SMTP Account Setup How-To

 

You can find a more up to date version of this document at the CiviSMTP site:

http://civismtp.uas.coop/drupal/node/1 

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After your application has been approved and an account has been set up, please follow the steps below to configure your account so you can start using the UAS CiviSMTP Service.

  1. Fill out the SMTP Account settings here:

    https://civismtp.uas.coop/civismtp/account


    The page at the link above will also test the settings so that you will know when you are configured correctly to use the UAS CiviSMTP. The page at the above link is only accessible by those that have a current account.

    Each field in the form is described below:
    • User Name for SMTP Authorization - This is the username that is used when email are being sent. This setting should be the same as the value in your CiviCRM SMTP settings. We will be requiring a username and password when sending emails so that we can prevent the possibility of our relay being used for unsavory purposes.

    • Password for SMTP Authorization - The password that is used in conjunction with the smtp username described above. This setting should be the same as the value in your CiviCRM SMTP settings. We will be requiring a username and password when sending emails so that we can prevent the possibility of our relay being used for unsavory purposes.

    • IP Address of the machine from which you will be sending email - This is normally the ip address of the machine where your civicrm installation is located. We need this because we will be checking ip addresses of all senders wehn email is going through our system

    • Username of the Civimail Soap User - This is the username of the user in your CiviCRM installation with which our SMTP service communicates messages related to subscribes unsubscribes, etc. You will need to create this user in your civicrm system. How to create this user is detailed below.

    • Password for the CiviMail Soap User - This is the username of the user in your CiviCRM installation with which our SMTP service communicates messages related to subscribes unsubscribes, etc. You will need to create this user in your civicrm system. How to create this user is detailed below.

    • CiviMail SOAP Proxy - The proxy URL for the CiviCRM Soap Server. The CiviCRM Soap Server is simply a script that comes with CiviCRM and can be accessed via the web after you have successfully installed and activated CiviCRM and CiviMail. This is the URL that we will be contacting about subs, unsubs, replies, bounce, etc.

      Typically, the URL is of the following form:

      http://<your_site_installation_root>/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/so...

      We need to know that url because we use it to contact your CiviMail to tell it about the       subs, unsubs, replies, bounce, etc.
    • The email domain. - If you are example.com you could choose newsletter.example.com. The domain that is chosen is up to you. This is the domain that will be receiving all of the subscribe unsubscribe, replies, etc to your newsletters. You will also be using this domain when you set up your MX records.


  2. Set up a user in your civicrm installation that has permissions to affect group membership. This is the user with which our system communicates about subscribes, unsubscribes, replies, etc. The user should be totally unprivileged except for a few permissions. The user you create will need the following permissions for the CIVICRM module:

    • access CiviCRM

  3. Next you will need to add or modify your MX records so that the email domain that you chose will resolve to our email servers. The email servers that we will be using during the beta are at the following addresses where civismtp is the main server and 2 and 3 are backups respectively:

    • civismtp.uas.coop
    • civismtp2.uas.coop
    • civismtp3.uas.coop

    Example MX entries follow assuming that the desired domain is newsletter.example.com

    newsletter.example.com. IN MX 5 civismtp.uas.coop.
    newsletter.example.com. IN MX 10 civismtp2.uas.coop.
    newsletter.example.com. IN MX 10 civismtp3.uas.coop.

  4. After you confirmed that the settings are all correct then you will need to configure your CCRM installation

  5. go to Administer CiviCRM -> Edit Domain Information

  6. in the Domain Information block

    • Name - the name of the domain of your installation. this is used internally by ccrm to identify separate domains within a single installation

    • Description - just a description of this domain

    • Contact Name - The name of the contact for this domain, this name will show up in emails that are sent to the return path or from address in a civimail mailing

    • Email Domain - The domain you used for configuring your MX records

    • Return Path - an email address that where bounces, etc, other notifications will go. Pick your admin email or something like that.

  7. Save the Domain Information settings

  8. go to Administer CiviCRM -> Global Settings -> Outbound Email (SMTP)

    • SMTP Server - civismtp.uas.coop

    • SMTP Port - we will be running on port 20095, so use 20095

    • Authentication? - choose yes

    • SMTP username - whatever you configured in the setting in your SMTP account on the UAS site

    • SMTP password - whatever you configured in the setting in your SMTP account on the UAS site. This value must be set in the civicrm.settings.php file