Administering Exim
There are a number of things that you need to keep monitoring, also you need to understand how to interpret the log files.
Exim uses three different log files
You can change the log file using the option log_file_path, it a good idea to rotate the logs using your favorite log rotator. It is also possible to log directly to syslog.
You can use the option log_selector to add additional logging
log_selector options | *acl_warn_skipped Note * = default |
The log entries are single lines of text, there is a two character flag that identifies the reception or delivery of the message
<= |
for an arrival |
=> |
for a successful delivery |
== |
for deferment of delivery until later |
** |
for a delivery failure |
There are a number of fields that can appear on long lines on text in the log file, here is a summary of what the fields mean
A |
Authenticator name |
C |
SMTP confirmation on delivery |
CV |
Certificate verification status |
DN |
DN from peer certificate |
DT |
Delivery time for one delivery |
F |
Sender address |
H |
Host name and IP address |
I |
Incoming interface |
id |
Message id for incoming message |
P |
Protocol for incoming message |
QT |
Time spent on queue |
R |
Router Name |
S |
Size of message |
ST |
Shadow transport name |
T |
Transport name |
U |
Local user or RFC 1413 identity |
X |
TLS cipher suite |
There are a number of utilities that you can use to help you day to day administration
exigrep | bit like grep that can be used on the log files |
eximstats | obtains statistics from the log files (lots of information) |
exiqsumm | inspect the messages on the queue, used with "exim -bp" |
exinext | display the next time a delivery will be made for a address |
There are a number of utilities that you can use to help you day to day administration regarding the hints database
Display the contains of a hints database | # exim -bP spool_directory # exim_dumpdb <spool_directory> wait-remote_smtp |
Cleardown the databases | /usr/sbin/exim_tidydb # You can cleardown by hour or day |
Modify the databases | /usr/sbin/exim_fixdb |