Message Tracking

Messages sent to and from Microsoft Exchange Server can be tracked to determine the cause of mail-related problems. You can:

• Track messages to locate slow or stopped connections.
• Find unaccounted mail.
• Track an unauthorized message and remove it from the system.

When message tracking is enabled, each component handling mail records its activities in a log maintained by the system attendant on each server. The log becomes a trace of the processing of each message as each component receives, processes, and delivers it to the next component. The tracking logs are stored in Exchsrvr\Tracking.log.

How a Message Is Tracked

When a message is passed from a client to the Internet, multiple events are logged into the tracking log. Each log records one day's activities on the server. The tracking log can be displayed by using the Microsoft Exchange Server Message Tracking Center.

The following table describes the Internet Mail Service activity in the tracking logs:

Field Name	Description
SMTP transfer out	The message is received by the Internet Mail Service from the Microsoft Exchange Server information store.
SMTP inbound received	The message is received by the Internet Mail Service from the Internet.
SMTP transfer in	The message is received by the Microsoft Exchange Server information store from the Internet Mail Service.
SMTP message rerouted	The message was received by the Internet Mail Service and rerouted to another domain. For information on rerouting, see "Routing Properties" earlier in this chapter.

For more information about message tracking, see Microsoft Exchange Server Operations.