Server Admin cannot update any mail settings on nearly fresh 10.4 server

[Dylan]

I can no longer use the Server Admin application to change settings under Mail (and I need to make some changes – would like to change logging settings and require authentication for SMTP). I made some initial settings with no problems, but now it chokes…

For example, I click on Mail, Settings, Advanced… and then try to click the box to require Kerberos Authentication for SMTP– everything is normal until I hit SAVE. Then there is a delay of 10 or 15 seconds, followed by the error message:

“A connection with a server or service was lost. Try to disconnect from XServe.local and then reconnect, or contact your network administrator.”

At this point the mail indicator is red, not green… after clearing the message the changes I’ve made to settings appear intact, but if I quit server admin the truth comes out… I’m asked would I like to save changes, if I say yes the error will repeat– I have to quit without saving. Relaunching Server Admin reveals that indeed the changes have not been made.

I’ve heard of this type of problem when hand editing config files, but I’ve not done that with any mail-related files (I made two minor changes to a http config file a while ago, otherwise it’s all been through Server Admin).

Is there any way to reset the mail-related files so that Server Admin will return to life, or do I have to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X 10.4.4 hoping it doesn’t happen again?

By the way, the problem started a few days ago, and the upgrade to 10.4.4 didn’t magically cure it. 🙁

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