Postfix Mail Log - Life of an Outgoing Email

To track your postfix log, use the tail command from a console.

tail -f /var/log/maillog

Below is a typical connect & send transaction in the log. This email was sent successfully. I have added comments to step through the mail processing.

// Sender System Connects

Jun 18 07:24:17 servername postfix/smtpd[28762]: connect from host81-XXX-XX-97.range81-155.btcentralplus.com[XX.XX.XX.XX]

 

//Sender system logs in
Jun 18 07:24:18 servername postfix/smtpd[28762]: 1DBB4A7FD: client=host81-XXX-XX-97.range81-155.btcentralplus.com[XX.XX.XX.XX], sasl_method=LOGIN, sasl_username=username

 

// Mail sent and its put in the queue
Jun 18 07:24:18 servername postfix/cleanup[28816]: 1DBB4A7FD: message-id=<5809D2D32B764831A91A880D7599A505@StevePC>
Jun 18 07:24:18 servername postfix/qmgr[3280]: 1DBB4A7FD: from=<stanix@example.co.uk>, size=1778, nrcpt=1 (queue active)

 

// Senders system disconnects
Jun 18 07:24:18 servername postfix/smtpd[28762]: disconnect from host81-XXX-XX-97.range81-155.btcentralplus.com[XX.XX.XX.XX]

 

// Message delivered OK
Jun 18 07:24:19 servername postfix/smtp[28949]: 1DBB4A7FD: to=<name@tld.com>, relay=mxhost-1.vi.net[XXX.XX.XX.XX]:25, delay=1.8, delays=0.2/0.03/0.72/0.81, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250 2.0.0 Ok: queued as 9EFE470001)

 

// Message removed from Queue

Jun 18 07:24:19 servername postfix/qmgr[3280]: 1DBB4A7FD: removed