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# Postfix


<img src="https://netdata.cloud/img/postfix.svg" width="150"/>


Plugin: python.d.plugin
Module: postfix

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/maintained%20by-Netdata-%2300ab44" />

## Overview

Keep an eye on Postfix metrics for efficient mail server operations. 
Improve your mail server performance with Netdata's real-time metrics and built-in alerts.


Monitors MTA email queue statistics using [postqueue](http://www.postfix.org/postqueue.1.html) tool.


This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

Postfix has internal access controls that limit activities on the mail queue. By default, all users are allowed to view the queue. If your system is configured with stricter access controls, you need to grant the `netdata` user access to view the mail queue. In order to do it, add `netdata` to `authorized_mailq_users` in the `/etc/postfix/main.cf` file.
See the `authorized_mailq_users` setting in the [Postfix documentation](https://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html) for more details.


### Default Behavior

#### Auto-Detection

The collector executes  `postqueue -p` to get Postfix queue statistics.

#### Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

#### Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.


## Metrics

Metrics grouped by *scope*.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.



### Per Postfix instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored application.


This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

| Metric | Dimensions | Unit |
|:------|:----------|:----|
| postfix.qemails | emails | emails |
| postfix.qsize | size | KiB |



## Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.


## Setup

### Prerequisites

No action required.

### Configuration

#### File

There is no configuration file.
#### Options

There are 2 sections:

* Global variables
* One or more JOBS that can define multiple different instances to monitor.

The following options can be defined globally: priority, penalty, autodetection_retry, update_every, but can also be defined per JOB to override the global values.

Additionally, the following collapsed table contains all the options that can be configured inside a JOB definition.

Every configuration JOB starts with a `job_name` value which will appear in the dashboard, unless a `name` parameter is specified.


<details open><summary>Config options</summary>

| Name | Description | Default | Required |
|:----|:-----------|:-------|:--------:|
| update_every | Sets the default data collection frequency. | 1 | no |
| priority | Controls the order of charts at the netdata dashboard. | 60000 | no |
| autodetection_retry | Sets the job re-check interval in seconds. | 0 | no |
| penalty | Indicates whether to apply penalty to update_every in case of failures. | yes | no |
| name | Job name. This value will overwrite the `job_name` value. JOBS with the same name are mutually exclusive. Only one of them will be allowed running at any time. This allows autodetection to try several alternatives and pick the one that works. |  | no |

</details>

#### Examples
There are no configuration examples.



## Troubleshooting

### Debug Mode

To troubleshoot issues with the `postfix` collector, run the `python.d.plugin` with the debug option enabled. The output
should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

- Navigate to the `plugins.d` directory, usually at `/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/`. If that's not the case on
  your system, open `netdata.conf` and look for the `plugins` setting under `[directories]`.

  ```bash
  cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
  ```

- Switch to the `netdata` user.

  ```bash
  sudo -u netdata -s
  ```

- Run the `python.d.plugin` to debug the collector:

  ```bash
  ./python.d.plugin postfix debug trace
  ```


