttp.open "GET", SM_Url, false row) but with no luck

The script timeouts after sending about 20 mails (read on the tmp file that is created and that's not deleted 'cause of the error)

Images are not embedded - the "Embed images" on SmartMailer is unchecked, but I can see CSS and Images even if, in the E-mail I receive, the path is relative...

About the proxy, I'm asking my boss and I'll make you know... but with a simple script like this: freeasp.html.it/script/view_script.asp?id=144 I've no problem in sending the page, except that I lose all the relative images and CSS...
Ok, I just got the answer: none of the server is behind a proxy or use a proxy... the problem gets complicated...

I stay tuned on your answers!

for Patrick: the page is an ASP page with content generated dinamically (template.asp?Newsletter=#ID_of_Newsletter#)
Thanks you, too!

Edited by - ivanhalen on 29 Mar 2005 16:23:38

Edited by - ivanhalen on 29 Mar 2005 16:24:54

Edited by - ivanhalen on 30 Mar 2005 15:26:34

George has some good points to check indeed.

So the first 20 are send correctly. Is there any limitation of the number of connections allowed on the server? I think it cound be some server setting that is limiting it, is it running on Windows 2000 or 2003?

--------------------------------------------------
Patrick Woldberg
Web Developer at Dynamic Zones
Administrator at DMXzone.com, FLzone.net, FWzone.net and DNzone.com
--------------------------------------------------

Quote

George has some good points to check indeed.

So the first 20 are send correctly. Is there any limitation of the number of connections allowed on the server? I think it cound be some server setting that is limiting it, is it running on Windows 2000 or 2003?

--------------------------------------------------
Patrick Woldberg
Web Developer at Dynamic Zones
Administrator at DMXzone.com, FLzone.net, FWzone.net and DNzone.com
--------------------------------------------------

It's running on windows 2003 Server: is there some place where I can look at to see if there are some limitations on number of connections allowed?

Just tried on Windows XP Pro, and it doesn't work either: same problem, it stops after sending about 24 mails and I get the timeout error for the msxml3.dll...

Can you send a copy of the asp script to me ( ), also sent one to george ( ).

--------------------------------------------------
Patrick Woldberg
Web Developer at Dynamic Zones
Administrator at DMXzone.com, FLzone.net, FWzone.net and DNzone.com
--------------------------------------------------

Guys, it's simply unbelievable: I just found out what's the problem (but still have no solution), becouse I step-copied every file from the "not working site" to a new one trying everytime to send mails...
So, I just found out, as in great thriller movies or books, that the "killer" is the one you didn't expect: the mail sending works great until I put the "global.asa" in the file root...
In an unknown (for me) way, the script into the "global.asa" conflicts with Smart Mailer and causes the "msxml3.dll error" timeout:

The script into "global.asa" counts online (active) users, and is this:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript" RUNAT="Server">
Sub Application_OnStart
Application("ActiveUsers" = 0
End Sub

Sub Session_OnStart
' setta il timeout di default 10
Session.Timeout = 10
Application.Lock
Application("ActiveUsers" = Application("ActiveUsers" + 1
Application.UnLock
End Sub

Sub Session_OnEnd
' quando il visitatore esce (-1)
Application.Lock
Application("ActiveUsers" = Application("ActiveUsers" - 1
Application.UnLock
End Sub
</SCRIPT>

So, now that the problem is found, what can I do to retain the "global.asa" and mke Smart Mailer work?
Thanks

well I have to say one thing - this is the weirdest thing I've seen ...
Seems ASP has his misterious ways ...

Maybe try to get rid of the Session.Timeout in global.asa ...?

Greetings,
George

--------------------------------------------------
George Petrov - Founder of the Dynamic Zones
DMXzone.com, FWzone.net, FLzone.net, CFzone.net,
DNzone.com, FlashFocus.nl
--------------------------------------------------

I tried to comment the "Session.Timeout" line, but had no luck...
anyway I confirm that it's a "global.asa" issue, and particularly the Session_OnStart and SessionOnEnd subs: if I comment these, but not the Application_OnStart, the Smart Mailer works perfectly...
When I un-comment one of these, or both, I have the Timeout error... <img src=../images/dmxzone/forum/icon_smile_question.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=../images/dmxzone/forum/icon_smile_question.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=../images/dmxzone/forum/icon_smile_question.gif border=0 align=middle> very very strange...
Did you tried on your own if you have the same problem?

Hi Ivan,

i had the same problem. Our site uses the global.asa and since we moved to 2003 server we were having the same problems.

Can you tell me how you managed to 'count' your 'send' items? Do you have a insert/update command for every record? Or do you count every 10 mails?

I have installed all of the latest MSXML updates, have tried getting rid of global.asa in the file root, and I still get the error. I've tried different components to send the mail, have specified alternate SMTP servers, you name it.

Claiming "strange things" about ASP as a source of the problem, that's a poor excuse.

Is there really no solution for this?

Hey,

This possibly might help.

adsutil get w3svc/AspExecuteInMTA

This should retrieve the ASPExecuteInMTA setting. IF you have this set to 1, you will probably be experiencing problems on your site. If you are running multiple IIS slots, you can disable this for the specific slot, or alternatively disable it for the entire server.

The following command will disable it for the entire server :

adsutil set w3svc/78/AspExecuteInMTA 1

If you are running multiple slots :

adsutil set w3svc/SLOT/AspExecuteInMTA 1

Changing this resolved the issue for me.

--Mark

You might also turn off the sessions in the page used for mailing template. There is no use to have sessions there as it is all run server side.

