OBIEE 12c - Unable to connect to SMTP server when running Agent

Mark.Thompson

I'm having trouble configuring my E-Mail settings in OBIEE 12c.  My 11g system works fine.  Here are the pictures of the email configurations in both systems.  As you can see, they are identical.

When I run an Agent in 12c, I get this error:

Notice that it isn't saying that it can't authenticate the credentials.  It is failing to open a connection, and doesn't even get as far as the credential authentication.

I tried the suggestion in this doc, even though it was related to 11g.  It removed the credentials properly, and I replaced them on the email configuration page and tried again.  No go.

https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_afrLoop=500255712837930&id=1324893.1&_afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-…

But again, I didn't think it was the credentials anyway.

What am I missing?

Christian Berg-0racle

Hi Mark,

Can your 12c env actually reach the smtp server on a pure network level?

Mark.Thompson

Christian, you pegged the answer.  From my technical support staff: 

"The two machines are running in the AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud, so if the 11g box can reach the smtp server, then 12c should also.

We checked their security groups. O11 is using a custom firewall rule set called LC and O12 is using one called OBI397. I noticed that on LC, outbound traffic is open to smtpout.secureserver.net.  We added that same rule on the OBI397 firewall rule set, and the Agent ran successfully."

Thank you, sir!!

Christian Berg-0racle

You're welcome! If all our issues were that easy, right?

Mark.Thompson

Well, yeah, if all of the issues were as easy as saying 'Hey, Christian, what am I doing wrong' and you coming back with the answer... Sure, I'm up for that!!

A half-step back, away from the problem, and the situation looks clearer, ya know?  We get so stuck in the weeds that are right in front of us that sometimes we can't see beyond that little patch.  In this case, the obvious thing to do was to say "OK, I know the credentials are right, because they work on this other machine.  Therefore, it is logical to assume that there is something different between the two machines."  And, of course, that was the right answer, the one that you posted, the one that didn't occur to me.

Ah well, I don't really feel too bad about it.  Sometimes I'm the one with the answer, because I'm the one that is viewing the problem from outside, and someone else is just seeing the weeds in the immediate vicinity.  I guess that's just being human.

Thank you again, Christian.

Christian Berg-0racle

I meant technically, mate nice writeup though :thumbsup: