View source for Ubuntu 24.04 - SSMTP - with smpt2go.com



* '''NOTE''': This tut is running in a ubuntu 24.04 lxc container as user ubuntu. <code>apt update && apt upgrade -y</code> already done.
* This tut is an example using smtp2go.com

==ssmtp setup==

You can use a number of email providers for sending emails from server using ssmtp.<br \>
I am going to use <b>smtp2go.com</b> they do provide a free service if you wish to try.
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
smtp2go details:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
https://www.smtp2go.com/<br \>
Has a Free Plan
# 1000 emails per month
# 5 days of email reporting
# Ticket support only
<br \>
Do not use you username and password you used to sign up!<br \>
Go to https://app.smtp2go.com/sending/smtp_users/ <br \>
Or 'Sending' > 'SMTP Users'<br>
And create/add a SMTP User account.<br \>
The User created will be given a good password by default.<br \>
Use this username and password for ssmtp.<br \> 
In this example i have the username "<b>noobwiki</b>" and the password "<b>N0tTelinu</b>"
</div>
</div>

===ssmtp===


<code>sudo apt install ssmtp -y</code>

<code>sudo $EDITOR /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf</code>

<pre>
mailhub=mail.smtp2go.com:587
AuthUser=noobwiki
AuthPass=N0tTelinu
UseSTARTTLS=YES
FromLineOverride=YES
hostname=completenoobs.com
</pre>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Why use <code>hostname=completenoobs.com</code>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
"hostname" needed for ubuntu unattended upgrades to send email.<br \>
If missing: will get "(550 unable to verify sender address.)" <br \>
If using <code>hostname=localhost</code> "(550 "Localhost" unnaceptable, you must use a public domain-name.)"<br \>
If using <code>hostname=admin@completenoobs.com</code> "501 <root@admin@completenoobs.com>: malformed address: @completenoobs.com> may not follow <root@admin" 
</div>
</div>
<br \>
Do not use user@smtp2go.com as the sender address! you need an email address that has an MX record(mail exchanger record) at its domain name.
<br \>
<code>sudo $EDITOR /etc/ssmtp/revaliases</code><br \>
<pre>
root:admin@completenoobs.com:mail.smtp2go.com:587
ubuntu:admin@completenoobs.com:mail.smtp2go.com:587
</pre>

===550 verify the sender domain or email to be allowed to send===

* <code>550 verify the sender domain or email to be allowed to send.</code>
This is new to me on smtp2go.com , must be to stop people spamming

https://app-eu.smtp2go.com/sending/verified_senders/

Select user name you are going to use. You'll need to edit the DNS settings of your domain name. This is so they know its your domain.

I went to Namecheap and entered 3 CNAME records to my domain, then verified and short wait SSL Certificate pending.

<pre>
SSL Certificate pending
An SSL certificate for the tracking domain has been requested and will be available shortly.
</pre>
* Less then a minute later 
<pre>
SSL Certificate enabled
An SSL certificate for the tracking domain has been enabled and will automatically renew.
Issued on: 05/05/2025
</pre>

Good to go

===usermod===

<br \>
usermod can be used to change the email senders name/address.<br \>
Instead of your mail coming from 'root' or 'ubuntu' or any other user account.<br \>
<b>usermod -c "emailSenderName" <account_sending></b><br \>
* Example:<code>usermod -c "completenoobslxc" root</code><br \>
<code>sudo usermod -c "MyFirstSSMPT@server.yer" ubuntu</code><br \>
Send Test eMail<br \>
Create a file and add subject header and some content.<br \>
<code>$EDITOR test-mail.txt</code><br \>
<pre>
Subject:test email

Greetings fellow noob.
</pre><br \>
Save and Exit<br \>
Now send the email:<br \>
<code>sendmail email@address2receive.mail < test-mail.txt</code><br \>
Don't forget to check your spam folder if you don't see email<br \>
Once tested and email sent, you can delete <b>test-mail.txt</b>.<br \>
<code>rm test-mail.txt</code>

===sendmail notes===
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
If the sendmail command locks your terminal and CTRL+c does not work
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Use <code>CTRL+z</code> which will send a SIGTSTP signal which will put the process to sleep.<br \>
use jobs to see the sleeping process.<br \>
<code>jobs</code><br \>
and kill %<JOBNUMBER><br \>
<code>kill %1</code>
<br \>
you can also use <code>ps ax</code> to list processes running on your computer and <code>kill -9 <PROCESS-NUMBER></code> to kill process.
</div>
</div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
sendmail in verbose mode for more details:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
More info can be found in the man page <code>man sendmail</code><br \>
Use the verbose flag <b>-v</b><br \>
<code>sendmail -v email@address2receive.mail < test-mail.txt</code>
</div>
</div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Check mail logs for errors:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
send mail error log can be found in<br \>
<code>/var/log/mail.err</code><br \>
and sendmail log can be found:<br \>
<code>/var/log/mail.log</code>
</div>
</div>

===Mail Received===
'''Was in Spam folder'''

* Sender: MyFirstSSMTP@server.yer
* Subject: Greetings
* Content: Greeting Fellow Noob.