Configuring Sendmail servers

While BMC PATROL for Internet Servers can monitor all SMTP Mail servers for availability and response time, BMC PATROL for Internet Servers can gather additional important usage data when used to monitor a Sendmail mail server, including:

• Mail queue reporting. You can use BMC PATROL for Internet Servers to monitor the number of messages in your mail queue. BMC PATROL for Internet Servers reports active messages and deferred messages as separate totals, allowing you to identify times of the day when your mail server may encounter bottlenecks so you can be prepared for when they occur.
• Mail server usage data. BMC PATROL for Internet Servers monitors the rate of messages flowing in and out of your mail server. With this data you can analyze increases in usage for your server, discover trends, and anticipate future needs for expansion.
• Remote mail hub monitoring. If you must route mail to mail servers inside your corporation or at other companies or ISPs, you can use BMC PATROL for Internet Servers to monitor the amount of deferred messages in your queue destined for these servers. You can also set your own thresholds to know when service problems on these systems may cause problems on your mail system.

To configure mail queue reporting and mail server usage data

Use the Configure Local and Configure Basic settings menu commands to activate these features of BMC PATROL for Internet Servers for your local Sendmail server.

1. Hold down MB3 on the server instance you want to configure.
2. Select PATROL Admin > Configure > Local.
    A dialog box is displayed:
   
   Configuring Mail Queue and Server Usage
   
   
   Select Help to see the online help for this dialog to learn more about the fields in this window.
3. To take advantage of the Sendmail monitoring capabilities, make sure you properly configure the following three fields in particular from this dialog box:
   • Mail Stats command. Enter the location of your Sendmail server's mailstats command. This value will vary from system to system, but the default provided is based on your operating system and will generally be acceptable.
   • Mail Queue command. Specify the location of your Sendmail server's mailq command. Most Sendmail servers accept the path to the actual command, such as /usr/bin/mailq, or you can configure BMC PATROL for Internet Servers to call the sendmail program by using the -bp option, as in the following figure. In most cases you should accept the default value provided to you by BMC PATROL for Internet Servers.
   • OS Account. In most cases + will need root privileges on your Unix system to analyze Sendmail usage data. This information will be used for the purpose of capturing this usage data only. The username and password you provide will be stored in an encrypted format inside the PATROL Agent configuration database. Enter the username to use (usually root ) in this field.
4. Select Accept to confirm your choices. If you have entered a username in the OS Account field a new dialog will prompt you to enter the password for this account.

To monitor remote hubs

1. Hold down MB3 on your locally monitored Sendmail instance.
2. Select PATROL Admin > Configure > Basic. A dialog box is displayed:
   
   Configuring A Remote Mail Hub
   
   Select Help to see the online help for this dialog to learn more about the fields in this window.

3. To set up remote hubs for monitoring, enter the following information under Defined Mail Hubs.

   1. To add a remote mail for monitoring, select Operation: Add and then select Accept.
      
      A new dialog will prompt you to enter the host name for the remote mail server.

   • Enter the host name here (if you know it) or the domain name for the remote server.

   1. To delete a currently monitored remote mail hub, select the remote hub from the list, select Delete then select Accept. You will be prompted to confirm your choice.