Authentication error 17897 and KeyChain issues

[BarryCuda]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: Exchange

I tried to set up and exchange account through Entourage. It works fine for receiving, but I cannot send through the account, I assume because I do not have a Certificated Authorization. So I tried to create a Certificate, since the help and instructions suggested such. This meant I had to create it in my Keychain.

Well nothing worked, so I decided I would cheat and just create an account to send from Entourage through my POP3/SMTP server (mail.bellsouth.com) using my exchange email account email address as an alias. The down side being exchange would not capture the "Sent" messages. Oh Well, I could live with that.

This is when I started getting the Authentication Error and Entourage would not send the message:

"Authentication failed because Entourage doesn't support any of the available authentication methods."

I eventually learned to go to the Keychain and try to verify the error and repair it. The error that appears on verification is:

"Item “mail.bellsouth.net” has unspecified value for port attribute"

Once the repair process is executed, it shows the problem as repaired, but Entourage will still not send mail. So,...yes there is more...as a test I decided to try to create an identical account to my working bellsouth account under a second account name. My original "Account" still works perfectly by the way, and the new account demonstrates the same problem as the exchange account and will not send, but all settlings are identical to my original POP3/SMTP account.

I very hesitant to do anything to my original account because I can't afford to be down for email and I think the KeyChain instructions and process were less than adequate. Technical writers need to get menu item names and instructions correct for sure!

Help! I do not have time machine running, but that is another issue for another forum, so lets see if I can fix this first.

Thanks for whoever can come to the rescue!
BarryCuda

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi Barry,

I tried to set up and exchange account through Entourage. It works fine
for receiving, but I cannot send through the account, I assume because I
do not have a Certificated Authorization. So I tried to create a
Certificate, since the help and instructions suggested such. This meant
I had to create it in my Keychain.

If there is a root certificate issue, you should get a warning.
Did you setup the account as Exchange or POP/IMAP with SMTP?
With the account set as Exchange it shouldn't be an issue.
Are you on Exchange 2007 with Entourage EWS? (which should work better).

Well nothing worked, so I decided I would cheat and just create an
account to send from Entourage through my POP3/SMTP server
(mail.bellsouth.com) using my exchange email account email address as an
alias. The down side being exchange would not capture the "Sent"
messages. Oh Well, I could live with that.

Well that could be done, but it requires an SMTP account that would let
you do it.

This is when I started getting the Authentication Error and Entourage
would not send the message:

"Authentication failed because Entourage doesn't support any of the
available authentication methods."

Problem with the bell SMTP server?

I eventually learned to go to the Keychain and try to verify the error
and repair it. The error that appears on verification is:

"Item "mail.bellsouth.net‰ has unspecified value for port attribute"

I'm not sure this is sufficient to explain the warning you got. It might
be unrelated.


Corentin

 

[BarryCuda]

Hi Corentin,

Thanks for trying to help out. Maybe I confused a few things with my presentation. There are two email problems, first I could not get the Entourage 2008 to work with the Exchange server (2003). I followed all of the instructions for setting up Entourage with an Exchange server and appropriately selected that account type, but when it would receive email and not send it, I started trying to follow the path of the Keychain Certificates.

Still being unsuccessful with sending Exchange email, I decided to do a work around to send email with the alias through the POP/IMAP traditional email server. I then discovered the new additional problems that I cannot get any new accounts on the traditional servers to work either now and am deathly afraid of messing around with the ones that are working.

I am basically replicating my email account under a new account name and the POP/IMAP server is rejecting it with the authentication error (17897). Hence, I believe the KeyChain Certificate procedures I tried to enact have caused a problem. I'm baffled why my original POP account still works, but very glad it does.

Thanks again,
BarryCuda

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi Corentin,

Hi Barry,

Thanks for trying to help out. Maybe I confused a few things with my
presentation. There are two email problems, first I could not get the
Entourage 2008 to work with the Exchange server (2003). I followed all
of the instructions for setting up Entourage with an Exchange server and
appropriately selected that account type, but when it would receive
email and not send it, I started trying to follow the path of the
Keychain Certificates.

OK, well Exchange 2003 can only work with the full version of Office
12.x (not EWS).
If it's properly setup and you are not getting a warning, you should be
all set to send e-mails (unless something is wrong with the server.....
that might need to be cleared out with the admins)

Still being unsuccessful with sending Exchange email, I decided to do a
work around to send email with the alias through the POP/IMAP
traditional email server. I then discovered the new additional problems
that I cannot get any new accounts on the traditional servers to work
either now and am deathly afraid of messing around with the ones that
are working.

Very different indeed. I suspect that in that case you *are* getting a
certificate warning.

I am basically replicating my email account under a new account name and
the POP/IMAP server is rejecting it with the authentication error
(17897). Hence, I believe the KeyChain Certificate procedures I tried to
enact have caused a problem. I'm baffled why my original POP account
still works, but very glad it does.

99.99% of the time, these problems arise when the wrong certificate is
imported in the keychain.
You need the root certificate. Try to see if there is a chance that the
certificate you imported is not the root.

Corentin