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Monitoring Internet Services

Using the Internet Services Monitor
Monitoring system protocols
Viewing system abuse information
Controlling basic functions
Internet Services file logging
Debugging
Logging levels
The task list
SMTP transaction logging

One of the most important day-to-day activities you will perform as an administrator is monitoring your
FirstClass system. Understanding the Internet Services Monitor and how logging and debugging works
helps you control possible system abuse and maintain your Internet Services to avoid any down time.
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Using the Internet Services Monitor

Using the Internet Services Monitor, located in the Internet Services folder on the administrator’s Desktop,
you can perform a variety of administrative tasks either at your Internet Services machine or remotely:
• monitor the active protocols on your system
• view information on suspected abuse of your Internet Services system
• control the basic functions of Internet Services, such as logging, caching, reloading configuration files,
forcing Internet connections, and shutting down Internet Services
• set logging levels for debug categories on your system per session instead of configuring the inetsvcs.cf
file.

Monitoring system protocols

You can monitor the activity of your Internet protocols on the Protocols tab. Protocols are divided into two
groups: outbound and inbound. The outbound group consists of outgoing SMTP mail. You set the total
number of outbound mail and news sessions at "Max outgoing mail" on the Basic Internet Setup form's
Mail - Main tab.
The inbound group consists of inbound mail and news plus Directory and web client connections. You set
the total number of inbound Internet sessions in "Internet sessions" on the Service tab. If peak usage
occurs, either increase the number of available sessions or disable low priority protocols within the group.
If you find the Task load consistently shows amber or red colors, you should try these options:
• shut down unnecessary outside applications on the Internet Services machine
For example, if your platform is Windows, turn off unnecessary NT services.
• reduce the number of Internet Sessions on the Basic Internet Setup form
This will reduce the number of Internet Sessions tasks.
• check that your Internet Services machine has enough memory and processor speed.
If necessary, upgrade your machine.

Viewing system abuse information

You can monitor security breaches, attacks on your system, and statistics for your RBL configuration, on
the Security tab. For example, IP addresses attempting to launch Denial Of Service attacks, the number of
connection attempts to your webserver, and messages suspected of being spam. IP addresses can also be
added to the temporary IP blocklist or cleared.

Controlling basic functions

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You can update template and web page changes, log tasking, clear your DNS, and perform other basic
functions that you previously had to perform from the Internet Services console, on the Control tab. Some
common tasks performed using this tab are:
• reloading the configuration forms after changing the web templates

Note
FirstClass will reload the configuration forms automatically every couple of minutes. However, if you
don't want to wait, you can click Refresh.
• flushing the HTTP cache after changing the web pages
• logging and clearing the list of blacklisted and blackholed sites.
Other intermittent tasks are:
• checking the speed at which Internet Services completes its tasks
• viewing what users import on their Mail Import form
• clearing the DNS cache.
If you find that the task load is running slow, you can create a file by clicking the Log IS Task List button.
This allows you to see which tasks are using the most resources.
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Internet Services file logging

You can configure Internet Services to write logging information to disk, so that it can be reviewed at a
later date. The Internet Services log file is called InetSvcs.log (Windows) or fcisd.log (UNIX daemon). This
file is stored in the same folder as the Internet Services executable.
To write logging information to disk, use this keyword in the [Config] section of the inetsvcs.cf file that is
also located in the same folder as the Internet Services executable:
Logging = 1

To disable logging (the default), use:

Logging = 0

If you specify no logging, you can force logging on while Internet Services is running by clicking the Write
Log to Disk button on the Logging tab of the Internet Services Monitor. The next time you restart Internet
Services, the logging value set in inetsvcs.cf will once more be used.
With logging on, Internet Services creates a new log file on startup. By default, the existing log file is
renamed inetsvcs.OLD (or fcisd.OLD), and any previous .OLD log file is lost. If you want to keep older log
files, use this keyword in the [Config] section of the inetsvcs.cf file:
LogRollover = 1

The previous .OLD log file will then be renamed xxxYYYYMMDD_HHMM.log before the existing log file is
renamed to .OLD.

Debugging
You can control Internet Services debugging from three different locations:
• from the [Debug] section of the inetsvcs.cf file at startup
This section is used to set the initial levels for Internet Services debugging. The debug keywords used in
this file are prefixed by "DBG_". For example, to set the initial level of HTTP server debug logging to 3
when Internet Services starts up, you would use this keyword:
DBG_ICHTTP = 3
• from the Logging tab on the Internet Services Monitor form while Internet Services is running
• from the Headermatch file, on a per-request basis, using a "set debuglevel=<int>" statement.

Debug categories
Setting debug levels causes Internet Services to log information about its protocol activities. The higher
the level set the more verbose the logging information Internet Services will generate. We recommend that
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you activate debug logging only on the advice of OpenText Customer Support, because using debug
logging may negatively affect the performance of Internet Services.
In this table, Type is the keyword used in the .log file to indicate the type of debugging. Level is the
keyword used in the inetsvcs.cf file to set the initial debug level.

