---
title: Sendmail integration
source: https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/infrastructure/host-integrations/host-integrations-list/sendmail-monitoring-integration
---

Our Sendmail integration monitors the performance of your Sendmail mail transfer agent, helping you quickly instrument and monitor your agent.

![](https://docs.newrelic.com/images/infrastructure_screenshot-full_Sendmail-integration.webp "Screenshot of Sendmail dashboard")

After setting up the integration with New Relic, see your data in dashboards like these, right out of the box.

Complete the following steps to install the integration:

## Install the infrastructure agent [#install-infra-agent]

To use the Sendmail integration, you need to first [install the infrastructure agent](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/infrastructure/install-infrastructure-agent/get-started/install-infrastructure-agent-new-relic/) on the same host. The infrastructure agent monitors the host itself, while the integration you'll install in the next step extends your monitoring with Sendmail-specific data.

## Use NRI-Flex to capture metrics

Flex allows you to capture Apache Zookeeper metrics. It comes bundled with the New Relic infrastructure agent you installed in the previous step.

1.  Create a file named `sendmail-flex-config.yml` in the `/newrelic-infra/integrations.d` path.

2.  Update the `sendmail-flex-config.yml` with the following configuration example.

    Make sure to replace `FAILED_MESSAGES_FILE_NAME` references with your file name. To find this file name, go to `/var/mail/` and check the file that has been created for failed messages.

    ```yml
    ---
    integrations:
      - name: nri-flex
        config:
        name: sendmailFlex
        apis:
            #check if Sendmail service is up.
            - event_type: SendmailUp
            commands:
                - run: echo "value:$(systemctl status sendmail | grep 'Active':' active (running)' | wc -l)"
                split_by: ':'

            #check if Sendmail service is down.
            - event_type: SendmailDown
            commands:
                - run: echo "value:$(systemctl status sendmail | grep 'Active':' inactive (dead)' | wc -l)"
                split_by: ':'

            #Read the number of times SMTP service is unreachable.
            - event_type: SendmailSMTPserviceUnreachable
            commands:
                - run: echo "value:$(cat /var/log/mail.log | grep -E 'stat=Service unavailable' | wc -l)"
                split_by: ':'

            #Read the count of error message - host not found.
            - event_type: SendmailHostNotFound
            commands:
                - run: echo "value:$(cat /var/log/mail.log | grep -c 'host not found')"
                split_by: ':'

            #Read the count of error logged.
            - event_type: SendmailErrorCount
            commands:
                - run: echo "value:$(cat /var/log/mail.err | wc -l)"
                split_by: ':'

            #Read the number of messages accepted for delivery.
            - event_type: SendmailMessageAcceptedForDelivery
            commands:
                - run: echo "value:$(cat /var/log/mail.log | grep -c 'Message accepted for delivery')"
                split_by: ':'

            #Read the number of messages sent & deferred.
            - event_type: SendmailMessageStatus
            commands:
                - run: echo "sent:$(cat /var/log/mail.log | grep 'stat=Sent' |  wc -l)"
                split_by: ':'
                - run: echo "deferred:$(cat /var/log/mail.log | grep 'stat=Deferred' |  wc -l)"
                split_by: ':'

            #Read the number of messages held by user.
            #Go to the path "/var/mail/" and check the file that has been created for failed messages and accordingly update "FAILED_MESSAGES_FILE_NAME" in the below command.
            - event_type: SendmailHeldMessage
            commands:
                - run: echo "value:$(cat /var/mail/FAILED_MESSAGES_FILE_NAME | grep -c 'Subject:')"
                split_by: ':'

            #Read the number of connection timeout.
            - event_type: SendmailConnectionTimeOut
            commands:
                - run: echo "value:$(cat /var/log/mail.log | grep -c 'timeout')"
                split_by: ':'

            #Read the recipients with message count.
            - event_type: SendmailRecipientsbyMessageCount
            commands:
                - run: cat /var/log/mail.log | grep "to=<.*.>" | awk '{n=split($7,a,"to="); print a[1],a[2]}' | cut -d "<" -f2 |cut -d ">" -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr
                split: horizontal
                header_split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                set_header: [msgCount.total, recipients.total]
                regex_match: true
                split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                - run: cat /var/log/mail.log | grep "to=<.*.>" | grep "$(date +'%b %e')" | awk '{n=split($7,a,"to="); print a[1],a[2]}' | cut -d "<" -f2 |cut -d ">" -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr
                split: horizontal
                header_split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                set_header: [msgCount.latest, recipients.latest]
                regex_match: true
                split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)

