SMTP Issue with Send Email action - cannot send to external email addresses

Automise Discussion
1

Greetings! I have a Send Email action that uses an SMTP server. No other flags - just the SMTP server and port. When I send to an internal email address using this action (i.e. one within our company domain), it works just fine. If I try to send to an external address, I get an “unable to relay” error. Normally, I would think that this is an issue with the SMTP server itself, but I have been working with our IT department on this, and it IS possible to send to an external email address from the same box, using the same SMTP server, if we are not using Automise (we used Windows Powershell for the test). Is there an internal/hidden setting in the Send Email action that could be blocking sending to external emails?

Thanks,

Jonathan

2

The action has no idea if an address is external or internal. This will most likely be an authentication issue. Turn on logging of the data and contact support with the output and we’ll take a look. Also, what mail server type is it. Also show us the exact settings you have on the action so we can try to set up the same scenario.

3

Thank you for the response! The settings are very simple. They are for an internal SMTP server and port 25, that is it. No authentication or anything. What specific logging would you like me to turn on?

4

On the action there are Log Sent Data, Log Received Data and Log SSL Negotiation. Also, what do you have in the Sender Tab.

5

I don’t see any options to Log Sent Data, Log Received Data or Log SSL Negotiation on the Send Email action. Where do I find that? Under Runtime, there is a Log Action Properties checkbox, but that is it. None of the other tabs on the action have any logging. I am using 5.0.0.800 - do I need to upgrade to a newer version? On the Sender tab, I have the FROM email address, the FROM name, and Normal selected instead of Individual.

EDIT: I see that the SMTP logging was introduced in a later version, so it seems that I need to download the latest. I will do that.

6

Log with latest Automise version, and all three logging options turned on ( I removed the actual addresses - I can provide them in email if needed):

Send Email
Status:
Date: 1/9/2019
Time: 08:19:13:641
End: 08:19:23:668
Duration: 00:00:10:027

Action Messages:
Action Properties
ActionComment =
AttachmentsObject =
Authenticate = False
BccSource = asSpecify
BccVariable =
BodyObject =
CopyToSource = asFromVariable
CopyToVariable = projCCEmail
Enabled = True
EnableTimeout = False
Encoding =
ExpandActionLogTitle = True
HideActionFromLog = False
Host = <removed: SMTP server listed here>
HTMLMessage = True
IgnoreFailure = False
IgnoreIndivualFailures = False
IgnoreMissingAttachments = False
Locked = False
LogActionProperties = True
LogReceived = True
LogSent = True
LogSSLNegotiation = True
LogToVariable =
MaxRetryAttempts = 0
Mode = 0
PathOfBccFile =
PathOfCopyToFile =
PathOfRecipientFile =
PathOfReplyToFile =
PauseInterval = 0
PlainBodyObject =
PopBeforeSMTP = False
POPHost =
POPPort = 110
Port = 25
Priority = 2
RecipientsSource = asFromVariable
RecipientVariable = projToEmail
ReplyToSource = asSpecify
ReplyToVariable =
RetryPauseInterval = 1000
Subject = Database Mail Failures in the last 24 hours
SuppressStatusMessages = False
TimeoutLength = 1
UseEhlo = False
UseGlobalOptions = False
UserId =
UseSSL = False
UseTLS = utNoTLSSupport
Sent: 1/9/2019 8:19:13 AM : 1/9/2019 8:19:13 AM Data: MAIL FROM:<From address listed here>
Received: 1/9/2019 8:19:13 AM : 1/9/2019 8:19:13 AM Data: 250 2.1.0 Sender OK
Sent: 1/9/2019 8:19:13 AM : 1/9/2019 8:19:13 AM Data: RCPT TO:<External Hotmail address listed here>
Received: 1/9/2019 8:19:18 AM : 1/9/2019 8:19:18 AM Data: 550 5.7.1 Unable to relay
Sent: 1/9/2019 8:19:18 AM : 1/9/2019 8:19:18 AM Data: RSET
Received: 1/9/2019 8:19:23 AM : 1/9/2019 8:19:23 AM Data: 250 2.0.0 Resetting
Unable to Send Message (Send)
Unable to relay
Sent: 1/9/2019 8:19:23 AM : 1/9/2019 8:19:23 AM Data: QUIT
Received: 1/9/2019 8:19:23 AM : 1/9/2019 8:19:23 AM Data: 221 2.0.0 Service closing transmission channel
Status: Disconnected. : Disconnected.

7

550 5.7.1 Unable to relay

My guess is you need to authenticate with the mail server. It’s very unlikely (and not advisable) to allow unauthenticated users to send emails.

If you are able to send using powershell Send-MailMessage then it is probably using the current user credentials via NTLM authentication, which isn’t supported by Automise.

You may need to check with your mail server (exchange?) admin to see which auth types are enabled on the server.

8

That got us onto the right track. Thank you!