In my last post I performed some pre-checks to identify the reason for the update failure. I found out that the update fails permanently, the license key is however valid and the licensed users have not been exceeded.

In the next pre-check I need to ensure that my GFI MailEssentials installation is on the latest build. This is a prevention to ensure that it is not a bug that may have caused the update failure.

Bug in the old GFI MailEssentials build

How do I check the current build of my GFI MailEssentials installation?

The current version of the GFI MailEssentials installation can be retrieved from the configuration menu as follow:

Click on GFI MailEssentials >> General >> Version Information (1) >> “Properties”

The version information of GFI MailEssentials is: v2010 build 2010050. (2) Click on “Check for latest version”. (3) GFI MailEssentials will then verify the build and it will prompt the result of the build check in the message box. The message box prompts the following message:

The build of the GFI MailEssentials installation is up-to-date. So, I will do further pre-checks as I do not yet know the main reason for the update failure. One of the questions I’m asking myself is whether only one specific or all three anti-spam modules fail to download the update files?

I need to verify whether all three anti-spam modules (SpamRazer/Phishing/Bayesian Analysis) are up-to-date or not. I open the property option of the “SpamRazer” module and retrieve the following information from the “SpamRazer” tab:

  1. Is the SpamRazer module “enabled”?
  2. Is the licensing status of the SpamRazer module “licensed?

License key is not entitled to download the update files

In my case the SpamRazer anti-spam module is a) active and the license key is b) entitled to download the latest update files. (3)

In the next step I go to the “Updates” tab. Here I can see, if and when the last auto update attempt was performed by the SpamRazer anti-spam module and which version of the update files is currently installed on the machine. (4)

The last attempt to download the SpamRazer update files failed. Furthermore the current version of the SpamRazer module is not up-to-date. (4)

Click on “Download updates now…” and ten minutes later check whether the download process still fails. GFI MailEssentials will confirm that the download process has started successfully.

Ten minutes later the last attempt result is still showing the information “Download failed.” This means that the manual update has not succeeded.

Un-Authenticated connections from the GFI MailEssentials machines to our update server are blocked by a Proxy Server

If the manual update had worked and the last attempt result had shown “Successful”, then it would mean that the auto-update fails; however, the manual update works fine. In such a case un-authenticated connections appears not to be allowed from the GFI MailEssentials machine to the update server via port 80. I would then follow the steps described in this knowledge base article.

At this stage I am still on the chase to find the main reason for the update failure issue. In my next post I will introduce some more techniques to narrow the reason of my problem.

Do you have any further questions? Just post your comments!

Get your free 30-day GFI LanGuard trial

Get immediate results. Identify where you’re vulnerable with your first scan on your first day of a 30-day trial. Take the necessary steps to fix all issues.