Introducing Ray Chaser: email tracing engine

Sam Tuke Feb 5 2021 Share

Note: Wondering why

Today Lightmeter 1.2.0 introduces a powerful new system for analysing logs which immediately delivers unmatched accuracy and a foundation for future innovation.

Logs track technical events, but emails are what matter. Message information is scattered over different log lines using IDs which change (queues and processes) or are duplicated (emails with multiple recipients). This makes it impossible to trace the life-cycle of an individual email simply by viewing the files.

In the past Lightmeter used heuristic-based de-duplication to match log events with emails. Now that’s all changed.

Today’s release introduces Ray Chaser™ – a unique tracing system which builds a distinct history for every email. Lightmeter is the first solution to offer this level of detail and accuracy for Postfix servers. (Wondering about that trademark (™)? See Why we trademark Open Source).

Message monitoring statistics receive an immediate boost in accuracy. That’s because instead of categorising each log event by its processing the results, Ray Chaser™ associates every log event with its respective email, ignoring duplicates and orphans.

Ray Chaser™ makes possible unique and exciting features coming in future Lightmeter releases. It will power, among other innovations, dedicated views for each domain and local IP address, and easy message status checking. Stay tuned!