Igor Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 Forum email notifications are running via free SMTP service but the problem is we are getting maxed out. Daily limit of 750 emails is not enough any more. Any recommendations for alternative solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfx2000 Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 Why is the forum using hosted SMTP? It's not that challenging to set up a self-hosted SMTP agent - one wants to be safe with relays (can be done), and then the DKIM/SPF/DMCARC, which is a little admin work... as long as it's just outgoing, pretty straight forward... If one wants to be a full on MTA, supporting incoming/outgoing with user@armbian.com (or something like that), it's a bit more work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMCC Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I think the best solution would be to set up a postfix SMTP server in the same machine that hosts the forum, if that were possible. It takes less than twenty minutes, like this for example. We have full access to that machine, don't we? [EDIT:] The only drawback is that self-hosted SMTP servers tend to be blocked by spam filters, but if anyone wants to receive forum notifications, they can just whitelist Armbian server. We can even put a notice for this in the user's sign-up page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 5 hours ago, JMCC said: The only drawback is that self-hosted SMTP servers tend to be blocked by spam filters 7 hours ago, sfx2000 said: Why is the forum using hosted SMTP? I am more or less the only person behind infrastructure maintenance which is enough complex without running own SMTP server. Everything is maintained solo for the purpose of Armbian -> if something breaks down ... I am also not an expert in the email delivery (marketing) field which means I will struggle, make mistakes while dealing with forum low level support where again there is no backup ... this already represent a few comm/month and will only grow. Problems: people inserting wrong email, want to delete their data, doesn't understand captcha, ... and if we add here problems with delivery, I will dealing with this all day long. I am not dealing with Armbian to waste time doing that. If email delivery success drops, I am the one who will suffer. IMO going to self hosted solution is a step back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMCC Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Well, in that case, I have used a gmx.com account in the past as a SMTP server. I don't think using it for the purpose we are talking about now is against their TOS (I've seen nothing in the agreement that suggests it may be incompatible). The only drawback is that you need to login to the account at least once every six months, in order to keep it alive. I know opening the web interface is enough for this purpose, and it will probably be enough too to configure a mail client pointing at the account, so it retrieves the mail every day. It is not enough with just using the SMTP service to keep the account alive. I know there are people who criticize gmx.com, but my experience was good. Of course, I wasn't sending hundreds of emails per day. If setting up a local postfix relay becomes a possibility, I could do that if necessary and keep an eye on it. It is mostly a set-it-and-forget-it setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfx2000 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 22 hours ago, JMCC said: The only drawback is that self-hosted SMTP servers tend to be blocked by spam filters, but if anyone wants to receive forum notifications, they can just whitelist Armbian server. We can even put a notice for this in the user's sign-up page. Goes back to what I was saying about DKIM/SPF/DMARC as this establishes the trust and credibility for being an SMTP sender... Requires a bit of DNS work to update the records, but once done, generally works.... then just keep on top of certificates, which isn't much overhead there once they're set up. One can use postfix, qmail, or sendmail even (don't consider sendmail - it's powerful, but it's a curve all it's own). postfix works well as a smarthost for outbound, and works equally well for inbound as an full blown MTA BTW - I used to be the MMS admin for the 7th largest Wireless Telecom with over 7m users in the US - and MMS has the SMTP gateway... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 8 hours ago, sfx2000 said: Goes back to what I was saying about DKIM/SPF/DMARC as this establishes the trust and credibility for being an SMTP sender... Requires a bit of DNS work to update the records, but once done, generally works.... then just keep on top of certificates, which isn't much overhead there once they're set up. I am drowning in small tasks. DIY is for me not an option. Expected solutions = working SMTP capacity/service or something cheaper than 108 USD/year that works the same & accepts Paypal or by limiting forum functions to comply with current free services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanefu Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 I am drowning in small tasks. DIY is for me not an option. Expected solutions = working SMTP capacity/service or something cheaper than 108 USD/year that works the same & accepts Paypal or by limiting forum functions to comply with current free services. FYI even with a vendor you’ll still need to do those DNS records, but they’ll tell you what to enter.So about 1000 messages a day is the outbound volume?Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 1 minute ago, lanefu said: So about 1000 messages a day is the outbound volume? It's actually lower, 750 / day, 15.000 / month. Next plan is 50.000 emails/month for 109 USD/year. And I am not sure that's all what has to be done around here. Perhaps some advanced tweaking has to be applied for better delivery success? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanefu Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 It's actually lower, 750 / day, 15.000 / month. Next plan is 50.000 emails/month for 109 USD/year. And I am not sure that's all what has to be done around here. Perhaps some advanced tweaking has to be applied for better delivery success?Ya i think this can be done super cheap with amazon ses. I'll investigate more today and let you know what has to be done.How is your outbound mail for the forum currently configured? https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing/Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igor Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 12 minutes ago, lanefu said: How is your outbound mail for the forum currently configured? Via (TLS) smtp username and password. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanefu Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 14 hours ago, Igor said: Via (TLS) smtp username and password. Okay I setup SES and DM'd you the info... your deliverability should go way up with being able to use their DKIM signing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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