Exchange Messages Test

This test tracks the flow of messages through an Exchange 2007/2010 organization, and reports the number and size of messages that pertain to every key event type handled by the Exchange 2007/2010 server. These types include the following:

Type	Description
SEND	A message sent by Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to a different server.
RECEIVE	A message received and committed to the database.
SUBMIT	A message submitted by an Exchange 2007/2010 computer that has the Mailbox server role installed to an Exchange 2007/2010 computer that has the Hub Transport server role or Edge Transport server role installed.
POISON	A message added to the poison message queue or removed from the poison message queue.
FAIL	Message delivery failed

Whenever a user complaints of not being able to send or receive mails, the metrics reported by this test and the detailed diagnosis information provided therein will enable administrators to accurately determine the current status of the email sent by the user.

If need be, administrators can configure this test to additionally report the total number of messages on the Exchange 2007/2010 server and their total size, regardless of event type. Apart from the event types discussed above, this total will also include messages that belong to the following event types:

Type	Description
BADMAIL	A message submitted by the Pickup directory or the Replay directory that cannot be delivered or returned
DELIVER	A message delivered to a mailbox
DEFER	A message for which delivery was delayed
DSN	A message for which a delivery status notification (DSN) was generated
EXPAND	A distribution group was expanded
FAIL	Message delivery failed
REDIRECT	A message redirected to an alternative recipient after an Active Directory directory service lookup
RESOLVE	A message for which recipients were resolved to a different e-mail address after an Active Directory lookup
TRANSFER	Recipients were moved to a forked message because of content conversion, message recipient limits, or agents

Exchange administrators can use this total to accurately assess the overall message traffic on the server and the ability of the server to handle the inflow/outflow of messages.

Target of the test : A server configured with the Hub Transport role

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each of the following event types: SEND, RECEIVE, FAIL, POISON, SUBMIT.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	Indicates the IP address of the Hub Transport server.
Port	The port number of the Hub Transport server. By default, this is 691.
XchgExtensionShellPath	The Exchange Management Shell is a command-line management interface, built on Windows PowerShell which enables you to administer every part of Microsoft Exchange. This test uses the Exchange management shell to run scripts and collect the desired performance metrics from the Exchange server. By default, the test auto-discovers the location of the Exchange management shell and thus, automatically loads the Exchange management shell snap-in (exshell.psc1) for script execution. This is why, the XchgExtensionShellPath is set to none by default.
AllEvents	By default, this flag is set to false, indicating that this test will report metrics for only the following event types by default: SEND, RECEIVE, SUBMIT, FAIL, POISON. If you want the test to additionally report metrics across all event types – i.e., support an additional All descriptor, which will report the total number of emails handled by the server and their total size – then, set this flag to true.
DDForSendMessage	In large, highly active Exchange environments, hundreds of emails may be sent by the Exchange server within a short period of time. In such environments, the frequent collection of detailed diagnosis information related to the sent emails may increase the processing overheads of the eG agent, and may even choke the eG database. To avoid this, the DDForSendMessage flag is set to No by default; this implies that the test will not provide the detailed diagnosis for the SEND descriptor – i.e., for the sent messages – by default. To view detailed diagnosis for these messages as well, set this flag to Yes.
DDForSubmitMessage	In large, highly active Exchange environments, hundreds of emails may be submitted to the transport pipeline within a short period of time. In such environments, the frequent collection of detailed diagnosis information related to the submitted emails may increase the processing overheads of the eG agent, and may even choke the eG database. To avoid this, the DDForSubmitMessage flag is set to No by default; this implies that the test will not provide the detailed diagnosis for the SUBMIT descriptor – i.e., for the sent messages – by default. To view detailed diagnosis for these messages as well, set this flag to Yes.
IsPassive	If the value chosen is Yes, then the Exchange server under consideration is a passive server in an Exchange cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as “Not applicable” by the agent if the server is not up.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Number of emails	Indicates the number of emails of this event type detected during this measurement period.	Number	By default, this measure provides detailed diagnosis for the FAIL and POISON messages only. Using the detailed diagnosis of these descriptors, you can view the complete details of the failed and poison messages. Optionally, users can turn on detailed diagnosis generation for the RECEIVE, SEND, and SUBMIT messages as well, so as to view the complete details of such messages. The All descriptor, even if displayed, will not provide detailed diagnosis information.
Total traffic	Indicates the total size of messages of this event type, during the last measurement period.	Number	Since the value of this measure includes the size of attachments, an unusually high value could indicate that one/more messages carry large attachments. A high value could also indicate the availability of a large number of messages of a particular type.