Troubleshooting Email

Instructions and Tips for some common email servers

Some services require you to know the IP address that is sending the email. If Foundation Cloud Community Portal (FC Community Portal) Services or FC Community Portal Web API are hosted by NPact then the IP address will usually be 216.227.194.2 or 216.14.169.193.

Office 365/Microsoft 365

Microsoft has a document that describes how to set this up. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/Exchange/mail-flow-best-practices/how-to-set-up-a-multifunction-device-or-application-to-send-email-using-microsoft-365-or-office-365?redirectSourcePath=%252fen-us%252farticle%252fHow-to-set-up-a-multifunction-device-or-application-to-send-email-using-Office-365-69f58e99-c550-4274-ad18-c805d654b4c4. The admin site is here https://admin.microsoft.com/. The Exchange admin center may not show up immediately for new accounts.

The document lists 3 options but only 1 & 3 are useful in this case. Keep in mind that changes you make in your Office 365 admin center may take up to 30 minutes to take effect.

Option 1

This is the simplest option. The server address will be smtp.office365.com. The port will be 587. Use SSL\TLS must be checked. You must provide a valid email account and password. That account must have Authenticated SMTP checked (go to Users – Active Users – click on the user – select the Mail tab – click on Mange email apps) detailed steps found here. The account cannot use multi-factor authentication. This option has sending limits of 30 emails/minute and 10,000 per day. The From address should be left blank.

Troubleshooting (option 1)

Occasionally the password will expire in which case you must reset the password in Office 365, in FC Community Portal and in Foundation Cloud Grants (FC Grants) and in any email clients that are set up with this user’s mailbox.

If problems are encountered with recipients in the CC address, then in FC Community Portal settings check the box that says Send to CC addresses in a separate email.

If the From address does not match the account address, you will get an error. When using this option leave the From address blank.

Make sure the account is not set up for multi-factor authentication. If MFA is enabled for your entire organization, then you need to turn it off for this one account.  For more information google “office 365 disable MFA for a user."

Option 3

This option requires more configurations (see the link above) but has no limitations and seems more reliable. The server address will be something like yourdomain-com.mail.protection.outlook.com. The port will be 25. Use SSL\TLS is optional. The account used for sending does not have to be a valid email account. No password is required. You must know the sending IP address for the setup. If using this option, you should use an SPF record as described in the instructions.

Troubleshooting (option 3)

If you find that emails are being identified as spam set up an SPF record.

G Suite (gmail)

Check out this document https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491. The address for the admin site is https://admin.google.com. The limit is 10,000 per day. The server address will be smtp-relay.gmail.com. The port will by 587. Use SSL\TLS should be checked. You will need the IP address of the sending server. You will need a valid email account and password. Refer to the online documentation for details but here are some tips when setting up the relay.

• Allowed senders – only registered apps users in my domains
• Authentication – only accept from specified addresses
• Require authentication
• Require TLS

Also, there is an obscure setting that must be set. For details see this https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en. The Less secure apps access setting must be set to “On” or Enforce (they may have changed the wording on this).

Exchange Server

For instructions see https://practical365.com/exchange-server/how-to-configure-a-relay-connector-for-exchange-server-2010/ or https://practical365.com/exchange-server/exchange-2013-configure-smtp-relay-connector/ or https://practical365.com/exchange-server/exchange-2016-smtp-relay-connector/. It should be set up to authenticate the sender.

Third Party SMTP Relay Services (SendGrid)

There are a number of third-party SMTP relay services available for a small monthly fee. SendGrid is known to be compatible with FC Community Portal and FC Grants. To use this service, you must also have a domain.

Blackbaud

In Blackbaud hosting services their mail server can be used. The server address is D2PDCSM001.blackbaudhost.com. The port is 25, and Use SSL\TLS should be unchecked. Authentication is not required.

More Troubleshooting Notes

The following error message can occur on some systems when the password is incorrect. SmtpException: Unable to read data from the transport connection: net_io_connectionclosed

In versions of Foundation Cloud Community Portal prior to 1.12.0.5 the password must be set using Internet Explorer.

Additionally, NPact offers the use of SendGrid which takes the complexities of configuration out of SMTP and into a clean API, reducing the support requirements for NPact and for each foundation. For more information on enabling SendGrid, please see this document.