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Most free/open-source log-analysis tools for system administrators are aimed at analyzing Web server (HTTP) logs. But one, AWSTATS, has been designed to analyze many different kinds of logs -- including POP3 and SMTP statistics generated by Exchange Server.
AWSTATS can record and report, among other things, inbound e-mails from unresolved IP addresses (which could be traced as possible spam sources), the top 20 e-mails to and from the server, the most common error codes logged for e-mail, e-mail traffic patterns (hours of peak usage), and total e-mail sent or received in megabytes.
Logs of theoretically any size -- up to the limit of the file system -- can be analyzed. The database produced by AWSTATS is stored in XML, and can be used by other applications. Third-party plug-ins also allow support for geographic reporting (where your mail is coming from sorted by country), multiple languages, dynamic report output (sort and search on the fly), automatic archiving of old log files, and even exporting of reports to PDF format.
One important fact: AWSTATS will not work with an out-of-the-box Exchange installation, since apparently Exchange doesn't record enough information about e-mail to provide useful logs. To make AWSTATS work with Exchange, you need to first enable message tracking, which is fortunately not complex and doesn't involve a registry hack.
The authors of AWSTATS have also supplied a pre-generated configuration file to work with Excha
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nge, although some types of reports will not be supported. The price is right, however, and the elegant-looking reports AWSTATS generates rival some for-pay products.
About the author: Serdar Yegulalp is editor of the Windows Power Users Newsletter and a regular contributor to SearchExchange.com.
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I just tried to set up AWStats to analyze Microsoft Exchange logs according to these instructions, but with no success at all. I'd like to get in touch with the author to check what's wrong. Is this possible?
—Stefan L.
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The author of AWSTATS can be reached at eldy@users.sourceforge.net.
—Serdar Yegulalp, tip author
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Here is additional information for setting up AWStats for Exchange Server: FAQ-COM100 Setup for MAIL log files (Postfix, Sendmail, QMail, MDaemon, Exchange).
—Damon W.
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More information from SearchExchange.com:
Learning Center: Toolbox for Exchange administrators
Topics Library: Exchange administration tools
Topics Library: Monitoring and performance
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