Mail

Dovecot Monitoring

Monitor Dovecot IMAP/POP3 connections, authentication rates, mailbox operations, and server health in real time with zero configuration.

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Why monitor Dovecot?

Dovecot is the leading IMAP and POP3 server. Monitoring Dovecot ensures reliable mail access, tracks authentication failures, and maintains optimal performance for your mail infrastructure.

Auto-discovery via Xitogent

IMAP/POP3 connection tracking

Authentication success/failure rates

Mailbox operation metrics

Connection state tracking

1-minute collection intervals

Metrics

What we monitor

IMAP Connections

Active IMAP connections.

POP3 Connections

Active POP3 connections.

Auth Failures

Failed authentication attempts.

Auth Success

Successful logins per minute.

Login Processes

Active login handler processes.

Mailbox Operations

Rate of mailbox read/write operations.

Triggers & Alerts

Configurable alert triggers

Set up custom triggers in your dashboard to get notified the moment Dovecot metrics cross your defined thresholds.

Dovecot monitoring trigger configuration dashboard

Auth Failures

critical

Fires on authentication failure spike, possible brute force.

Connection Count

warning

Alerts when connections approach limits.

Login Processes

critical

Triggers when login handlers are exhausted.

Importance of Dovecot Monitoring

Dovecot provides mail access to millions of users. Authentication failures and connection issues directly impact email access.

Detect brute force attempts via auth failure spikes
Monitor connection counts for capacity planning
Track mailbox operations for performance
Ensure IMAP/POP3 availability

Why Choose Xitoring

Zero-config Dovecot monitoring.

One-command install
Global nodes
Unified dashboard
Multi-channel alerts

Before you start

Prerequisites for Dovecot

Make sure you've got these in place — most installs are a 60-second job once they are.

Dovecot 2.3.11 or later with the stats plugin enabled
HTTP stats listener configured on port 9900 (via /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-metrics.conf)
Network reachability from Xitogent to http://localhost:9900/metrics

Setup Guide

Get started in minutes

Install Xitogent on your mail server

Install the lightweight Xitogent monitoring agent on the host running Dovecot.

curl -s https://xitoring.com/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --key=YOUR_API_KEY

Enable the Dovecot HTTP stats listener

Create /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-metrics.conf with metric definitions and an HTTP stats listener on port 9900. Reload Dovecot, then verify with `curl http://localhost:9900/metrics`.

# /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-metrics.conf
service stats {
  inet_listener http {
    port = 9900
  }
}
metric auth_success {
  filter = event=auth_request_finished AND success=yes
}
# Reload Dovecot, then:
# curl http://localhost:9900/metrics

Enable the Dovecot integration

Use the Xitoring dashboard or CLI to enable the Dovecot integration. Xitogent auto-detects your Dovecot instance and starts collecting connection and authentication metrics.

sudo xitogent integrate

Configure alert thresholds (optional)

Set custom thresholds for Auth Failures, Connection Count, or Login Processes to catch brute-force attempts and surprise capacity spikes.

Verify it's working

Run this command on the server to confirm Xitogent picked up the integration. Fresh metrics will start streaming to your dashboard within ~30 seconds.

sudo xitogent status

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