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Measures reported by XchgTrafficTest
When monitoring an Exchange server, it is critical to understand the workload on the server. For example, how much mail traffic is the server handling? How many of these mails are intended for local (i.e., internal) recipients, and how many are intended for external recipients? Further, this information when provided over time can be used to determine what days or hours are the busiest periods. The XchgTrafficTest addresses these requirements. To enable this test to function, the message tracking log setting of the Exchange server needs to be turned on.
| Measurement |
Description |
Measurement
Unit |
Interpretation |
| Mails_sent |
The number of mails sent by the Exchange mail server during the last measurement period |
Number |
Using the values reported for the 'Internal' and 'External' descriptors, you can determine the traffic generated by internal and external (i.e from the local domain to domains not included in the DOMAINNAME list) mails. The 'total' descriptor is the sum of internal and external mail traffic. A sudden increase in mail activity may require investigation - e.g. to determine whether any user is spamming other users/mailboxes. |
| Mails_received |
The number of mails received by the Exchange mail server in the last measurement period |
Number |
If there is an unusual increase in the incoming mail traffic, you can use the values reported for the 'Internal' and 'External' descriptors, to identify the root-cause of the spike - is it due to internal (i.e., within the domains indicated by the DOMAINNAME list) mails or external (i.e from the local domain to domains not included in the DOMAINNAME list) mails? Once again, the 'total' descriptor is the sum of internal and external mail traffic. |
| Data_sent |
The mail traffic (in MB) sent by the Exchange server to internal and external users in the last measurement period |
MB |
Both these measures indicate the workload and amount of data handled by the Exchange mail server. An abnormal data size might require deeper investigation to figure out whether any unusually large attachments were sent/received. |
| Data_received |
The mail traffic (in MB) received by the Exchange server from internal and external users in the last measurement period |
MB |
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