Overview

This article provides an explanation for a sudden Failed [VSE] error in the Scan Result column of the Dashboard Logs. Different senders and recipients are affected:

The following message that is sometimes generated in the Dashboard details:

Message ID: adaptex_{0C097930-801B-494F-B46D-5A3E245BC036}
Scan Direction: Unknown
Scan Result: Failed [VSE]

Solution

The error that you are seeing on the Dashboard is related to one of the Antivirus Engines failing. usually, this is caused by the AV Engine failing to update:

Virus Scanning Engines cannot update

The first step is to make sure that the updates are not blocked locally, please help us to ensure the following recommendations are applied on the server:

1. Check and purge these folders:
   • %temp%
   • C:\Windows\Temp
2. Increase the chances of a successful update: Setting MailEssentials to use HTTP to download updates
3. Ensure no local AntiVirus is scanning the following folders:
   • ..\Program Files (x86)\GFI
   • ..\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\GFI

4. Add the following exclusions to any firewall:
   (Make sure nothing is interfering with the HTTP ports 80 and 443)

   amazonaws.com
   cdnupdate.gfi.com
   cdnpatches.gfi.com
   db11.spamcatcher.net
   meupdate.gfi.com
   update.gfi.com
   update.gfisoftware.com
   spamrazer.gfi.com
   support.gfi.com
   *.mailshell.net
   *.rules.mailshell.net

   Add the same exclusions to the content filter if using a Sonicwall or a similar product.

Other Virus Scanning Engine failures

If updates are not failing, the temporary workaround to restore mail flow pending the identification of the root cause is to identify which Virus Scanning Engine is failing and temporarily disable it.

As the Virus Scanning Engine (VSE) is failing, it must be investigated to find out which VSE is failing and why by following these steps:

1. Deactivate the Virus Scanning Engines one by one to find out which one is causing the problem. The VSEs are deactivated by following the steps below:
   • Open the GFI MailEssentials Configuration UI.
   • Navigate to Email Security > Virus Scanning Engines.
   • Open the General tab for each of the Virus Scanning Engines.
     (i.e. Avira, BitDefender, Kaspersky, Cyren, and Sophos.)
   • Uncheck the "Enable Gateway Scanning (SMTP)" option.
   • Apply the changes.
2. As a temporary workaround until the root cause of the problem is determined, VSAPI-Scanning for the failing VSE can be turned off.
3. Contact GFI Customer Support to assist with the troubleshooting process and identify the root cause (collecting and analyzing debug logs etc).

Failed emails can be reprocessed by following the steps outlined in this linked article: Reprocessing Emails Wrongly Moved to the FailedMails Folder and confirming from the dashboard logs that they are no longer failing.

More information

• Failed [VSE] adaptex emails shown in the MailEssentials Dashboard logs are internal emails that failed to be scanned by the Virus Scanning Engine module (VSE).
• These emails are scanned on access through the Microsoft Exchange Information Store if the VSAPI-scan is enabled.
• The adaptex_{message ID} is generated by MailEssentials for messages or message parts originating from VSAPI.
• These message ID´s cannot be found in Microsoft Exchange Tracking and have not been received or sent by Microsoft Exchange at the time of the VSE-failure.
• After re-processing these failed messages, the emails displayed in the Dashboard Logs are not found anywhere.
• The emails are still stored within Microsoft Exchange and are not lost or deleted.

Testing

Once the failing Virus Scanning engine is identified and disabled, normal mail flow should proceed with the enabled Anti-Spam filters.

If the issue still persists, please generate the troubleshooting logs as follows:

• Make sure that you have tracing enabled.
• Wait for at least 30 minutes to gather enough information and for the issue to be reproduced.
• Run the troubleshooter:
  1. Start > Programs > GFI MailEssentials > Troubleshooter
  2. Follow the Log Generation Wizard for collecting the required and pertinent information.
  3. Select New Case when completing the log generation to attach the logs to a new case that will be automatically created, or open a support ticket manually and attach the logs to that ticket, so that the Support team can investigate the problem.

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