Delivery SMTP Send Connector Test

In Microsoft Exchange Server 2013/2016, a Send connector controls the flow of outbound messages to the receiving server. They are configured on Mailbox servers running the Transport service. Most commonly, you configure a Send connector to send outbound email messages to a smart host or directly to their recipient, using DNS.

The mailbox delivery Send connector exists in the Mailbox Transport service on every Mailbox server. This connector is implicitly created, invisible, and requires no management. The mailbox delivery Send connector is used to relay messages to the Transport service and the Mailbox Transport service on other Mailbox servers in the organization.

Problems in a delivery send connector therefore can obstruct the flow of messages to other mailbox servers, preventing critical business communication from reaching their destination and causing palpable revenue losses. If this is to be avoided, administrators should keep an eye on how each delivery send connector is processing the outbound messages, proactively detect potential slowdowns in mail delivery, and promptly capture message failures caused due to connector errors. This is where the Delivery SMTP Send Connector test helps. This test monitors each delivery send connector and reports the load on the connector, how quickly the connector processes its load, and how many errors of which type the connector encountered. This way, the test points to probable bottlenecks to email delivery and the connector responsible for them.

Target of the test : An Exchange 2013/2016 server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each delivery send connector

Configurable parameters for the test
Test period - How often should the test be executed Host - The host for which the test is to be configured. port – The port at which the host listens.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Data sent rate:	Indicates the rate at which email data was sent by this connector.	KB/Sec	In the event of a slowdown, you can compare the value of this measure across connectors to know which connector is processing emails slowly.
Outbound connections from send connector:	Indicates the current number of outbound connections from this connector.	Number	Compare the value of this measure across connectors to know which connector is being used the most. Overloaded connectors can thus be identified.
Messages sent by send connector:	Indicates the rate at which messages are sent by this connector.	Msgs/Sec	A consistent drop in this value could indicate a bottleneck in message delivery.
Connection failures encountered by send connector:	Indicates the number of connection failures encountered by this send connector.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.
DNS errors encountered by this send connector:	Indicates the number of DNS errors encountered by this send connector.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.
Protocol errors encountered by send connector:	Indicates the number of protocol errors encountered by this send connector.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.
Socket errors encountered by send connector:	Indicates the number of socket errors encountered by this send send connector.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.