10.5 Automatic notification

Chapter 10 - Monitoring Exchange
Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
by Mike Daugherty
Digital Press 2001

10.7 Monitoring messaging system health using third-party tools

It is possible to successfully monitor an Exchange environment using only the tools supplied with Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000. However, I know of few large Exchange deployments that do not take advantage of third-party monitoring tools. NetIQ is one of the most commonly used of these third-party monitoring tools, but it is certainly not the only one.

The NetIQ AppManager Suite can be used to monitor almost every component of a Windows 2000 and Exchange environment. AppManager modules are available for Windows 2000, Exchange, IIS, SQL Server, Oracle RDBMS, Compaq Insight Manager, and many more products. App-Manager can also be integrated with other network and systems management products such as Tivoli Enterprise, CA Unicenter TNG, HP OpenView and Cabletron Spectrum.

NetIQ AppManager uses Knowledge Scripts that monitor system events. For example, a Knowledge Script might monitor connectivity between Exchange servers and trigger an event if response time falls below a specified threshold. The Knowledge Script can be configured to notify an operator when an event is triggered. This alert notification can be tailored to send the alert via e-mail, issuing a page, or sending an SNMP trap to a network management product. The Knowledge Script can also be configured to automatically take corrective action, such as restarting a server, without requiring operator intervention. It is also possible to configure custom actions that are triggered when events occur:

AppManager for Microsoft Exchange Server includes many predefined Knowledge Scripts that automatically perform functions such as the following:

• Track availability of Exchange-specific resources such as CPU, memory, user connections, and so on.

• Detect if critical Exchange services are operational.

• Monitor e-mail connectivity among Exchange servers.

• Monitor mail queue length.

• Track end-to-end response time between Exchange servers.

The following list includes a small sample of the out-of-the-box Knowledge Scripts for Exchange:

• MtaQueueLength . This script monitors the queue length of each MTA connection, including the MTAs of other servers in its site, the Public and Private Information Stores, and any installed connectors.

• ServerHealth . This script monitors the health of the Exchange server. The script tracks the percentage of time that all processors on the system are busy and the percentage of time used by the Exchange processes. The processes to monitor will vary depending upon which Exchange components are being used, but could include the following:

  CCMCMicrosoft Exchange Connector for Lotus cc:Mail

  EMSMTAMicrosoft Exchange MTA Stacks

  INETINFOInternet Protocols, including POP3 and IMAP4

  MADMicrosoft Exchange System Attendant

  MTMS Mail Connector Interchange

  STOREMicrosoft Exchange Information Store

• ISSize . This script monitors the file space used by the Public and Private Information Stores. An alert can be issued if any IS exceeds the threshold value specified by the administrator.

• Connectivity . This script monitors e-mail connectivity between Exchange servers.

• ServerUsers . This script monitors the number of users currently connected to the information store.

• TopNSenders . This script identifies which users have sent the most e-mail by monitoring the total file size of mail messages. The administrator can specify the number of top users and the tracking period.

• TopNReceivers . This is similar to the TopNSenders script, but is used to monitor the top n e-mail recipients.

• TopNISPublicRes . This script monitors the file space used by the top n public folders.

• TopNISPrivateRes . This script monitors the file space used by the top n private information store mailboxes.