Getting started with SMTP Relay: verify the domain, create a credential, connect your program

E-mail·· 39 views· 4 min read

The short answer: three steps, all in the Email Center (the transactional e-mail page in My MozOut): verify the domain, create an SMTP credential and fill in the details in your program. Then a test e-mail and a look at the log confirm that everything works.

What you need first

1 The Email Center active on your account. SMTP Relay is set up through a proposal: if you have not spoken to us yet, start by asking for one.
2 Access to the DNS of the domain you will send from: in cPanel, if your DNS is with us, or in the panel of whoever manages it.
3 Access to the e-mail settings of the program that will send: the WordPress plugin, the application .env file, the printer configuration page.

1. Verify the domain

Under Domains, add the domain the e-mails will come from. The Email Center shows the records to add to your DNS: three DKIM CNAME records, which sign your e-mails and are required, plus an SPF TXT and a DMARC TXT, which are recommended. Once they are in, ask for the verification. DNS can take a few hours to propagate; as soon as the DKIM records are live, the domain becomes verified.

Does the domain already have mailboxes? Then it already has an SPF record, and a domain can only have one. Do not add a second one: extend the existing one. See adding SMTP Relay with a single SPF record.

2. Create the credential

1 Open the SMTP Relay tab in the Email Center.
2 In the Credentials card, type a name that says where it will be used, such as Website server, and create the credential.
3 Copy the username and password straight away and keep them somewhere safe. The password is not shown again: if you lose it, you create a new credential.

3. Fill in the program

Field What to enter
Server The address shown in the Connection card of the SMTP Relay tab.
Port 587 with STARTTLS. If your network blocks it, 465 with TLS.
Authentication On, with the credential username and password.
Sender Any address on the domain you verified, for example no-reply@yourcompany.com.

Every program gives these fields a different name. The translation, screen by screen, is in what each field means.

4. Send a test and check the log

Send a test e-mail from the program itself (most have a button for it) to a mailbox of yours. Then open the Email Center log: the e-mail must be there, with its status. If the program shows an error, the table of common problems says what to do; to test the credential outside the program, see testing a credential from the command line.

One credential per program. If you replace a website or throw away a printer one day, you revoke only that credential and the others keep sending. See organising your credentials.

Do not have SMTP Relay yet? Tell us how many e-mails you send each month and we will prepare your proposal.

Ask for a proposal

SEE ALSO

SMTP Relay: an SMTP server for the automatic e-mails of your site, system or device

SMTP Relay in any program: what Host, Port, Encryption, Username and From mean on each screen

A domain that already has mailboxes: adding SMTP Relay with a single SPF record

Testing an SMTP credential before going live: a test e-mail from the command line

SMTP Relay not sending: connection, TLS, login, sender and recipient problems, one by one

SPF, DKIM and DMARC: why your e-mail lands in spam

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