Just add this line at the top of the asp template file:

&lt;%@ EnableSessionState=False %&gt;

this will speed up your web page and thus avoid timeout errors.
This might also solve the global.asa problem as this is no longer used when you switch off the session state for the page.

See also: www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/062099-1.shtml
and www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/060700-1.shtml

Greetings,
George

--------------------------------------------------
George Petrov - Founder of the Dynamic Zones
DMXzone.com, FWzone.net, FLzone.net, CFzone.net,
DNzone.com, FlashFiles.nl
--------------------------------------------------

The simple presence of global.asa is not the problem here, not are any session states.

After spending a significant amount of time debugging this issue, I hve verified that the problem lies in how the code within incSmartMailer.asp is building the template via Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP.X -- specifically, the error means that the HTTP request template cannot properly load the template.

(this little component by the way is up to version 6, perhaps FAQs and suggestions should be updated)

Although I could never modify the incSmartMailer.asp enough to make the template-building process work properly using any version of Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP.X (including Miscrosoft.XMLGTTP), I found that if I built a simple template-building routine on my own outside of the script (and thus didn't define a template via SmartMailer), I could circumvent this bug.

That said, this is still a workaround and the current version of the script does not work as-is with Server 2K3.

Finally, as much as turning off session states may speed things up a bit, the script still takes its own sweet time loop through its execution, especially when you're trying to mail to a list with a few thousand addresses. This appears to be a result of the fact that the template is being built from scratch via Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP.X for each and every address.

Using HTTP requests to build a template over and over and over again... not exactly the most robust method.


Edited by - greenie on 27 Apr 2006 01:26:52

Howdy,
Has there been any worthwhile solution to the above problem up to date?

From the above am I to assume that the official answer is still that it is an XML problem with MS Server 2003?

JB Willers

Hello DMX-team,

get this error sending SM email with template:

msxml3.dll error '80072ee2'

The operation timed out

/ScriptLibrary/incSmartMailer.asp, line 1225

Check if there is no problem in the template, open it with your browser to see if it opens correctly.

--------------------------------------------------
Patrick Woldberg
Web Developer at Dynamic Zones
Administrator at DMXzone.com, FLzone.net, FWzone.net and DNzone.com
--------------------------------------------------

DMX-team,

When will the time-out issue FIXED. I have big problems with a client. Their newsletter doesn't work anymore....PLEASE NEED A SOLUTION

We also experience problems with Smart Mailer timing out when sending mails based on templates. There does not appear to be any pattern to the timeouts.

Have tried all suggestions made in thread to no avail.

Template pages are quite heavily personalised.

Help please George/Patrick.

Nathan

Hi Guys,

Unfortunately all possible causes are already listed in this topic. If it isn't one of this that your server just can not handle the load of sending such newsletter - and just waits too long.

There is really nothing we can do here.

The only thing you can do is (lead from the above):

* increase all timeouts
* cut down the asp code in a html template that you use
* don't use session code in global.asa
* switch sessions off in your template page

That is really all you can do - sorry but I don't see a way how we can *fix* this in the extension as it is very much server dependend.

We are still however researching this issue and if we find some way to bypass the problem will let you know. I will also approach some of you for live testing as this issue is really difficult to test.

Greetings,
George


--------------------------------------------------
George Petrov - Founder of the Dynamic Zones
DMXzone.com, FWzone.net, FLzone.net, CFzone.net,
DNzone.com, FlashFiles.nl
--------------------------------------------------

I am sorry to say but i am really dissapointed in DMX-zone..This extension doesn't work perfect if you use a template on a windows 2003 server.

some clients of me are migrating to windows 2003 server and get the time out issue..

I say redesign the hole smartmailer code..to get it to work...I did pay a lot of money for something that doesn't work perfectly...YOU CAN'T SELL THIS AND SAY AFTERWARDS it doesn't work perfect.

You have to tell customers on which server this extension WORKS and on which server the extension DOESN'T

yes, thanks for nothing George, last time I had a bug with one of your extensions, you had the nerve to make me pay extra to buy the new version where the bug was fixed. And now this....

Is this your idea of fair bussines?

I'll tell the customer the same thing you told us, but somehow I don't think I'll be off the hook. I guess it's easier when you can hide behind your website and never have to face your clients. <img src=../images/dmxzone/forum/icon_smile_dissapprove.gif border=0 align=middle>

So it's been nearly 4 years since George advised "We are still however researching this issue" - what news George?

In the interim, I would like share my experience and some feedback in relation to George's recommendations:

Quote

* increase all timeouts
* cut down the asp code in a html template that you use
* don't use session code in global.asa
* switch sessions off in your template page

In an attempt to prove this approach, I converted my entire template to remove ALL asp code - ie, it was plain HTML - static - and then re-ran the mailout (many MANY times). The 80kb mailout to a few thousand recipients continued to fail every 10-300 recipients (with the same error).

So, does this mean that George's argument is flawed? I think it might.

In the many articles/posts I've found online, one or two suggest that the problem is one of DNS resolution - however, that doesn't make sense as we have plenty of other templates (notably around 15kb) to similar database sizes that demonstrate no such problem - so the issue seems to be linked to email/page/template size.

BTW, for anyone thinking of swapping out references of "msxml3.dll" to the latest "msxml6.dll" (MS claim they are 'generally backwardly compatible') - I tried it - it seems to make no difference. The question of course begs - why has Smart Mailer not been upgrade to use MSXML6.dll.

George, come on please: when will you update Smart Mailer to address this issue?