Configuration of SMTPMailSenderTest

This test emulates a user on target mail service, sending an email with a unique tag to a receiver. This unique tag is configured against the MAIL TAG parameter of the test, and is displayed as the descriptor of the test. Using the metrics reported by this test, administrators can find quick and accurate answers to the following performance queries related to the mail sending operation of target mail service:

• Did authentication to the email service fail?

• Was any latency noticed when connecting to the email service?

• Is the sender's mailbox accessible? Was the eG agent able to send the emulated email from the sender's mailbox successfully? If not, what could have caused the failure?

• Is email transmission slow? If so, what could be slowing down email transmission - is it because of a delay in connecting to the email service? or is it because mail service is processing outgoing email traffic slowly?

The default parameters associated with this test are:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• In the HOST text box, specify the HOST for which this test is to be configured.

• In the PORT text box, specify the port at which the specified host listens.

• Specify a unique mail tag in the MAIL TAG text box, using which you want to tag the emulated email. This enables the eG Enterprise system to keep track of the simulated email. To be able to simulate the email activity end-to-end - i.e., from transmission to reception - you should configure both the MailRecverTest and the SMTPMailSenderTest tests with the same MAIL TAG.

• configure the email ID of the receicer in the RECEIVER text box. Make sure that you specific the same MAIL RECEIVER for both the MailRecverTest and the SMTPMailSenderTest tests.

• The test should be able to access the receiver's mailbox, so it can check whether/not mails with the MAIL TAG have been received by it. To facilitate this check, specify the password of that mailbox against RECEIVER PASSWORD text box.

• Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

• Select the protocol you want to use for mail communication from PROTOCOL list.

• Specify the receive port in the RECEIVE PORT text box, through which the mail will be received.

• By default, the Receiver is SSL enabled, accordingly SSL flag is set to Yes by default. This indicates that eG Agent will communicate with SMTP server via HTTPS by default. If this flag is enabled and mail server doesn't support SSL, transmission will be abandoned.

• By default, USE STARTTLS flag is set to False. STARTTLS is a command which tells mail server that mail clients like Gmail, Yahoo etc. wants to upgrade the existing connection to secured one if available. If you want the connection to be upgraded to SSL, set the USE STARTTLS to True.

• By default, the TIMEOUT parameter of the test is set to 30 seconds. This means that, by default, the test will wait for a maximum of 30 seconds to connect to the email service. If the test is unable to connect to the email service even after the default period lapses, the test will automatically timeout. You can increase or decrease the timeout value, if you so need.

• Specify maximum allowed value for round trip time in RTT LIMIT (IN MINS) box. This is the time taken by mail transfer agent from sending the mail and receiving it. If round trip time of any mail exceeds the RTT limit, the DD for Average round-trip time measure will show the delay.

• The DD FREQUENCY refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD FREQUENCY.

• To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, eG embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test, by default, for a particular server, choose the On option against DETAILED DIAGNOSIS. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

  The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability.

  • Both the bad and normal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS button will appear in this page. Clicking on this button will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.