[Extension Request] Mail Uptime Monitoring

Dashboard and Child Feature Requests New MainWP Extensions Requests
1

I have a suggestion for a new extension. Mail Uptime Monitoring. This would be very different from SMTP uptime monitoring.

You would need to provide a custom email on your Dashboard site’s server and give MainWP that account to monitor. This email account would be shared to the child sites who would send a regular email once (twice, thrice, etc.) daily (weekly, monthly). They would include some markers in the email/subject to show what child site/date/etc. The Dashboard site would track the incoming emails and validate them against what is expected and in this method it would ensure that each child site’s outgoing email is still working. It would delete each email once validated.

This would work for servers with their own email or those using WP SMTP to send outgoing emails via other servers.

If some email fails to validate, then trigger appropriate errors in the dashboard or email the admin.

I think the use cases are fairly obvious!

Kermit Woodall

3 Likes
2

Interesting @kwoodall I don’t think I’ve seen this suggestion before.

If I’m understanding you, the child site would send an email to an email address the Dashboard can query and then the Dashboard records what child sites it’s successfully got the email from and reports failed for any missing. Is that correct?

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Sounds like an interesting idea @kwoodall

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FWIW: This is an idea I came up with as some of my clients are on hosting, such as DigitalOcean and others, that don’t have their own mail servers and they use WP SMTP to send their mail. A system like this would provide reassurance that their mails are going out.

Kermit Woodall

1 Like
5

Ping SMTP server and report issues would be a cool feature in MainWP.

2 Likes
6

Great idea to have this sort of check automatically. Although it should be really basic, no need for setting up (if possible).

7

This is just a general statement and just me thinking out loud- I agree that this would be a good feature for such sites that do not use the php mail() method.

However, I think there is probably a more elegant solution then simply “sending out a mail.” Although a pretty old article, what @sebastian-moran has mentioned would be a better alternative to building a full solution with more feedback in the event that the mail system is actually not working. “It didn’t send” isn’t much feedback.

1 Like
8

There are servers that will already ping your SMTP - but this suggestion involves sites with configurations that defy that approach.

Kermit Woodall

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For me this is nothing that I want in MWP. Cause it is about sites and WordPress. Maybe Server uptime and speed. But not Mail services or Mail uptime etc.

3 Likes
10

But this is about WP, can your Wordpress send an email to support forms, contact us, scheduling, alerts, etc.

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@healthstatus Can you so kind as to elaborate a bit more on your response. What is “About WP” I am not following 100% is all and I want to make sure I have full context here.

Thanks~

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this was directed at the comment from @phalancs, who said it was not wanted as it was not about WP. I believe the opposite, it is mainly about WP ability to communicate, to admins, people that fill in forms, etc.

1 Like
13

Okay, maybe this was misleading. I see the point in this but actually I also see problems that can arise from such a process due to servers limiting outbound mails etc.