Setting up SMTP

You can set up Scaleway Transaction Email for your applications using either the Scaleway API or the SMTP configuration options of your CRM or application management tool.

On this page, we go through different elements you might find in a standard SMTP configuration, and how to fill out each entry to ensure an optimal configuration of your Transactional Email service.

Standard settings

1 - SMTP Server Address (Host) - The domain name or IP address of the SMTP server. If you are using Scaleway Transactional Email, the domain to use is smtp.tem.scaleway.com.

2 - SMTP Port - The port number used to connect to the SMTP server. At Scaleway, the default ports are 25, 587, and 2587.

Depending on your use case, we recommend using the following ports:

• Port 587: Used to securely submit emails over TLS.
• Port 465: Used for SMTP connections over SSL/TLS. At Scaleway, you can also use port 2465.
• Port 25: This port was traditionally used for relaying and submitting emails, but it is not recommended when sending emails directly from an application, due to widespread blocking to prevent spam.

3 - Username and password - Sometimes you need to authenticate to the SMTP server to connect. You might be asked to provide a valid username and password.

Your Scaleway SMTP username is the Project ID of the Project in which the TEM domain was created. You can find it under Managed Services > Transactional Email > Domain Overview in the Scaleway console.

Your password is the secret key of the API key of the project used to manage your TEM domain. Follow this procedure to generate API keys for API and SMTP sending with IAM.

4 - Encryption method - An encrypted connection between your application and the SMTP server is mandatory, and two methods are available:

• SSL/TLS: Also known as SMTPS, it allows you to directly define a secure connection on a secure port. Directly creates a secure connection on a port such as 465 and 2465.
• STARTTLS: This type will upgrade any insecure connections to secure connections on a non-secure port, such as 587.

5 - Sender email address - The email address that will appear as the sender. Whenever someone receives an email from your application, this is the email they see.

6 - Authentication method - This is the method you can use to ensure that only authorized users can send emails from the SMTP server, which helps avoid spam.

SMTP supports different methods:

• PLAIN: Username and password are transmitted in plain text and secured via SSL/TLS.
• LOGIN: Username and password are encoded in base64 and then transmitted through SSL/TLS. Note that this method is considered obsolete by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

Optional settings

Some SMTP configurations might require additional information, such as:

• Timeouts: The definition of long the server is expected to wait for a response or connection before quitting the operation.
• Connection retries: The definition of how many times the server should try to connect if the connection fails the first time.
• DKIM Signing: DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) signatures allow you to check that the message was not altered in transit.
• IP Address Binding: If your server has more than one IP address, you can specify which one will be used for outgoing emails.