MTA-MIB

All MIBs › MTA-MIB

Organization: IETF Mail and Directory Management Working Group

Last Updated: 2000-03-03

Category: Web and Application Servers

Description: Monitors Message Transfer Agent (MTA) operations, tracking per-MTA and per-group message counts, volumes, and processing errors for mail systems.

IPNetwork Monitor uses several OIDs from this MIB in network discovery and polling the applicable devices. Start monitoring MTA-MIB with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor.

What Is MTA-MIB?

MTA-MIB is an IETF Mail and Directory Management Working Group standard MIB (built on NETWORK-SERVICES-MIB) describing Message Transfer Agents (MTAs). Its MTA table records received/stored/transmitted message counts and volumes, received/stored/transmitted recipient counts, successful/failed converted-message counts, and loops-detected count, while a group table breaks the same statistics down per MTA association group (also tracking rejected-message count). As a performance MIB it lets an administrator watch mail-relay throughput and detect routing loops on a standards-compliant MTA. It is deployed on standards-compliant Message Transfer Agent (MTA) mail-relay servers. Engineers implementing or auditing this functionality typically reference the MTA-MIB RFC/standard documentation for the authoritative specification.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in MTA-MIB. Use the built-in SNMP Monitoring Browser to explore available variables, view their current values and descriptions, and select the objects you want to monitor. You can then create SNMP monitors, configure thresholds, and receive alerts when monitored values change.

Supported Devices

Standards-compliant Message Transfer Agent (MTA) mail-relay servers

Monitoring Examples

An administrator checks mtaLoopsDetected and mtaFailedConvertedMessages to catch mail-routing loops or format-conversion failures on a standards-compliant MTA.

What Can Be Monitored

mail-relay throughput, conversion failures, and routing loops

Imported Objects

From NETWORK-SERVICES-MIB

URLString
applIndex	OBJECT-TYPE

From SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

SnmpAdminString

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
Gauge32
MODULE-IDENTITY
OBJECT-TYPE
mib-2

From SNMPv2-TC

TimeInterval

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using mtaReceivedMessages OID:

Select a device implementing MTA-MIB as the target host to create a monitor — the SNMP service should be up and running on it. Click New Monitor, then check SNMP Custom on the Favorites tab, click Next, and confirm the host. On the next page, click Select... to open the built-in SNMP MIB Browser and type mtaReceivedMessages into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, selecting the specific row/instance you want to monitor since this is a table column, then select it and click OK. The number of messages received since MTA initialization. On the monitor's Main parameters page you can set the target's SNMP port (default 161), credentials, polling interval, and other settings — see the SNMP Monitor help for details. On the State conditions and Alerting tabs, configure when the monitor should change state and trigger an alert; since this is a Counter32-type OID, Value bounds is the most useful condition here — trigger an alert if the counter increases sharply between polls relative to its normal baseline, since an unexpected spike often reflects a real change in traffic or activity. Click Finish to create the monitor; you can adjust any parameter later.

