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Demo

Knowledge base

PMTA knowledge base›Command§ 6.3.17

show status

critical

Node status in the console
The same as the HTTP snapshot returns

Prints the node’s state: traffic — totals, the last hour and minute, peaks — connections with the ceiling, the name cache, queues, the spool and the running flag.

Counters run since the last reset. The manual notes that a restart does not zero them; reset counters does.

/status?format=json returns the same set of numbers, and with the –json, –xml or –dom options the command itself prints it as a structure.

The main trap is taking the connections “maximum” for a setting. The ceiling column is what the license and the settings allow together: if it is below the node preset, the license is cutting it, and no directive will raise it.
What the Hub does. It calls it twice: over SSH — after every configuration apply, checking that the engine responds — and through POST /command with the node key — for the node state snapshot in control: version and uptime. The Hub takes the per-minute telemetry not with a command but with the /status request.
Recommended values

When to call it:

Question This command or not
what is going on with the node now yes
what the connection ceiling is yes — the “maximum” column
what happened yesterday no — accounting and pmtastats
the same as a structure for a program yes — with –json
The output layout, the formats and the fact that a restart does not reset the counters come from the manual (§ 6.2, § 6.3.17, § 5.3). The trap analysis is ours.
Example configuration
# state as text and as a structure
pmta show statuspmta --json show status
The format option goes before the command: pmta –json show status.
yellow — — directive names, blue — blocks. They are highlighted the same way in the text of the card.
Compatibility
PowerMTA 6.0
described in the manual of this version · platform: any
The vendor does not state the first version for every directive — there is no note here. The name also appears in the 5.0 edition of the manual.
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Related entries

3 relations

Works together with

Reset the countersThe only documented way to reset what it prints. § 6.3.6

Can be replaced by

The whole node state in one documentThe same thing, returned by a request. § 6.3.17

Where you can see it

Traffic countersThe metric the command prints. § 6.3.17

Referenced from

Node statusThe same output from the command line. inferenceExposing metrics over SNMPThe command through which the mechanism is observed. § 11.10.1

How to check on the node
Check that the engine responds:
pmta show status | tail -1
systemctl status pmta
A “Status running” line with the start time means the engine is running. A connection error from the command itself means the pmtahttp management service that pmta works through is not responding.
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What else to read

3 articles

◇What the node tells about itself and through which channelsSeven observation surfaces: the web monitor, the console in four formats, the log, accounting, accounting search, metrics and export to external analytics.◇Two inbound report processors and what to do with themBounces by message and complaints are parsed by two identically structured blocks; each has its own address list and its own pair of decisions about the message’s fate.◇Five ways for a queue to hand off a messageA queue does not have to use SMTP: it can write to a file, run a program, call over HTTP or discard.

In the Hub
Cost of a mistake
safe: a wrong value breaks nothing
Scenarios
Collect telemetry
Priority
critical