Question

Our web application sends e-mails. We have lots of users, and we get lots of bounces. For example, user changes company and his company e-mail is no longer valid.

To find bounces, I parse SMTP log file with log parser. The logs come from Microsoft SMTP server.

Some bounces are great, like 550+#[e-mail]. There is [e-mail] in bounce.

But some do not have e-mail in error message, like 550+No+such+recipient.

I have created simple Ruby script that parses logs (uses log parser) to find which mail caused something like 550+No+such+recipient.

I am just surprised that I could not find a tool that does it. I have found tools like Zabbix and Splunk for log analysis, but they look like overkill for such simple task.

Anybody knows a tool that would parse SMTP logs, find bounces and e-mails that cause them?

Answer 1

This article is exactly what you are looking for. It is based on the great tool log parser.

Log parser is a powerful, versatile tool that provides universal query access to text-based data such as log files, XML files and CSV files, as well as key data sources on the Windows® operating system such as the Event Log, the Registry, the file system, and Active Directory®. You tell Log Parser what information you need and how you want it processed. The results of your query can be custom-formatted in text based output, or they can be persisted to more specialty targets like SQL, SYSLOG, or a chart. Most software is designed to accomplish a limited number of specific tasks. Log Parser is different… the number of ways it can be used is limited only by the needs and imagination of the user. The world is your database with Log Parser.