Follow

How to use Amazon SES with #V2

#V2 can send emails using Amazon SES (Simple Email System).

To do so, you need to add a new email system (go to Setup / Email Systems / Add an Email System) and make sure it is set up correctly.

Verification

It is important to understand that Amazon SES will not permit you to send any email until certain verification steps have been completed in your Amazon SES account.

All of the following steps must be completed within your Amazon SES account before you will be able to send any emails from the software.

You need to verify:

• EVERY From, Reply-To, and Bounce address that you plan to use; AND
• ALL the domains and sub-domains that appear in them (including those that are set up in arpReach to send system messages, such as message tests)

So you need to:

• Verify the domain where #V2 is installed
• Verify the sub-domain where #V2 is installed (if applicable)
• Verify the From domain(s) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from
• Verify the From sub-domain(s) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from (if applicable)
• Verify the From email address(es) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from
• Verify the Reply-To domain(s) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from
• Verify the Reply-To sub-domain(s) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from (if applicable)
• Verify the Reply-To email address(es) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from
• Verify the Bounce domain as defined in Setup / System Settings / System / Incoming email
• Verify the Bounce sub-domain as defined in Setup / System Settings / System / Incoming email (if applicable)
• Verify the Bounce email address as defined in Setup / System Settings / System / Incoming email
• Verify the system From domain defined in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email
• Verify the system From sub-domain defined in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email (if applicable)
• Verify the system From email address defined in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email
• Verify the system Reply-To domain defined in  Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email
• Verify the system Reply-To sub-domain defined in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email (if applicable)
• Verify the system Reply-To email address defined in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email

Many of these may be the same, reducing the number of verifications you need to do.

SMTP Port Unblocking

Many web hosts block outgoing SMTP calls by closing ports 25, 465, and 587 in their firewalls. You need to confirm with your host that ports 465 and 587 are open for outgoing SMTP calls. It will not be possible to use Amazon SES unless these ports are open.

To test if ports are blocked in your host's firewall, upload the script porttest.php (attached to this article below) to your web space and run it in your browser. For security reasons, remember to delete porttest.php after use!

Note that it may take several minutes to run because of timeouts on blocked ports and nothing may appear to happen for several minutes. But eventually, you will see a response that looks like this:

email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:25 is not responding.

email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:465 is not responding.

email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:587 is not responding.

The example above shows the situation where all ports are blocked. You need to get to the situation where the report looks like this:

email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:25 is not responding.

email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:465 is not responding.

email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:587 (submission) is open.

Here, you can see that port 587 is open. You can then add your Amazon SES account to #V2 by creating a new email system in Setup / Email Systems / Add an Email System. The settings are:

Sending method: SMTP

SMTP server: email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com

SMTP server port: 587

SMTP server user name: Your SMTP user name from your Amazon SES account

SMTP server password: Your SMTP password from your Amazon SES account

Encryption: TLS

Keep connection alive: Checked/ticked

We have found that some Amazon SES users need to use the following settings. Note that port 465 needs to be open for outgoing SMTP connections for this to work. You can verify this by following the port test procedure detailed above.

Sending method: SMTP
SMTP server: ssl://email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
SMTP server port: 465
SMTP server user name: Your SMTP user name from your Amazon SES account
SMTP server password: Your SMTP password from your Amazon SES account
Encryption: None
Keep connection alive: Checked/ticked

Testing
To test your Amazon SES email system in #V2, you must send a test message using the email system you just added by choosing the Send test email option from the Choose action... drop-down menu on the Email Systems list screen (Setup / Email Systems / Show List).

 

The Test Settings button on the edit screen does not work for Amazon SES due to the number of requirements detailed above.

Was this article helpful?
0 out of 0 found this helpful
Have more questions? Submit a request

0 Comments

Article is closed for comments.
Powered by Zendesk