Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2007-06-07

Connectivity logging records the connection activity of the outbound message delivery queues that exist on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 computers that have the Hub Transport server role or the Edge Transport server role installed. The connectivity log tracks the connection activity from the sending queue to the destination Mailbox server, smart host, or domain. It is not intended to track the transmission of individual e-mail messages. The following list describes the type of information that is recorded in the connectivity log:

You use the Set-TransportServer cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell to perform all connectivity log configuration tasks. The following options are available for the connectivity logs on an Edge Transport server or Hub Transport server:

Note:
In Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1), you can also use the Exchange Management Console to enable or disable connectivity logging, and to specify the location of the connectivity log files.

By default, the Exchange 2007 server uses circular logging to limit the connectivity logs based on file size and file age to help control the hard disk space that is used by the connectivity log files.

Structure of the Connectivity Log Files

By default, the connectivity log files exist in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\TransportRoles\Logs\Connectivity.

The naming convention for the connectivity log files is CONNECTLOGyyymmdd-nnnn.log. The placeholders represent the following information:

  • The placeholder yyyymmdd is the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) date that the log file was created. yyyy = year, mm = month, and dd = day.

  • The placeholder nnnn is an instance number that starts at the value of 1 for each day.

Information is written to the log file until the file size reaches its maximum specified value, and a new log file that has an incremented instance number is opened. This process is repeated throughout the day. Circular logging deletes the oldest log files when the connectivity log directory reaches its maximum specified size, or when a log file reaches its maximum specified age.

The connectivity log files are text files that contain data in the comma separated value (CSV) format. Each connectivity log file has a header that contains the following information:

  • #Software:   The name of the software that created the connectivity log file. Typically, the value is Microsoft Exchange Server.

  • #Version:   The version number of the software that created the connectivity log file. Currently, the value is 8.0.0.0.

  • #Log-Type   The value of this field is Transport Connectivity Log.

  • #Date:   The UTC date-time when the log file was created. The UTC date-time is represented in the ISO 8601 date-time format: yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fffZ, where yyyy = year, mm = month, dd = day, hh = hour, mm = minute, ss = second, fff = fractions of a second, and Z signifies Zulu, which is another way to denote UTC.

  • #Fields:   The comma delimited field names that are used in the connectivity log files.

Information That Is Written to the Connectivity Log

The connectivity log stores each outbound queue connection event on a single line in the connectivity log. The information that is on each line is organized by fields that are separated from each other by commas. The fields that are used to classify each outgoing queue event are explained in Table 1.

Table 1   Fields that are used to classify each connection event

Field name Description

date-time

The UTC date-time of the connection event, which is represented in the ISO 8601 format. The value is formatted as yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fffZ, where yyyy = year, mm = month, dd = day, hh = hour, mm = minute, ss = second, fff = fractions of a second, and Z signifies Zulu, which is another way to denote UTC.

session

A GUID that is unique for each SMTP session but is the same for each event that is associated with that SMTP session. For MAPI sessions, the session field is blank.

source

The value of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for connections from the remote delivery queue, or the value of MAPI for connections from the mailbox delivery queue.

Destination

The name of the destination Mailbox server, smart host, or domain.

direction

A single character that represents the start, middle, or end of the connection. The possible values for the direction field are as follows:

  • +   Connect

  • -   Disconnect

  • >   Send

description

Text information that is associated with the connection event. The following values are examples of values for the description field:

  • The number and size of messages that were transmitted.

  • DNS Mail Exchanger (MX) resolution information for destination domains.

  • DNS resolution information for destination Mailbox servers.

  • Connection establishment messages.

  • Connection failure messages.

When an outbound delivery queue establishes a connection to a destination Mailbox server, smart host, or domain, the queue may be prepared to send one message or several messages. The connection and message transmission processes generate multiple events that are written on multiple lines in the connectivity log. Simultaneous connections to different destinations create connectivity log entries related to different destinations that are interlaced. However, you can use the date-time, session, source and direction fields to arrange the connectivity log entries for each separate connection from start to finish.

For More Information

For more information about how to configure protocol logging in Exchange 2007, see How to Configure Connectivity Logging.