If you want to test the responsiveness of the LISTSERV application itself, port 2306 is a good bet: +> telnet localhost 2306 Trying 127.0.0.1... Connected to localhost. Escape character is 'Ø]'. thanks You're welcome! quit Connection closed by foreign host. So port 25 to test mail connectivity, port 2306 to test application responsiveness, and port 80 to test the web interface. That will cover most types of failures, except those where you have something like a huge mail queue backlog or a mail routing configuration issue. Checking for PID files and process names can be helpful, but it doesn't always tell you if the process is actually doing anything useful or if the PID file is stale and didn't get cleaned up after a crash. -- Liam Kelly Senior Consulting Analyst L-Soft international [log in to unmask] Need LISTSERV or LISTSERV Maestro how-to advice? Visit the L-Soft Tech Tip Archives at: <http://www.lsoft.com/resources/techtip.asp>