Let’s break down how to use it, what metrics matter, and how to set up proactive alerts. PowerMTA includes a built-in web server that exposes metrics via HTTP. When you see http-listener :8080 in your pmta/config file, you are looking at a live data stream of your MTA’s internal state.
http-listener listen-address :8080 # Restrict to localhost or your monitoring IP allow "127.0.0.1" allow "10.0.0.0/8"
#!/bin/bash METRICS=$(curl -s http://localhost:8080/pmta/stats) QUEUE_SIZE=$(echo "$METRICS" | grep "pmta.system.queue.size" | awk 'print $2') if [ "$QUEUE_SIZE" -gt 50000 ]; then echo "CRITICAL: PMTA queue > 50k messages" exit 2 elif [ "$QUEUE_SIZE" -gt 10000 ]; then echo "WARNING: Queue building up" exit 1 else echo "OK: Queue size $QUEUE_SIZE" exit 0 fi powermta monitoring 8080
Port 8080 is PowerMTA’s hidden gem for real-time analytics. Learn how to unlock HTTP stats, set up proactive monitoring, and keep your email delivery healthy. If you manage a PowerMTA (PMTA) cluster, you probably spend most of your time watching mail logs ( /var/log/pmta ) or parsing pmta show queue . While those are essential, there is a much cleaner, faster, and automation-friendly way to check the pulse of your MTA: Port 8080 .
[[inputs.http]] urls = ["http://localhost:8080/pmta/stats"] data_format = "value" data_type = "string" [[processors.regex]] [[processors.regex.fields]] key = "body" pattern = "(\w+\.\w+\.\w+)\s+(\d+)" replacement = "$1:$2" Let’s break down how to use it, what
Many admins disable or overlook this port, thinking it’s just for a “nice-to-have” web interface. In reality, the PowerMTA HTTP monitoring endpoint (default port 8080) is your best friend for real-time observability.
Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Port 8080: A Guide to PowerMTA Monitoring While those are essential, there is a much
After reloading PMTA ( pmta reload ), test it locally: