Quick Tips #5: Capture Non-Delivery Reports for Troubleshooting
It’s sometimes useful when troubleshooting delivery issues into your mail environment to be able to see the Non-Delivery Reports that your Exchange server is sending out, rather than having to ask that it is sent to you, or when it’s just not possible to retrieve them (in response to a no-reply address for example).
Below are instructions for configuring a mailbox in Exchange to copy NDRs to a mailbox from Microsoft:
You can also set this up on your email security gateway, which is how I’ve configured it, as often when troubleshooting mail delivery issues that is where I will start, so it’s nice to have everything in once place.
On FortiMail for example, you can go to Email Archiving -> Archive Account, and create a new Archive Account to store the NDRs, setting the maximum retention/rotation times. With NDRs you generally won’t need to retain for too long, so keep this low if capacity is a factor.
You then create a new Archive Policy under Email Archiving -> Policy, selecting the previously created Archive Account, and configure it to capture the keyword ‘Undeliverable’:
Under Monitor -> Archive, you will then see a list of captured NDRs which you can search through, view and export, just as the sender would see.
Useful to have, but less useful if you configure it during troubleshooting! So enable this now so it’s there when you need it.