OIDs

OID symbolic	OID numeric	Type	Access	Description
mta	1.3.6.1.2.1.28			The MIB module describing Message Transfer Agents (MTAs)
mtaTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1		not-accessible	The table holding information specific to an MTA.
mtaEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1		not-accessible	The entry associated with each MTA.
C32 mtaReceivedMessagesEx	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.1	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages received since MTA initialization. This includes messages transmitted to this MTA from other MTAs as well as messages that have been submitted to the MTA directly by end-users or applications.
G32 mtaStoredMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.2	Gauge32	read-only	The total number of messages currently stored in the MTA. This includes messages that are awaiting transmission to some other MTA or are waiting for delivery to an end-user or application.
C32 mtaTransmittedMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.3	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages transmitted since MTA initialization. This includes messages that were transmitted to some other MTA or are waiting for delivery to an end-user or application.
C32 mtaReceivedVolume	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.4	Counter32	read-only	The total volume of messages received since MTA initialization, measured in kilo-octets. This volume should include all transferred data that is logically above the mail transport protocol level. For example, an SMTP-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets in the message header and body, while an X.400-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets of P2 data. This includes messages transmitted to this MTA from other MTAs as well as messages that have been submitted to the MTA directly by end-users or applications.
G32 mtaStoredVolume	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.5	Gauge32	read-only	The total volume of messages currently stored in the MTA, measured in kilo-octets. This volume should include all stored data that is logically above the mail transport protocol level. For example, an SMTP-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets in the message header and body, while an X.400-based MTA would use the number of kilo-octets of P2 data. This includes messages that are awaiting transmission to some other MTA or are waiting for delivery to an end-user or application.
C32 mtaTransmittedVolume	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.6	Counter32	read-only	The total volume of messages transmitted since MTA initialization, measured in kilo-octets. This volume should include all transferred data that is logically above the mail transport protocol level. For example, an SMTP-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets in the message header and body, while an X.400-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets of P2 data. This includes messages that were transmitted to some other MTA or are waiting for delivery to an end-user or application.
C32 mtaReceivedRecipients	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.7	Counter32	read-only	The total number of recipients specified in all messages received since MTA initialization. Recipients this MTA has no responsibility for, i.e. inactive envelope recipients or ones referred to in message headers, should not be counted even if information about such recipients is available. This includes messages transmitted to this MTA from other MTAs as well as messages that have been submitted to the MTA directly by end-users or applications.
G32 mtaStoredRecipients	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.8	Gauge32	read-only	The total number of recipients specified in all messages currently stored in the MTA. Recipients this MTA has no responsibility for, i.e. inactive envelope recipients or ones referred to in message headers, should not be counted. This includes messages that are awaiting transmission to some other MTA or are waiting for delivery to an end-user or application.
C32 mtaTransmittedRecipients	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.9	Counter32	read-only	The total number of recipients specified in all messages transmitted since MTA initialization. Recipients this MTA had no responsibility for, i.e. inactive envelope recipients or ones referred to in message headers, should not be counted. This includes messages that were transmitted to some other MTA or are waiting for delivery to an end-user or application.
C32 mtaSuccessfulConvertedMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.10	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages that have been successfully converted from one form to another since MTA initialization.
C32 mtaFailedConvertedMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.11	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages for which an unsuccessful attempt was made to convert them from one form to another since MTA initialization.
C32 mtaLoopsDetected	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.1.1.12	Counter32	read-only	A message loop is defined as a situation where the MTA decides that a given message will never be delivered to one or more recipients and instead will continue to loop endlessly through one or more MTAs. This variable counts the number of times the MTA has detected such a situation since MTA initialization. Note that the mechanism MTAs use to detect loops (e.g., trace field counting, count of references to this MTA in a trace field, examination of DNS or other directory information, etc.), the level at which loops are detected (e.g., per message, per recipient, per directory entry, etc.), and the handling of a loop once it is detected (e.g., looping messages are held, looping messages are bounced or sent to the postmaster, messages that the MTA knows will loop won't be accepted, etc.) vary widely from one MTA to the next and cannot be inferred from this variable.
mtaGroupTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2		not-accessible	The table holding information specific to each MTA group.
mtaGroupEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1		not-accessible	The entry associated with each MTA group.
INT mtaGroupIndex	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.1	INTEGER	not-accessible	The index associated with a group for a given MTA.
C32 mtaGroupReceivedMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.2	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages received to this group since group creation.
C32 mtaGroupRejectedMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.3	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages rejected by this group since group creation.
G32 mtaGroupStoredMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.4	Gauge32	read-only	The total number of messages currently stored in this group's queue.
C32 mtaGroupTransmittedMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.5	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages transmitted by this group since group creation.
C32 mtaGroupReceivedVolume	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.6	Counter32	read-only	The total volume of messages received to this group since group creation, measured in kilo-octets. This volume should include all transferred data that is logically above the mail transport protocol level. For example, an SMTP-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets in the message header and body, while an X.400-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets of P2 data.
G32 mtaGroupStoredVolume	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.7	Gauge32	read-only	The total volume of messages currently stored in this group's queue, measured in kilo-octets. This volume should include all stored data that is logically above the mail transport protocol level. For example, an SMTP-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets in the message header and body, while an X.400-based MTA would use the number of kilo-octets of P2 data.
C32 mtaGroupTransmittedVolume	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.8	Counter32	read-only	The total volume of messages transmitted by this group since group creation, measured in kilo-octets. This volume should include all transferred data that is logically above the mail transport protocol level. For example, an SMTP-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets in the message header and body, while an X.400-based MTA should use the number of kilo-octets of P2 data.
C32 mtaGroupReceivedRecipients	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.9	Counter32	read-only	The total number of recipients specified in all messages received to this group since group creation. Recipients this MTA has no responsibility for should not be counted.
G32 mtaGroupStoredRecipients	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.10	Gauge32	read-only	The total number of recipients specified in all messages currently stored in this group's queue. Recipients this MTA has no responsibility for should not be counted.
C32 mtaGroupTransmittedRecipients	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.11	Counter32	read-only	The total number of recipients specified in all messages transmitted by this group since group creation. Recipients this MTA had no responsibility for should not be counted.
NUM mtaGroupOldestMessageStored	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.12	TimeInterval	read-only	Time since the oldest message in this group's queue was placed in the queue.
G32 mtaGroupInboundAssociations	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.13	Gauge32	read-only	The number of current associations to the group, where the group is the responder.
G32 mtaGroupOutboundAssociations	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.14	Gauge32	read-only	The number of current associations to the group, where the group is the initiator.
C32 mtaGroupAccumulatedInboundAssociations	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.15	Counter32	read-only	The total number of associations to the group since group creation, where the MTA was the responder.
C32 mtaGroupAccumulatedOutboundAssociations	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.16	Counter32	read-only	The total number of associations from the group since group creation, where the MTA was the initiator.
NUM mtaGroupLastInboundActivity	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.17	TimeInterval	read-only	Time since the last time that this group had an active inbound association for purposes of message reception.
NUM mtaGroupLastOutboundActivity	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.18	TimeInterval	read-only	Time since the last time that this group had a successful outbound association for purposes of message delivery.
C32 mtaGroupRejectedInboundAssociations	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.19	Counter32	read-only	The total number of inbound associations the group has rejected, since group creation. Rejected associations are not counted in the accumulated association totals.
C32 mtaGroupFailedOutboundAssociations	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.20	Counter32	read-only	The total number associations where the group was the initiator and association establishment has failed, since group creation. Failed associations are not counted in the accumulated association totals.
STR mtaGroupInboundRejectionReason	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.21	SnmpAdminString	read-only	The failure reason, if any, for the last association this group refused to respond to. If no association attempt has been made since the MTA was initialized the value should be 'never'.
