A simple script for triggering an email alert to an administrator when the exim mail queue count exceeds a certain threshold

exim_queue_email_alerts.py

import subprocess
import string

# import smtplib for sending email
import smtplib

# execute exim queue count command
proc = subprocess.Popen(['/usr/sbin/exim','-bpc'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
mail_count = int(proc.stdout.read())

# min number of emails in queue that should trigger an alert
threshold = 50

if mail_count > threshold:
        msg = {}
        msg['Body'] = 'Current email count in queue: %s' % mail_count
        msg['Subject'] = 'High Email Count in Exim Queue'
        msg['From'] = '[sender address]'
        msg['To'] = '[recipient address]'
        sendmail_body = string.join(('From: %s' % msg['From'], 'To: %s' % msg['To'], 'Subject: %s' % msg['Subject'], '', msg['Body']), "\r\n")

        s = smtplib.SMTP('localhost')
        s.sendmail(msg['From'], msg['To'], sendmail_body)
        s.quit()