Email Service Monitoring

LogicMonitor offers email service monitoring for health metrics, including round-trip time and transit time.

Requirements

• Install the email service LogicModules. For more information, see Email Service LogicModules.
• Review Microsoft 365 OAuth Email Monitoring.
• Review Gmail OAuth Email Monitoring.

Adding Monitoring for Email Round-Trip Time

1. From the LogicMonitor Resources page, navigate to the resource that you want to monitor.
2. Select the Info tab and then select Settings.
3. Add email_rtt as a value to the system.categories property. For more information, see Resource and Instance Properties.
4. Add the following email service connectivity information as custom properties for the resource:

Property	Value	Example	Required
smtp.host	Hostname of the SMTP service	smtp.gmail.com	Yes
smtp.type	SMTP security type: blank/SSL/TLS	SSL	Yes
imap.host	Hostname of the IMAP service	imap.gmail.com	Yes
imap.type	IMAP security type: blank/SSL/TLS/OAuth	TLS	Yes
email.user or gmail.client.id	User or Client ID required for account authentication	testuser	Yes
email.pass or gmail.client.secret.pass	Password or Client Secret required for account authentication	hello123	Yes
email.addr	The email address for the account	[email protected]	Yes
email.folder.name	The folder name emails will appear in.	Inbox	No

Adding Monitoring for Email Transit Time

1. Navigate to the resource that you want to monitor.
2. Select the Info tab and then select Settings.
3. Add email_transit to the system.categories property. For more information, see Resource and Instance Properties.
4. Add the following custom properties for the email services that you’re monitoring. For example, if you’re measuring email transit time between a Gmail account and a Microsoft Office 365 (O365) account:

Service	Property	Value	Description	Example
Gmail	transit.gmail.imapHost	IMAP hostname	Gmail retrieval	imap.gmail.com
Gmail	transit.gmail.imapType	IMAP encryption type	Gmail retrieval	SSL (port 993)
Gmail	transit.gmail.smtpHost	SMTP hostname	Gmail delivery	smtp.gmail.com
Gmail	transit.gmail.smtpType	Encryption type for SMTP service	Gmail delivery	Blank (port 25) SSL (port 465) TLS (port 587)
Gmail	transit.gmail.addr	Email	Email address for the Gmail account	[email protected]
Gmail	transit.gmail.user	User ID	User ID for the Gmail account	[email protected]
Gmail	transit.gmail.pass	Password	Password for the Gmail account	P@ssw0rd
O365	transit.o365.imapHost	IMAP hostname	O365 retrieval	imap.o365.com
O365	transit.o365.imapType	IMAP encryption type	O365 retrieval	SSL (port 993)
O365	transit.o365.smtpHost	SMTP hostname	O365 delivery	smtp.o365.com
O365	transit.o365.smtpType	Encryption type for SMTP service	O365 delivery	Blank (port 25) SSL (port 465) TLS (port 587)
O365	transit.o365.addr	Email address	Email address for the O365 account	[email protected]
O365	transit.o365.user	User ID	User ID for the O365 account	[email protected]
O365	transit.o365.pass	Password	Password for the O365 account	P@ssw0rd

Adding Monitoring Instances for Email Transit Time

To monitor email transit time, create instances for each transit direction.

1. From the LogicMonitor Resources page, navigate to the Email_TransitTime DataSource.
2. From the Manage Device menu, select Add Monitored Instance.
3. From the Add Monitored Instance page, enter the Name and Wildvalue information, based on the following example:
   • Name: Gmail > O365
   • Wildvalue (sender:receiver): gmail:o365
   • Instance Group: @default
4. Select Save.
5. Return to the Resources page and create a second monitored instance for the Email_TransitTime DataSource, based on the following example:
   • Name: O365 > Gmail
   • Wildvalue (sender:receiver): o365:gmail
   • Instance Group: @default
6. Select Save.

Sample Evaluation Process for Email Transit Time

The process for evaluating Email Transit Time, using Gmail and Office 365 as an example:

Step	Protocol	Description	Example
1	SMTP	Deliver a message from the collector to Provider A.	Collector > Gmail
2	SMTP	Provide a destination address to Provider B.	Gmail > Office 365
3	IMAP	Get the message back to the collector.	Office 365 > Collector

This process highlights two components of email service monitoring:

• The time it takes messages sent from an email server to be delivered externally.
• The time it takes messages sent externally to make it to an inbox.

Error Codes

The applicable error codes are as follows:

Error Code	Meaning	Description
-2	Invalid instance	Unable to locate a valid service.
-1	Missing params	Basic parameters, such as username and password, were not available to properly validate transit time.
0	OK	The roundtrip validation was successful.
1	SMTP connection failure	The collector can not connect to the SMTP server.
2	SMTP send failure	Connected to the SMTP server and attempted to send a message, but the server did not accept the message.
3	IMAP connection failure	Unable to connect to the destination server hosting the inbox that contains the message. Typically due to an incorrect hostname, user ID, or password. Or, the specified security type is incorrect.
4	IMAP search failure	Unable to retrieve the unique message at the destination server.Note: Each time the Email_TransitTime DataSource runs, it generates a message with a unique subject line. In order to validate the round-trip/transit time, the message must be retrieved from the IMAP server.  Recommendation: Turn off any filters that auto delete incoming emails.
5	IMAP close failure	Unable to properly terminate the IMAP connection.

Diagnostic Logs

Diagnostic logs for DataSources are enabled by default, and can be found in the collector’s logs directory:

• /usr/local/logicmonitor/agent/logs
• C:\Program Files (x86)\LogicMonitor\Agent\logs

Logs	Stored As	Description
Protocol	Email Round-Trip Time: [hostname]-emailRTT-protocol.logEmail Transit Time: [hostname]-[instance]-emailTransit-protocol.log	Protocol logs show the underlying SMTP and IMAP commands issued by the collector and the corresponding responses by the target server(s).Note: These may require advanced level understanding of SMTP and IMAP protocols.
Debug	Email Round-Trip Time: [hostname]-emailRTT-debug.logEmail Transit Time: [hostname]-[instance]-emailTransit-debug.log	Debug logs show telemetry of the DataSource itself, indicating what steps have been attempted, succeeded or failed.

Email Service LogicModules

The email service monitoring DataSources are Email Round-Trip Time and Email Transit Time. For more information, see Installing Modules and Packages. 

Name	Type	Description
Email_RoundTrip	DataSource	Measures the time taken to deliver a given message from the collector to an SMTP service, along with the time to retrieve the same message from the corresponding IMAP service. The LogicMonitor collector acts as a desktop email client:Sends outgoing messages using your SMTP service.Retrieves that same message from your IMAP service.The time to complete each step in the round-trip transaction is measured and reported. For example, any latency within your network or in the message handoff between your SMTP service, message store, and IMAP service.
Email_TransitTime	DataSource	Measures the time taken to collect an email sent from one service to another. This can help to determine whether your email service is properly delivering and accepting messages from other service providers. Email Transit Time uses two protocols:SMTP to send messages from a client to a server.IMAP to retrieve messages from the server to a client.
Office365_Email_OAUTH	DataSource	Checks for and gathers tokens for Office 365 OAuth. Requires application registration and credentials set:office365.clientidoffice365.clientsecret.passoffice365.tenantidFor more information, see Microsoft 365 OAuth Email Monitoring.
Gmail_Email_OAUTH	DataSource	Checks for and gathers tokens for Gmail OAuth. Requires application registration and credentials set: gmail.refresh.key, gmail.client.id (or email.user), gmail.client.secret.pass (or email.pass)