STR mtaGroupOutboundConnectFailureReason	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.22	SnmpAdminString	read-only	The failure reason, if any, for the last association attempt this group initiated. If no association attempt has been made since the MTA was initialized the value should be 'never'.
NUM mtaGroupScheduledRetry	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.23	TimeInterval	read-only	The amount of time until this group is next scheduled to attempt to make an association.
OID mtaGroupMailProtocol	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.24	OBJECT IDENTIFIER	read-only	An identification of the protocol being used by this group. For an group employing OSI protocols, this will be the Application Context. For Internet applications, OID values of the form {applTCPProtoID port} or {applUDPProtoID port} are used for TCP-based and UDP-based protocols, respectively. In either case 'port' corresponds to the primary port number being used by the protocol. The usual IANA procedures may be used to register ports for new protocols. applTCPProtoID and applUDPProtoID are defined in the NETWORK-SERVICES-MIB, RFC 2788.
STR mtaGroupName	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.25	SnmpAdminString	read-only	A descriptive name for the group. If this group connects to a single remote MTA this should be the name of that MTA. If this in turn is an Internet MTA this should be the domain name. For an OSI MTA it should be the string encoded distinguished name of the managed object using the format defined in RFC 2253. For X.400(1984) MTAs which do not have a Distinguished Name, the RFC 2156 syntax 'mta in globalid' used in X400-Received: fields can be used.
C32 mtaGroupSuccessfulConvertedMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.26	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages that have been successfully converted from one form to another in this group since group creation.
C32 mtaGroupFailedConvertedMessages	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.27	Counter32	read-only	The number of messages for which an unsuccessful attempt was made to convert them from one form to another in this group since group creation.
STR mtaGroupDescription	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.28	SnmpAdminString	read-only	A description of the group's purpose. This information is intended to identify the group in a status display.
STR mtaGroupURL	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.29	URLString	read-only	A URL pointing to a description of the group. This information is intended to identify and briefly describe the group in a status display.
NUM mtaGroupCreationTime	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.30	TimeInterval	read-only	Time since this group was first created.
INT mtaGroupHierarchy	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.31	INTEGER	read-only	Describes how this group fits into the hierarchy. A positive value is interpreted as an mtaGroupIndex value for some other group whose variables include those of this group (and usually others). A negative value is interpreted as a group collection code: Groups with common negative hierarchy values comprise one particular breakdown of MTA activity as a whole. A zero value means that this MIB implementation doesn't implement hierarchy indicators and thus the overall group hierarchy cannot be determined.
STR mtaGroupOldestMessageId	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.32	SnmpAdminString	read-only	Message ID of the oldest message in the group's queue. Whenever possible this should be in the form of an RFC 822 msg-id; X.400 may convert X.400 message identifiers to this form by following the rules laid out in RFC2156.
C32 mtaGroupLoopsDetected	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.33	Counter32	read-only	A message loop is defined as a situation where the MTA decides that a given message will never be delivered to one or more recipients and instead will continue to loop endlessly through one or more MTAs. This variable counts the number of times the MTA has detected such a situation in conjunction with something associated with this group since group creation. Note that the mechanism MTAs use to detect loops (e.g., trace field counting, count of references to this MTA in a trace field, examination of DNS or other directory information, etc.), the level at which loops are detected (e.g., per message, per recipient, per directory entry, etc.), and the handling of a loop once it is detected (e.g., looping messages are held, looping messages are bounced or sent to the postmaster, messages that the MTA knows will loop won't be accepted, etc.) vary widely from one MTA to the next and cannot be inferred from this variable.
NUM mtaGroupLastOutboundAssociationAttempt	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.2.1.34	TimeInterval	read-only	Time since the last time that this group attempted to make an outbound association for purposes of message delivery.
mtaGroupAssociationTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.3		not-accessible	The table holding information regarding the associations for each MTA group.
mtaGroupAssociationEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.3.1		not-accessible	The entry holding information regarding the associations for each MTA group.
INT mtaGroupAssociationIndex	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.3.1.1	INTEGER	read-only	Reference into association table to allow correlation of this group's active associations with the association table.
mtaConformance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4
mtaGroups	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1
mtaRFC2249Group	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1.4			A collection of objects providing basic monitoring of MTAs. This group was originally defined in RFC 2249.
