StrataMail Email Continuity includes built-in relay monitoring and outage alerting for every protected domain. When a customer's primary mail server becomes unreachable, the monitoring system detects the failure within minutes and sends alerts to the addresses you configure — via email, SMS, or both. This article covers how to enable monitoring, configure SMS alerts, understand alert types, and read the uptime report.
How Monitoring Works
StrataMail Email Continuity monitors relay connectivity for each domain every 5 minutes. The monitor attempts a TCP connection to the relay host (the customer's primary mail server) on the configured port. If the connection fails, an outage event is opened and alert notifications are sent.
Monitoring operates independently of the spam filter. StrataMail monitors its own ability to reach the customer's relay host — it does not monitor the spam filter itself, the DNS MX record, or any other upstream infrastructure.
Enabling Monitoring
- Go to Continuity → Domain List.
- Click Edit next to the domain.
- Click the Monitoring & Alerts tab.
- Check Enable relay monitoring.
- Enter alert email addresses (comma separated) — these receive outage open and recovery notifications.
- Optionally enter SMS gateway addresses for text message alerts (see SMS configuration below).
- Check Alert on connection failure.
- Click Save changes.
SMS Alert Configuration
SMS alerts are delivered via email-to-SMS gateway addresses. Enter the gateway address in the SMS field using the format: 10digitphonenumber@carrier-gateway
| Carrier | Gateway Domain | Example |
|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile | @tmomail.net | 6155551234@tmomail.net |
| AT&T | @txt.att.net | 6155551234@txt.att.net |
| Verizon | @vtext.com | 6155551234@vtext.com |
| Sprint / Boost | @messaging.sprintpcs.com | 6155551234@messaging.sprintpcs.com |
| US Cellular | @email.uscc.net | 6155551234@email.uscc.net |
To verify SMS alerts are working, use the Test SMS button in the Monitoring & Alerts tab after saving your configuration. A test alert will be sent immediately to all configured SMS addresses.
Alert Types
| Alert | Triggered When | What To Do |
|---|---|---|
| Outage opened | Relay host TCP connection fails on consecutive checks | Check the customer's primary mail server. Mail is queuing safely — nothing is lost. Notify the customer if appropriate. |
| Queue threshold | Queue depth exceeds the configured message count threshold | Review the queue in Queue Manager. Consider notifying the customer if the outage is extended. |
| Stuck queue | Messages have been queued longer than the configured hour threshold | Check relay host reachability. Verify the relay host address in the domain configuration is correct. |
| Recovery | Queue fully drained after primary server recovery | Informational only. No action required. The outage event is now closed. |
Uptime Report
Go to Reports → Uptime & Monitoring for a summary of relay connectivity across all monitored domains.
| Column | What It Shows | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Checks | Total connectivity tests in the reporting period | Approximately 288 checks per domain per 24 hours at 5-minute intervals |
| Successful | Tests that established a TCP connection to the relay host | A successful test confirms TCP reachability only — not mail delivery |
| Uptime % | Successful checks divided by total checks | Values below 99% warrant investigation |
| Response | TCP connection time in milliseconds | Consistently high values suggest network latency between StrataMail and the relay host |
| Last check | Timestamp of the most recent monitoring check | If this is more than 10 minutes ago, monitoring may not be running — contact support |
Monitoring Limitations
- Spam filter health or availability
- DNS MX record resolution
- SMTP session completion (authentication, mailbox acceptance)
- Actual email delivery success rates
- Roundcube webmail availability
If a customer reports mail not delivering despite 100% uptime in the monitoring report, the issue is likely at the SMTP session level — authentication failure, recipient rejection, or message content filtering at the relay host. Use the Test relay connection button in the domain's configuration to run a live SMTP session test and see the full server response.
Related Resources
- Getting Started Guide — first-time setup including monitoring activation
- Dashboard & Event Management — responding to active outage events
- StrataMail Email Continuity — product overview
- Reseller Programs — white-labeled monitoring alerts for your customers
866.790.4678 — Contact Form