Activity

ISMail collects a variety of information about mail traffic and server operation. This information is separated into two areas: Statistics and Logging.

Statistics includes the counting of various events, organized by Category, and separated into individual items.

Logging controls the amount of details recorded into log files, and the size and number of those files.

The Real-time Monitor (on NT/2000/XP) may be used on the server machine to display SMTP log entries as they occur.

Viewing Statistics

To view statistics:

  1. Double-click the desktop ISMail icon to start the ISMail Manager.
  2. Right-click the program icon located in the lower-right portion of the screen (notification area of system tray), and select Open.
  3. Select the Statistics tab
  4. Choose a Category

The statistics for the chosen Category are displayed. Note that if one or more statistics do not yet have values, they will not be displayed.

Organization of Statistics
The following tables show the statistics available in each Category of SMTP server operation. The name of each statistic value is given, whether it is reset upon server start-up (yes or no), and a short description of the information kept.
Category: SMTP Receiver
Name Reset? Description
Remote Connections yes number of active remote connections

Total Remote Connections

 yes total number of remote connections

Received Messages

 yes number of messages received

Unauthenticated Attempt

 yes number of attempts to send messages while not authenticated

Remote IP Banned Attempt

 yes connection attempt from IP on Filtered list

Started Receiving

 yes number of messages received, including any message currently being received

Category: SMTP Sender
Name Reset? Description

Local Connections

 yes number of active local connections

Total Local Connections

 yes total number of local connections

Sent Messages

 yes number of messages sent
Category: Incoming Queue
Name Reset? Description
Incoming Queue yes number of messages in the queue (and not yet passed on to the Mail Store Interface)

Category: Outgoing Queue
Name Reset? Description
Outgoing yes number of messages in the queue (not including messages scheduled for retry)

Category: Retry Manager
Name Reset? Description
Retry Queue yes number of messages scheduled for retry
Retry Queue by Address yes sum of the number of messages scheduled for retry, where each message is the multipled by the number of distinct addresses it is being sent to
Bounced Message yes number of messages bounced (due to bad address, etc.)
Retry Nodes yes number of retry attempts scheduled for a given domain

Category: Mail Store Interface
Name Reset? Description
Stored Messages yes number of messages stored for users

Category: Main
Name Reset? Description
Starts no number of times SMTP server has been started
Last Start yes seconds since Jan 1, 1970 when SMTP server last started

Logging

See ISMail Logs for details about Logging.

Setting Logging Parameters

To set or change Logging parameters for a server:

  1. Right-click the ISMail Manager program icon located in the lower-right portion of the screen (notification area of system tray), and select 'Open'.
  2. Select the 'Activity' tab.
  3. For the desired server (SMTP, POP3, or IMAP), choose the log level (0 - lowest, 3 - normal, 5 - highest)
  4. Set the number of files to rotate across (10 - typical)
  5. Set the maximum size of each log file (1 MB - typical)
  6. Click 'Apply'.

Real-time Monitor (requires NT/2000/XP)

The Real-time Monitor displays a window containing log entries made to the SMTP server log as they occur.

The ISMail SMTP server must be started before the Real-time Monitor can be used. Clicking the Real-time Monitor button when the SMTP server is not running will have no effect.

Once the Real-time Monitor window is open, however, the SMTP server can be stopped and restarted at any time without closing the Monitor window. There may be a slight delay between the time at which the SMTP server is restarted and the time of the next Real-time Monitor window entry, as the Real-time Monitor must resynchronize with SMTP.

The SMTP Level (see Logging) controls the level of detail displayed in the Real-time Monitor window.

Note: the Real-time Monitor must be run on the ISMail server machine.