Category Logs Type Level

Configuration the loading and parsing of configuration data InetCfg DBG_InetCfg

DNS Resolver lthe actions of the DNS resolver Resolver DBG_Resolver

FCP Proxy the connections and data transfer of proxy FCPProxy DBG_FCPProxy
sessions

Gateway Monitor the FCP communication between Internet GWSrvr DBG_GWSrvr

Services incoming message protocols and
the FirstClass server

FTP Server the actions of the FTP server ICFTP DBG_ICFTP

HTTP Scripting HTTP script operations ICHTTPScr DBG_ICHTTPScr

HTTP Server the actions of the HTTP server ICHTTP DBG_ICHTTP

IMAP Importer the scheduling of inbound messages from an IMAP4Cln DBG_IMAP4CIn

IMAP server

IMAP Import Message the receiving of inbound IMAP messages IMAP4Msg DBG_IMAP4Msg

IMAP4 Server the actions of the IMAP4 server ICIMAP4 DBG_ICIMAP4

Internet Services the handling of incoming connections InetSvc DBG_InetSvc

LDAP Messages the constructing of responses for the LDAP LDAPMsg DBG_LDAPMsg
protocol
LDAP logging is separated into two parts:
the first manages the LDAP connection and
the second interprets and formulates
responses to the LDAP client's request.

LDAP Server the actions of the LDAP server ICLDAP DBG_ICLDAP

Mail Decoding the decoding of Internet messages IMRFCd DBG_IMRFCd

Mail Encoding the encoding of Internet messages IMRFCe DBG_IMRFCe

MIME Decoding the decoding of MIME messages IMMIMEln DBG_IMMIMEln

Name Translation the parsing and translating of email FCNmTrn DBG_FCNmTrn

addresses

Notifications the sending of Apple and BlackBerry push Notify DBG_Notify

notifications

POP3 Client the scheduling of inbound POP3 messages POP3Cln DBG_POP3Cln

(POP3 import)

POP3 Client Messages receiving of inbound POP3 messages (POP3 POP3Msg DBG_POP3Msg
import)

POP3 Server the actions of the POP3 server ICPOP3 DBG_ICPOP3

RSS Importer the scheduling of connections to RSS feeds RSSCln DBG_RSSCln

RSS Import Message the receiving of inbound RSS feeds RSSMsg DBG_RSSMsg

Server to FC FCP communication between Internet InetCli DBG_InetCli

Connections Services and the FirstClass server for client
and Directory protocols (POP3, FTP, HTTP,
LDAP)

SMTP Connection queuing of outbound SMTP messages SMTPCln DBG_SMTPCln

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SMTP Messages delivery of outbound SMTP messages SMTPMsg DBG_SMTPMsg

SMTP Server delivery of inbound SMTP messages SMTPCon DBG_SMTPCon

SSL information relating to the SSL encryption SSL DBG_SSL

layer on secure connections

Task List the reports about changes in Internet TaskList DBG_TaskList

Services task states

Logging levels
Each debug category is set to a logging level between 0 and >5. In general, these levels are
• 0 - none
• 1 - connection messages about connecting and disconnecting
• 2 - session messages about the progress of the request
• 3 - protocol messages showing communication at the protocol level
• 4 -"Verbose" debugging information
• 5 -"Very verbose" debugging information
• >5 - will severely impact performance and generate huge log files.

Tip
We recommend you set logging levels at or below 2, unless you require more information to identify a
problem. If this is the case, only change the specific debugging categories relating to the problem or
the logging may affect the performance of Internet Services.

The task list

The main function of the task list is to show which tasks Internet Services is doing at any particular time.
Examples of tasks include adding Internet sessions or enabling and disabling a protocol, setting connection
times, and opening ports.
You can access the task list option from the Control tab on the Internet Services Monitor form, when
Internet Services is running as a Windows service or Unix daemon.
The task list can be very helpful in correlating log information; think of it as a snapshot of what you can
see when you have the debug keyword DBG_TaskList set to 5. Task list information is most useful in
debugging situations where Internet Services stops processing a particular protocol or connection.
The task list itself starts with a number in brackets [], which is the task ID of the item. This number can
have a character before it indicating the task's kernel state, the most common being S which means
waiting for a semaphore. Following the task ID is the task's name, which correlates with the DBG_xxxx
keywords without the DBG_ prefix. The state of the task is then displayed as numbers (with separating
commas) followed by a text description of the state. For example:
[s 3] main- 0. 0. 0. 0: 0, 0, 0, 0, Idling
[s 4] DNSr- 0. 0. 0. 0: 0, 0, 0, 0, Lurking
[S 5] ISvc- 0. 0. 0. 0: 0, 1, 0, 0, Waiting for queued connection
[S 6] ISvc- 0. 0. 0. 0: 0, 1, 0, 0, Waiting for queued connection
[S 7] ISvc- 0. 0. 0. 0: 0, 1, 0, 0, Waiting for queued connection
So it is now [1 2] 3- 4.4.4.4: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Task numbers
• 1 == semaphore flag
• 2 == task id
• 3 == task type
• 4 == connection IP address
• 5 == connection port
• 6 == connection time
• 7 == task data 1
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• 8 == task data 2
• 9 == task state
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SMTP transaction logging

The SMTP transaction log is intended to be a forensic tool that tracks all SMTP commands sent and
received by Internet Services, as well as the Subject and Message-ID, which allows you to verify what
email has (or hasn't) been sent or received. This is a separate log file from the diagnostic log file and can
be enabled with minimal impact on performance.
All inbound and outbound SMTP transfers are logged in a file named smtp-YYYYMMDD.log. Log entries are
in the form:
[<date and time>] <Client or Server>-<TID>: <what>: <data>
where

[<date and time>] is in the same format as the log file

<Client or Server> is Client when IS is sending a message to another SMTP server
or Server when IS is receiving a message
<TID> is the task id as in the log file
<what> is one of Snd, Rcv, ID or Sub
Snd and Rcv are used the same as in the log file (the SMTP commands).
ID indicates the Message-ID of the message.
Sub is the Subject.
<data> is what was sent, received, the Message-ID or the Subject.

To configure and activate the SMTP transaction log, fill in the SMTP Log tab on the Advanced Mail form.
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