Manage Mail Servers

Several Macula components require an SMTP server in order to be able to send emails to a specified address. Specifically, these are:

• email sending actions in E&A and automatic reports

• two-factor authentication on top of the regular login

A pre-configured mail server is required for these features to be operational.

You can add one or multiple different outgoing SMTP servers to send notification emails through them. You can use/set up your own SMTP server, if your Organization already has one and/or it is affordable for your Organization; alternatively, free Internet services can be used for this purpose. Note that there are not any default (pre-configured) mail servers.

After adding a mail server configuration, you can verify it by using the Test button in the upper panel.

SMTP servers provided by popular free services and/or ISPs usually have limitations on the number/frequency of emails going through them daily. Make sure you check with SMTP service provider to learn about this.

Mail Server Setup

To access mail server setup via Macula Console, open the Configuration section and select Mail servers from the menu on the left. Click the + New mail server button on the upper panel or double-click an existing mail server from the item list to open the configuration dialog box.

Prior to Macula version 1.7.0, mail server configuration was accessible via Events & Actions section of Macula Console.

Setup here is similar to configuring an email client. The table below contains detailed information on the available settings.

Setting	Description	Default Setting
Title	User-defined mail server name	[empty]
Host	Outgoing SMTP server IP address or hostname	[empty]
Port	Outgoing SMTP server port; default is 25, common ports for encrypted connection are 465 and 587	0
Username	Enter valid user account details to log onto the target SMTP server	[empty]
Password	Enter valid user account details to log onto the target SMTP server	[empty]
Security Mode	Logon authentication type according to the SMTP server configuration requirements	none
Sender	Email address on whose behalf emails will be sent	[empty]
Aggregation*Count	Max number of notifications to be aggregated into a single email	10
Aggregation*Time	Max time period in seconds during which notifications are collected together to be sent in a single email	10

*Email aggregation can be used to accumulate alert notifications and send them in bunches rather than one at a time. This decreases SMTP server load and does not 'spam' your notification inbox, making it easier to search and analyse alerts, and is thus especially useful if the number or frequency of events is high.

Maximum [time/number of occurrences] in this context means that it will not be exceeded under any circumstances. The actual time or number of occurrences may be either max or less - depending on which aggregation parameter is triggered first.

Example: aggregation time is set to 60 seconds and aggregation count - to 15. If the notifications arrive frequently, and 15 items are collected in under one minute, the email will be sent immediately. If there is just 1 or 2 notifications but 60 seconds have passed, an email will be sent, too.

Click OK to save mail server settings; newly created configuration will appear in the item list. Your mail server is now ready to be used for sending notifications and reports.

Verify Mail Server Configuration

Use the Test button in the upper panel to verify your mail server configuration.

To perform the test:

1. Choose one of the Macula servers to send the email from

2. Enter the test recipient’s email address

3. Enter the email subject and body

4. Click OK

You will see a popup window with the test result and error text, if any.

Some mail servers require additional settings to be changed on the server side to allow third-party applications to send emails through their SMTP service. For example, Google security requires that you log into your account via a browser using the server that will be utilising the SMTP service in order to enable account access from that computer.

If you can successfully use SMTP settings to send emails from the same computer, Macula will also have no trouble sending your notifications.