The SMTP Monitor connects to the specified SMTP mail server, introduces itself and safely disconnects from the server (ensuring that it adheres to the SMTP protocol). If the mail server indicates that it is unavailable, ipMonitor considers a failure to have occurred.

Note: SMTP servers are usually configured to perform a reverse lookup of all incoming connections. This will cause initial delays when connecting to this service. To avoid this, you can:

1. Increase the Monitor "Test Intervals".
2. Add a reverse DNS entry for ipMonitor's host machine.
3. Disable this feature using your mail server's configuration program.

This Monitor:

• Considers the specified resource unavailable after a specified number of seconds.
• Persistently tests the resource at specified intervals.
• Disallows testing during a maintenance period.
• Waits for a specified number of failures to occur before starting alerts.
• Switches testing intervals, from "responding correctly" to "not responding correctly". Configurable intervals allow you to test more or less aggressively in the event of failure.
• Stops alerting after a specified number of alerts.
• Has a placeholder for a WinNT Service Name or any other information required by a recovery script.