In my previous blog posts regarding the new blog series Troubleshooting HCL Notes, the error messages Unable to Read Rollover Values from View, Invalid Collection Data was Detected, DAOS Prune - Deleted 0 objects and completed with error: (685) Document attachment, The address book does not contain a cross certificate capable of validating the public key is invalid, Server Task Agent Manager on Server is No Longer Responding and HCL Nomad - Server is not reachablewere explained in more detail. We also briefly looked at the Domino Configuration Tuner (DCT), the Domino Domain Monitor (DDM), the OpenNTF OpenLog application and Debugging Agents. In this blog post we look at controlling the Mail Tracking Collector. The MTC (Message Tracking Collector) monitors the work of the Router process (which delivers mail in Domino) and keeps records as required as to which mail was sent to which recipients. Below is an overview of the Mail Tracking Collector commands.
16. Mail Monitoring - Mail Tracking Collector
After an Administrator enables message tracking on the server, see my previous blog post Mail Monitoring - Server Configuration, the Mail Tracking Collector (MT Collector or MTC task) automatically creates the Domino MailTracker Store database (MTSTORE.NSF) in the MTDATA subdirectory of the Domino data directory.
The Mail Tracking Collector task periodically collects messaging information from raw data accumulated in special mail tracker log files produced by the Router. After collecting this message summary information including information about the originators, recipients, arrival time and delivery status of the messages processed by the server, the MTC Task adds the information to the Domino MailTracker Store database. Mail users and administrators use the information stored in the Domino MailTracker Store to complete mail tracking requests and to generate mail usage reports.
The MTC task performs several maintenance operations on the Domino MailTracker Store database. Administrators can enter commands at the server console to instruct the MTC task to execute these operations. Below is a brief overview.
| MTC Command | Result |
|---|---|
| load mtc | When mail tracking is enabled in the Configuration Settings document tracking automatically starts when the Router starts. If and Administrator stops the MTC task the task can be restarted by entering the following command at the server console: > load mtc 23-10-2020 09:02:27 MT Collector: Started 23-10-2020 09:02:28 MT Collector: Using directory D:\Lotus\Domino\Data\mtdata |
| tell mtc quit | The MTC task automatically stops when the Router stops. Adminstrators can stop the MTC task without stopping the Router by enter the following command at the server console: > tell mtc quit 23-10-2020 09:07:59 MT Collector: Shutdown |
| tell mtc process | If mail tracking is enabled on the Router / SMTP - Mail Tracking Tab of the Configuration Settings document in the Domino Directory the MTC task collects data from mail tracking log files at the interval specified in the Message tracking collection interval field. The default is 15 minutes. In case there is new data to report the MTC Task creates an entry in the MailTracker Store database. Adminstrators can indicate the MTC task to collect data immediately by entering the following command at the server console: > tell mtc process There is no console message that the task has been completed. |
| tell mtc interval value | If mail tracking is enabled on the Router / SMTP - Mail Tracking Tab of the Configuration Settings document in the Domino Directory the MTC task collects data from mail tracking log files at the interval specified in the Message tracking collection interval field. The default is 15 minutes. In case there is new data to report the MTC Task creates an entry in the MailTracker Store database. Administrators can specify a different temporary interval by entering the following command at the server console: tell mtc interval value where value is the desired interval in seconds > tell mtc interval 600 [4154: 0002-C054] 23-10-2020 09:31:13 MT Collector: Collection interval changed to 600 seconds The specified value remains active until the next Router restart. When the Router restarts the value specified in the Configuration Settings document becomes active again. |
| tell mtc compact | By default the MTC task compacts the Domino MailTracker Store database nightly at 2 am. Administrators can compact the database immediately by entering the following command at the server console > tell mtc compact [4154: 0002-C054] 10/23/2020 09:43:36 AM MT Collector: Compacting message tracking store. [4154: 0002-C054] 10/23/2020 09:43:36 AM MT Collector: Finished compacting message tracking store. Administrators can also change the default time for compacting Domino MailTracker Store database by setting the variable MTCDailyTasksHour in the server's NOTES.INI file. |
| tell mtc reindex | The Message Tracking Store must be full-text indexed by the MTC task only. For a one time reindex of the database by MTC Administrators can enter the following command at the server console: > tell mtc reindex There is no console message that the task has been completed. To improve performance of the full text index the index should be periodically rebuilt. If an Administrator considers a daily reindex is necessary an Administrator can set the following INI: MTCCompactReIndex = 1 If a different schedule is needed an Administrator can periodically schedule a Program document to reindex by executing the Tell command as shown below -c tell mtc reindex |
| tell mtc purge value | Documents are purged from the MailTracker Store database based on the Remove documents not modified in the last x days replication setting. For a one time purge of documents from the MailTracker Store database Administrators can enter the following command at the server console tell mtc purge value where value is the maximum number of days to retain documents in the Mail Tracker Store database > tell mtc purge 30 [4154: 0002-C054] 23-10-2020 09:59:12 MT Collector: Purging message tracking store of entries before 23-09-2020 09:59:12 [4154: 0002-C054] 10/23/2020 09:59:12 AM MT Collector: Finished purging message tracking store. The MTC task removes all documents older than value from the database. |
As mentioned before Message Tracking is frequently used by Administrators for troubleshooting mail problems. So stay tuned for a complete overview of how to set up Mail Tracking on a Domino server in the upcoming blog posts.