mtaRFC2249AssocGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1.5			A collection of objects providing monitoring of MTA associations. This group was originally defined in RFC 2249.
mtaRFC2249ErrorGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1.6			A collection of objects providing monitoring of detailed MTA errors. This group was originally defined in RFC 2249.
mtaRFC2789Group	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1.7			A collection of objects providing basic monitoring of MTAs. This is the appropriate group for RFC 2789.
mtaRFC2789AssocGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1.8			A collection of objects providing monitoring of MTA associations. This is the appropriate group for RFC 2789 association monitoring.
mtaRFC2789ErrorGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1.9			A collection of objects providing monitoring of detailed MTA errors. This is the appropriate group for RFC 2789 error monitoring.
mtaRFC1566Group	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1.10			A collection of objects providing basic monitoring of MTAs. This is the original set of such objects defined in RFC 1566.
mtaRFC1566AssocGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.1.11			A collection of objects providing monitoring of MTA associations. This is the original set of such objects defined in RFC 1566.
mtaCompliances	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2
mtaCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.1			The compliance statement for RFC 1566 implementations which support the Mail Monitoring MIB for basic monitoring of MTAs.
mtaAssocCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.2			The compliance statement for RFC 1566 implementations which support the Mail Monitoring MIB for monitoring of MTAs and their associations.
mtaRFC2249Compliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.5			The compliance statement for RFC 2249 implementations which support the Mail Monitoring MIB for basic monitoring of MTAs.
mtaRFC2249AssocCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.6			The compliance statement for RFC 2249 implementations which support the Mail Monitoring MIB for monitoring of MTAs and their associations.
mtaRFC2249ErrorCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.7			The compliance statement for RFC 2249 implementations which support the Mail Monitoring MIB for monitoring of MTAs and detailed errors.
mtaRFC2249FullCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.8			The compliance statement for RFC 2249 implementations which support the full Mail Monitoring MIB for monitoring of MTAs, associations, and detailed errors.
mtaRFC2789Compliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.9			The compliance statement for RFC 2789 implementations which support the Mail Monitoring MIB for basic monitoring of MTAs.
mtaRFC2789AssocCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.10			The compliance statement for RFC 2789 implementations which support the Mail Monitoring MIB for monitoring of MTAs and their associations.
mtaRFC2789ErrorCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.11			The compliance statement for RFC 2789 implementations which support the Mail Monitoring MIB for monitoring of MTAs and detailed errors.
mtaRFC2789FullCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.4.2.12			The compliance statement for RFC 2789 implementations which support the full Mail Monitoring MIB for monitoring of MTAs, associations, and detailed errors.
mtaGroupErrorTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.5		not-accessible	The table holding information regarding accumulated errors for each MTA group.
mtaGroupErrorEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.5.1		not-accessible	The entry holding information regarding accumulated errors for each MTA group.
C32 mtaGroupInboundErrorCount	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.5.1.1	Counter32	read-only	Count of the number of errors of a given type that have been accumulated in association with a particular group while processing incoming messages. In the case of SMTP these will typically be errors reporting by an SMTP server to the remote client; in the case of X.400 these will typically be errors encountered while processing an incoming message.
C32 mtaGroupInternalErrorCount	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.5.1.2	Counter32	read-only	Count of the number of errors of a given type that have been accumulated in association with a particular group during internal MTA processing.
C32 mtaGroupOutboundErrorCount	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.5.1.3	Counter32	read-only	Count of the number of errors of a given type that have been accumulated in association with a particular group's outbound connection activities. In the case of an SMTP client these will typically be errors reported while attempting to contact or while communicating with the remote SMTP server. In the case of X.400 these will typically be errors encountered while constructing or attempting to deliver an outgoing message.
INT mtaStatusCode	1.3.6.1.2.1.28.5.1.4	INTEGER	not-accessible	An index capable of representing an Enhanced Mail System Status Code. Enhanced Mail System Status Codes are defined in RFC 1893. These codes have the form class.subject.detail Here 'class' is either 2, 4, or 5 and both 'subject' and 'detail' are integers in the range 0..999. Given a status code the corresponding index value is defined to be ((class * 1000) + subject) * 1000 + detail. Both SMTP error response codes and X.400 reason and diagnostic codes can be mapped into these codes, resulting in a namespace capable of describing most error conditions a mail system encounters in a generic yet detailed way.

RFC description

MIB module for Message Transfer Agents (MTAs), managing email routing, delivery, and SMTP operations.

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