Monitor Exchange

Microsoft's recommendation for troubleshooting SMTP and POP on an Exchange Server is to use protocol logs. However, logging can waste time and disk space as the logs accumulate. If you send a test message, you must go through all your logged email messages to find the message. In addition, opening the message is often time-consuming.

An alternative method I use for monitoring my Exchange server is to open Exchange System Manager (ESM) and navigate to the server that hosts the SMTP virtual server. Then, I highlight Current Sessions and hold down the F5 key. SMTP and POP connections display in the right-hand window.