Smtp

8 posts

• MX Update for Microsoft Services

  Wed, Feb 26, 2014 maintenance

  If you are still using mail.global.frontbridge.com as your MX record in conjunction with any of the Microsoft hosted e-mail services such as FOPE (Forefront Online Protection for Exchange) it may be time to update to mail.messaging.microsoft.com

  Recently we learned that one of the IP addresses backing the mail.global.frontbridge.com DNS record has stopped responding to network requests. Upon further investigation turns out this legacy DNS record is being deprecated and Microsoft asks everyone to use the newer mail.messaging.microsoft.com record.

• Microsoft Forefront and Mailive SMTP Monitoring

  Mon, Feb 25, 2013 guides

  Last night (Feb 25th, 2013) around 5pm Central time Microsoft’s Forefront service FPE changed its security policies and began blocking most Mailive! test messages.

  In the Forefront control panel it will be necessary to whitelist the sender mailive@knowledgefront.com or the IP Range where the test messages originate: 71.5.105.193 - 71.5.105.198 (netblock 71.5.105.192/29 or 71.5.105.192/255.255.255.248).

  If there are any questions or problems feel free to contact us and we will help out any way we can.

• TLS Support for SMTP Monitoring

  Thu, Nov 10, 2011 changelog

  Knowledge Front’s round trip SMTP monitoring, Mailive!, has been updated to support TLS (Transport Layer Security) when sending its test e-mails. Each SMTP monitor can be configured individually with one of three settings.

  On

  Delivery will always use TLS and record a failure if the STARTTLS command does not succeed or if the SMTP transmission fails to complete in any way.

  Auto

  When the SMTP session begins Mailive! sends the EHLO command to the SMTP server being tested and the response includes the capabilities of the SMTP Server. If STARTTLS is in the response then the test will attempt to use TLS and record a failure if the session breaks or the delivery does not succeed. If there is no STARTTLS then delivery happens the old fashioned way, with no encryption

  Off

  When sending a test e-mail Mailive! will never attempt to initiate TLS, even if advertised in the EHLO response of the receiving server.

  For newly added monitors the default will be Auto. Monitors already present in the system will have “Use TLS” set to Off to remain compatible with how it has been up to this point.

• Disabling Alerts

  Mon, Dec 22, 2008 changelog

  When performing maintenance it is now easy to disable alerts for a specified period of time inside of Mailive! Simply go to Alert Configuration and there are options available to disable all alerts, disable alerts for a specific server, or disable a single alert.

  

  When disabling an alert it is possible to choose from several different timeframes. By using this method there will is no chance that the disabled alerts will be forgotten. Once the disabled time has expired alerts will automatically begin working again.

• CSV Export

  Mon, Dec 15, 2008 changelog

  Wanted to write a quick post to let everyone know that CSV export has been made available in Mailive!

  Now, while viewing a single server's report, the associated data used to generate the report is available for download. Simply click the Export this data as CSV link to retrieve the data and use in Excel or import into an internal system.

  We are constantly striving to improve Mailive!, so if there are any features or improvements you would like to see feel free to contact us and let us know. Thanks!

• Trigger a Test

  Fri, Nov 14, 2008 changelog

  A regularly requested feature for Mailive! has been put into place. Now, instead of needing to wait until the next automatic test is initiated by the system, users have the ability to trigger a test message whenever they like.

  Simply click the [ trigger test transaction ] while viewing the graph and history for the server and a test will be initiated immediately. This should make it much easier to catch errors in mail queues and follow logs while troubleshooting. It's fun and easy!

• View SMTP Transcript

  Wed, Sep 10, 2008 changelog

  Very often when diagnosing mail problems it is helpful to see exactly what SMTP responses are being generated for every step of the transaction. Frequently the root cause can be found by closely inspecting the responses from the HELO and RCPT TO portions of the SMTP conversation. Now Mailive! can help out.

  Recently Mailive! began recording outgoing SMTP sessions for all test messages the system sends. Now they can be viewed through the interface as shown here.

• Mailive! updates

  Sat, Aug 12, 2006 changelog

  Recently the Mailive! web site underwent a complete rewrite paving the way for future enhancements. The future is now and there have been several new features added in the last few weeks.

  Trigger test alert on request

  If you just entered a new alert and want to make sure the recipients and text all appear the way you want now you can trigger a test alert. After a new alert has been saved, or while editing an existing alert, pushing the "Test this alert" button will send both the Up and Down notifications for the alert. The messages will be recorded in the event history and prepend the subject with *TEST* making it clear this was not an actual alert.