MTA Test

This test measures the health of the GroupWise Message Transfer Agent (MTA).

Target of the test : A GWMTA application

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every domain specified.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the host for which this test is to be configured.

Port

The port at which the server listens.

SNMPPort

The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; The default value is 161.

SNMPVersion

By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

SNMPCommunity

The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.

UserName

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter. 

Context

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box.  By default, this parameter is set to none.

AuthPass

Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.

Confirm Password

Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.

AuthType

This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

  • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm
  • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm
  • SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit
  • SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit
  • SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit
  • SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit

EncryptFlag

This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option. 

EncryptType

If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

  • DES - Data Encryption Standard
  • 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard
  • AES - Advanced Encryption Standard
  • AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit
  • AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit
  • AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit

EncryptPassword

Specify the encryption password here.

Confirm Password

Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.

Timeout

Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.

Data Over TCP

By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

EngineID

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

MTADomainName

The name of the domain on which the MTA has been installed. Refer to Determining Domain Name of MTA to know how to find out the domain name of MTA.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Total domains

Indicates the number of domains serviced by this MTA.

Number

 

Closed domains

Indicates the number of closed domains serviced by this MTA.

Number

If the value is greater than 0, identify the closed domains and determine the reason for their non-availability. Domain closure could occur due to the following reasons:

  • Improper domain link configuration: If the domain link of the closed domain is found to be improperly configured, then configure it correctly.
  • Threads executing on the MTA stop functioning: In this case, restart the MTA to ensure that the threads start executing.
  • MTA crash: Here again, revive the MTA by restarting it.

Total postoffices

Indicates the number of post offices serviced by this MTA.

Number

 

Closed postoffices

Indicates the number of closed post offices serviced by this MTA.

Number

If the value is greater than 0, identify the closed post offices and determine the reason for their non-availability. Post office closure could occur due to the following reasons:

  • Improper POA (Post Office Agent) link configuration: If the POA  link of the closed  POA is found to be improperly configured, then configure it correctly.
  • POA crash: Here again, revive the POA by restarting it.

Total gateways

Indicates the number of gateways serviced by this MTA.

Number

 

Closed gateways

Indicates the number of closed gateways serviced by this MTA.

Number

If the value is greater than 0, identify the closed gateways and determine the reason for their non-availability. Gateway closure could occur due to the following reasons:

  • Improper gateway link configuration: If the link to the closed gateway is found to be improperly configured, then configure it correctly.
  • Gateway crash: In this case, revive the POA by restarting it.

Messages transferred

Indicates the number of messages routed by this MTA during the last measurement period.

Msgs/Sec

This measure is an indicative of the throughput of the MTA. If this rate is high, the MTA is processing high volume of messages. A low value indicates a lower throughput.

Undeliverable messages

Indicates the number of messages that were not delivered by this MTA during the last measurement period.

Number

Possible Cause Action

The sender typed the recipient's address incorrectly.

Have the sender select the recipient in the GroupWise Address Book so the address is provided automatically, then resend the message.

The recipient's mailbox might be damaged so the message cannot be delivered.

In ConsoleOne perform maintenance to correct any problems with the recipient's mailbox.

If the recipient is a brand new user, the sender might have sent the message before the recipient was actually created in the post office.

Verify the existence of the user in the post office before the sender tries to send the message again.

If the sender is selecting a group, rather than an individual recipient, from the GroupWise Address Book, the group could be out of date if the recipient's user ID has changed.

Re-create the group by selecting each individual user from the Address Book to make sure current user IDs and post offices are included in the group.

 

Error messages

Indicates the number of error messages found by this MTA during the last measurement period. These messages will be placed in the domain\wpcsout\problem directory.

Msgs/Sec

Check the messages and attached files for damage.

Domain available disk space

Indicates the free space available in the volume in which the domain resides.

MB

If this value is very low, check the MTA input queue size and resolve the problems with the closed facilities so that normal message flow resumes.