Configuring Email with Evanced Products

Email has become a very powerful tool in the world of web-based software applications. Most web-based software is highly dependent on email and your Evanced Solutions software is no exception. From Event Registration to Room Request Approval Notifications, our software relies heavily on email and getting that email delivered. So when it fails, what do you do?
 
Below are some suggestions and explanations about using email with the Evanced Solutions software that we hope will help ensure that your email is always delivered.

Email Configuration

There are several ways to configure how your Evanced Solutions software will deliver email. All of our software uses the same basic concepts so this information applies to all Evanced Solutions applications that use email.

Your Evanced Solutions software uses SMTP to send email. This can be an SMTP (or Mail) server on the local web server, or an external SMTP server. When you sign-up for home internet service, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will usually provide you with login information to their SMTP server for your email account. This is usually a dedicated email server running something like Exchange or Zimbra. This is an external SMTP server. But at your library you could be using an external email server or one that is "in-house" and is controlled by your IT staff. Here is a list of the possible mail server configurations for your Evanced Solutions software.

Your Library SMTP Server - Using your library's in-house SMTP server.

Your SMTP server already has the appropriate name for your email addresses. So the spam filters will not block email that comes from your server with your mail address on it. There are some issues with this method that can cause an IT group to resist it. This method requires that the server be configured to relay email. This means it allows another server to send mail through it. In most cases this is considered a bad practice because you normally do not want any server sending mail through your server. So typically this option is locked down. And most security recommendations suggest that you leave this locked down. In a general sense this is a good idea. Primarily because, in the past people would leave relaying open to all IPs. This meant that anyone could send email through your server. Obviously a spam problem. However, there is a way to configure your server to allow relaying from just a single IP address. This means that your server is not open to relaying, it is just open to relaying from one particular server. This eliminates the possibility of a spammer getting into your server this way. In addition, the account would need to also require logging in to send email.

If your Evanced Solutions software is hosted on our servers, you will need to configure relaying from our server's IP address. Since our IP is fixed, and our system would have the log in information in it, only our server would ever be able to send mail through your server. This is a common method used with many types of web-based software.

If your Evanced Solutions software is installed on your server then you will simply need to allow relaying from this server. Here are those IPs:

107.21.219.232

107.23.147.38

107.23.135.42

207.250.85.106

207.250.104.106

207.250.104.108

 

 

 

 

External SMTP Server - Using a service from an ISP or something like Gmail.

Any external email provider can do this if they allow SMTP connections. There are many free email providers but so far Gmail is the only free one we are aware of that does this. Not only is Gmail configured similar to the "Your Library SMTP Server" option above, but it also allows for business accounts that can have your domain in the email address. So it is possible to have a Gmail account that is "myname@mylibrary.com".

At the time of this writing Google offered Non-profits with less than 3000 users free access to Google Apps. You can get more information and apply for your free account here: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/nonprofit/index.html

NOTE: The standard free Gmail account has a limit on the number of emails that can be sent in one day. As of the time of this writing the limit was 500 per day.

Troubleshooting

Testing email functionality can be a very tedious task so we have provided you with some tools to help ensure you can see the results of the email function. Here are some suggestions.

  1. Enter a "From:" email address that you have access to. If you enter a fake email address or one that your cannot retrieve email for, then you will be unable to see bounce-backs and other failures.
  2. Use the "View Notify Log" or "View Email Log" button to open the email log screen and evaluate the sending procedure. If there are problems connecting to the SMTP server this log will list the problem and give some details on the error.
  3. Be a little patient :-) Although it may seem like email is always instantaneous, there are times when it isn't. An email will be sent from the Evanced Solutions software when the action occurs but delays on the SMTP server can exist and an email can be cued up for delivery a few minutes later. Unless there are severe problems with the SMTP server, it will usually be delivered within 5 minutes of being received.

Error Messages

The transport failed to connect to the server.

This error usually happens when there is a problem with the email server configuration. Things to check are:

  • SMTP Address
  • SMTP Port
  • Use SSL Connection setting
  • Authentication Type - Should always be "Basic" for an external SMTP server
  • Username
  • Password

If you are using an "in-house" server, you should also check:

  • Does this email account exist?
  • Can this email account log in from outside of your network?
  • Is relaying enabled for this specific account/IP address?
  • Is the firewall open for the selected port for the originating IP address?

The server response was: 550 Cannot relay.

UPDATE: ADD THE FOLLOWING IP ADDRESSES:

107.21.219.232

107.23.147.38

107.23.135.42

207.250.85.106

207.250.104.106

207.250.104.108

 

 



If your Evanced Solutions software is installed on your server then you will simply need to allow relaying from this server.

The message could not be sent to the SMTP server. The transport error code was 0x800ccc14. The server response was not available

This error is usually caused by the SMTP server not allowing relaying from the application server or a firewall block.

If your Evanced Solutions software is hosted on our servers, you will need to configure relaying from our server's IP address, which are:


107.21.219.232

107.23.147.38

107.23.135.42

207.250.85.106

207.250.104.106

207.250.104.108

 

 

 



If your Evanced Solutions software is installed on your server then you will simply need to allow relaying from this server.

At least one of the From or Sender fields is required, and neither was found.

This error is generated when some of the configuration fields have not been completed yet. Be sure to enter an address for the "From" Email Address in system settings.

The server rejected one or more recipient addresses. The server response was: 501 5.5.4 Invalid Address

This message is usually generated when an email address is entered incorrectly.

The message could not be sent to the SMTP server. The transport error code was 0x800ccc0b. The server response was not available

This error is usually caused by the SMTP server not allowing relaying from the application server or a firewall block.

If your Evanced Solutions software is hosted on our servers, you will need to configure relaying from our server's IP address, which is this:
 

107.21.219.232

107.23.147.38

107.23.135.42

207.250.85.106

207.250.104.106

207.250.104.108

 

 

 

If your Evanced Solutions software is installed on your server then you will simply need to allow relaying from this server.

The server rejected the sender address. The server response was: 421 4.7.0 Try again later, closing connection.

This message is usually generated when the SMTP service has a limit on the number of emails per day. Contact the SMTP service provider about increasing the amount of emails you can send.

Email is delivered locally (to addresses with the same domain) but not externally.

This error is usually caused by the SMTP server not allowing relaying from the application server.

If your Evanced Solutions software is hosted on our servers, you will need to configure relaying from our server's IP address, which is this:

 

107.21.219.232

107.23.147.38

107.23.135.42

207.250.85.106

207.250.104.106

207.250.104.108

 

 

 



If your Evanced Solutions software is installed on your server then you will simply need to allow relaying from this server.

 

 

Custom Fields
  • Applicable To: Admin Users
  • Attachments: No
  • Summary: This document is intended to explain the different email setup options, provide insight about possible reasons for emailing failures in an Evanced product, and advise on solutions.
Posted - Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 6:54 AM. This article has been viewed 19977 times.
Online URL: https://kb.demcosoftware.com/article.php?id=72

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