Help Desk

arpReach can send emails using Amazon SES (Simple Email System).

To do so, you need to add a new email system in arpReach (go to Setup / Email Systems / Add an Email System) and make sure it is set up correctly.

Verification

It is important to understand that Amazon SES will not permit you to send any email until certain verification steps have been completed in your Amazon SES account.

All of the following steps must be completed within your Amazon SES account before you will be able to send any emails from arpReach. 

You need to verify:

• EVERY From, Reply-To, and Bounce address that you plan to use; AND

• ALL the domains and sub-domains that appear in them (including those that are set up in arpReach to send system messages, such as message tests) 

So you need to:

• Verify the domain where arpReach is installed

• Verify the sub-domain where arpReach is installed (if applicable)

• Verify the From domain(s) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from

• Verify the From sub-domain(s) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from (if applicable)

• Verify the From email address(es) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from

• Verify the Reply-To domain(s) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from

• Verify the Reply-To sub-domain(s) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from (if applicable)

• Verify the Reply-To email address(es) you plan to send broadcasts and autoresponders from

• Verify the Bounce domain as defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Incoming email

• Verify the Bounce sub-domain as defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Incoming email (if applicable)

• Verify the Bounce email address as defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Incoming email

• Verify the system From domain defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email

• Verify the system From sub-domain defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email (if applicable)

• Verify the system From email address defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email

• Verify the system Reply-To domain defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email

• Verify the system Reply-To sub-domain defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email (if applicable)

• Verify the system Reply-To email address defined in arpReach in Setup / System Settings / System / Outgoing Email

Many of these may be the same, reducing the number of verifications you need to do.

SMTP Port Unblocking

Many web hosts block outgoing SMTP calls by closing ports 25, 465, and 587 in their firewalls. You need to confirm with your host that ports 465 and 587 are open for outgoing SMTP calls. It will not be possible to use Amazon SES unless these ports are open.

To test if ports are blocked in your host's firewall, upload the script porttest.php (attached to this article) to your web space and run it in your browser. For security reasons, remember to delete porttest.php after use! 

Note that it may take several minutes to run because of timeouts on blocked ports and nothing may appear to happen for several minutes. But eventually, you will see a response that looks like this:

The example above shows the situation where all ports are blocked. You need to get to the situation where the report looks like this:

Here, you can see that port 587 is open. You can then add your Amazon SES account to arpReach by creating a new email system in Setup / Email Systems / Add an Email System. The settings are:

Sending method: SMTP  

SMTP server: email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com  

SMTP server port: 587  

SMTP server user name: Your SMTP user name from your Amazon SES account  

SMTP server password: Your SMTP password from your Amazon SES account  

Encryption: TLS  

Keep connection alive: Checked/ticked  

We have found that some Amazon SES users need to use the following settings. Note that port 465 needs to be open for outgoing SMTP connections for this to work. You can verify this by following the port test procedure detailed above.

To test your Amazon SES email system in arpReach, you must send a test message using the email system you just added by choosing the Send test email option from the Choose action... drop-down menu on the Email Systems list screen (Setup / Email Systems / Show List).

The Test Settings button on the edit screen does not work for Amazon SES due to the number of requirements detailed above.