Configuring the SMTP Mail Sender/Receiver Tests

Now that the components have been added, proceed to configure the simulation. For that, you need to configure the SMTP Mail Sender and Mail Receiver tests mapped to the Sender and Receiver (respectively) components you just added.

Configuring the SMTP Mail Sender Test

Upon clicking the Add button when adding an SMTP Mail Sender component, Figure 1 will appear displaying the component you just added. Click on the icon corresponding to that component to configure tests for that component.

Figure 1 : Viewing the details of the SMTP Mail Sender component that has been added

In the page that appears next, select the SMTP Mail Sender test that is displayed in the Tests to be Configured list box, and click the Configure button beneath. Figure 2 will then appear, displaying the pre-configured and unconfigured parameters of the SMTP Mail Sender test.

Figure 2 : Configuring the SMTP Mail Sender Test

The SMTP Mail Sender test periodically emulates a user on given mail host sending a 'uniquely tagged' email to a configured receiver. In the process, the test reports metrics revealing the health of the mail sending function.

For the test to run and perform the simulation, you need to configure the test with the following:

Indicate how frequently you want the simulation to run by selecting an option from the TEST PERIOD list.
Specify the IP address of the HOST for which this test is to be configured.
Specify the PORT at which the target server listens to.
Specify a unique MAIL TAG 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 Mail Receiver and the SMTP Mail Sender tests with the same MAIL TAG.
Next, proceed to indicate which mailbox should send the emulated email. For this, configure the email ID of the SENDER. For best results, make sure that you provide the email ID of a valid mailbox. You may want to configure a dedicated mailbox for the purpose of this emulation.
To send an email, the eG external agent needs to access the configured sender's mailbox. In order to enable the agent to access the sender's mailbox, you need to configure this test with the access credentials of the sender on Exchange Online. For this purpose, specify the password for access against SENDER PASSWORD. Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.
Next, you need to indicate who the email should be sent to. For that, enter the email ID of the receiver against RECEIVER.
Next, you need to specify the SEND PORT through which the mail will be sent.
By default, the SMTP sender 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.
StartTLS is a protocol command used to inform the email sender that the email receiver wants to upgrade from an insecure connection to a secure one using TLS or SSL. By default, SMTP is not secured, which means that if you were to send an email over SMTP without StartTLS the email could be intercepted and easily interpreted. If the email receiver to which this test is configured to send email uses secure connection, enable the Use StartTLS flag to Yes. This will enable this test to execute the StartTLS command to upgrade the current connection, if insecure, to a secure connection using TLS or SSL. This will ensure that the email is encryted and sent to the configured receiver in a secure way. By default, this flag is set to No. For instance, if this test is configured to emulate the user to send a mail to the POP3 and IMAP4 clients in Exchange Server using SMTP, set this flag to Yes incase the test communicates the Exchange server using insecure connection.
By default, every time this test runs, the eG external agent will send a single email from the configured sender to the receiver. This is why, the NUMBER OF MESSAGES parameter is set to 1 by default. If required, you can configure the eG external agent to send out multiple emails to the receiver, every time the test runs. For this, you need to increase the value of the NUMBER OF MESSAGES parameter.
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.
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, the eG Enterprise 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 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 normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Once the test is configured, click on the Update button to save the changes. Next, proceed to configure the Mail Receiver test mapped to the Mail Receiver component.

Configuring the Mail Receiver Test

Upon clicking the Add button when adding an Mail Receiver component,Figure 3 will appear displaying the component you just added. Click on the icon corresponding to that component to configure tests for that component.

Figure 3 : Viewing the details of the Mail Receiver component that has been added

In the page that appears next, select the Mail Receiver test that is displayed in the Tests to be Configured list box, and click the Configure button beneath. Figure 4 will then appear, displaying the pre-configured and unconfigured parameters of the Mail Receiver test.

Figure 4 : Configuring the Mail Receiver Test

The Mail Receiver test periodically emulates a user on mail service receiving an email that is uniquely tagged. In the process, the test reports metrics revealing the health of the mail receiving function.

Indicate how frequently you want the simulation to run by selecting an option from the TEST PERIOD list.
Specify the IP address of the HOST for which this test is to be configured.
Specify the PORT at which the target server listens to.
Specify a unique MAIL TAG 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 Mail Receiver and the SMTP Mail Sender tests with the same MAIL TAG.
Next, proceed to indicate which mailbox on Exchange Online should receive the emulated email. For this, configure the email ID of the RECEIVER. Make sure that you specific the same MAIL RECEIVER for both the SMTP Mail Sender and Mail Receiver 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. 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.
Next, you need to specify the RECEIVE PORT 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.
Next, you need to 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.
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, the eG Enterprise 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 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 normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Once the test is configured, click on the Update button to save the changes.
Finally, sign out of the eG admin interface.