            #Read the recipients host/domain.
            - event_type: SendmailRecipientsHostname
            commands:
                - run: cat /var/log/mail.log | grep "to=<.*.>" | awk '{print $7}' | grep -oE '[^@]+[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}' | sort | uniq -c
                split: horizontal
                header_split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                set_header: [hostCount.total, hostname.total]
                regex_match: true
                split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                - run: cat /var/log/mail.log | grep "to=<.*.>" | grep "$(date +'%b %e')" | awk '{print $7}' | grep -oE '[^@]+[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}' | sort | uniq -c
                split: horizontal
                header_split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                set_header: [hostCount.latest, hostname.latest]
                regex_match: true
                split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)

            #Read the senders with message count.
            - event_type: SendmailSendersbyMessageCount
            commands:
                - run: cat /var/log/mail.log | grep "from=<.*@.*>" | awk '{print $7}' | cut -d "<" -f2 |cut -d ">" -f1 | sort | uniq -c
                split: horizontal
                header_split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                set_header: [msg.total, senders.total]
                regex_match: true
                split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                - run: cat /var/log/mail.log | grep "from=<.*@.*>" | grep "$(date +'%b %e')" | awk '{print $7}' | cut -d "<" -f2 |cut -d ">" -f1 | sort | uniq -c
                split: horizontal
                header_split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                set_header: [msg.latest, senders.latest]
                regex_match: true
                split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)

            #Read the senders host/domain.
            - event_type: SendmailSendersHostname
            commands:
                - run: cat /var/log/mail.log | grep "from=<.*.>" | awk '{print $7}' | grep -oE '[^@]+[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}' | sort | uniq -c
                split: horizontal
                header_split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                set_header: [hostCount.total, hostname.total]
                regex_match: true
                split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                - run: cat /var/log/mail.log | grep "from=<.*.>" | grep "$(date +'%b %e')" | awk '{print $7}' | grep -oE '[^@]+[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}' | sort | uniq -c
                split: horizontal
                header_split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.)
                set_header: [hostCount.latest, hostname.latest]
                regex_match: true
                split_by: \s+(\d+)\s+(.*.) 
    ```

## Forward your Sendmail logs to New Relic [#forward-logs]

You can use our [log forwarding](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/logs/forward-logs/forward-your-logs-using-infrastructure-agent/) capability to forward Sendmail logs to New Relic.

Add the following script to `/etc/newrelic-infra/logging.d/logging.yml`:

````yml
logs:
  - name: mail.log
    file: /var/log/mail.log
    attributes:
    logtype: sendmail_log
  - name: mail.err
    file: /var/log/mail.err
    attributes:
    logtype: sendmail_error
```


````

## Restart the New Relic infrastructure agent [#restart-agent]

Before you can start reading your data, use the instructions in our [infrastructure agent docs](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/infrastructure/install-infrastructure-agent/manage-your-agent/start-stop-restart-infrastructure-agent/) to restart your infrastructure agent.

````shell
sudo systemctl restart newrelic-infra.service
```

In a couple of minutes, your application will send metrics to [one.newrelic.com](https://one.newrelic.com).  


````

## Find your data [#find-data]

You can choose our pre-built dashboard template named `Sendmail` to monitor your Sendmail application metrics. Follow these steps to use our pre-built dashboard template:

1.  From [one.newrelic.com](https://one.newrelic.com), go to the **+ Integrations & Agents** page.
2.  Click on **Dashboards**.
3.  In the search bar, type `sendmail`.
4.  The Sendmail dashboard should appear. Click on it to install it.

    Your Sendmail dashboard is considered a custom dashboard and can be found in the **Dashboards** UI. For docs on using and editing dashboards, see [our dashboard docs](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/query-your-data/explore-query-data/dashboards/introduction-dashboards).

    Here is a NRQL query to find your latest message's sent status:

    ```sql
    SELECT latest(sent) AS 'Sent', latest(deferred) AS 'Deferred' 
    FROM SendmailMessageStatus
    ```

    Here is a NRQL query to find view the Sendmail service status:

    ```sql
    SELECT latest(value) AS 'Service Up' 
    FROM SendmailUp 
    TIMESERIES AUTO
    ```

## What's next? [#whats-next]

To learn more about building NRQL queries and generating dashboards, check out these docs:

-   [Introduction to the query builder](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/query-your-data/explore-query-data/query-builder/introduction-query-builder) to create basic and advanced queries.
-   [Introduction to dashboards](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/query-your-data/explore-query-data/dashboards/introduction-dashboards) to customize your dashboard and carry out different actions.
-   [Manage your dashboard](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/query-your-data/explore-query-data/dashboards/manage-your-dashboard) to adjust your dashboards display mode, or to add more content to your dashboard.