Applicable to:
- Plesk for Linux
- Plesk for Windows
Question
How to use an external SMTP server in Plesk?
Answer
Note: WordPress plugins will not be able to send mail using external SMTP settings from Plesk. It is required to install and configure an additional WordPress plugin, e.g., SMTP Mail, in order to use external SMTP server with WordPress.
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Install the SMTP server:
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via Plesk
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Go to Tools & Settings > Updates.
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On the Updates and Upgrades page, click Add/Remove Components.
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On the Add/Remove Components page, expand Mail hosting and select MSMTP (relay only).
Note: If local mail server is installed, it will be removed along with other mail components like Mailman, SpamAssassin, Dovecot.
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Click Continue to begin the installation.
- via a command-line interface
- Connect to the Plesk server via SSH.
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Run the following command to install the SMTP server:
# plesk installer add --components msmtp
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Once the component is installed, go to Tools & Settings > External SMTP Server.
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Select Allow Plesk to send email notifications through this SMTP server to make notifications be sent via the external SMTP server.
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Specify external SMTP server settings and click OK.
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Go to Tools & Settings > External SMTP Server.
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Uncheck the setting Use the mail server installed with Plesk and the default mail account created by Plesk.
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Specify external SMTP server settings.
Comments
16 comments
Is there any way to find out why this install is failing for me? I'm trying to install the MSMTP component in a highly restrictive environment, so I believe the yum utility is unable to access the necessary url or IP being used to download this component. Also, is there a way to install components via command line?
@Blake,
The cause of failing install may be found in log file /var/log/plesk/install/autoinstaller3.log
To install components via CLI, use the command "plesk installer" and follow the instructions from the appeared menu.
Looks like these are old steps.
Don't work right now with Plesk Obsidian 18.0.25. for me.
If I try to install MSMTP (relay only), Plesk uninstalls Postfix and also Dovecot.
I try to continue, then I try to install only Dovecot and Plesk uninstalls my MSMTP (relay only) and Installs the Postfix again.
It's a loop process.
@Santiago,
MSMTP cannot be used with local mail server like Postfix. MSMTP is used as external SMTP server for outgoing mail for notifications only, that's the only aim of it in Plesk.
As it is stated in this article: "If local mail server is installed, it will be removed along with other mail components like Mailman, SpamAssassin, Dovecot."
See more details here: https://docs.plesk.com/en-US/obsidian/administrator-guide/mail/using-plesk-without-the-mail-server.72346/
It is not possible to use local mail server in Plesk like Postfix AND external SMTP server.
If information from the documentation above does not address your request, let us know why you want to use local and external mail servers at once in Plesk.
Hi Julia,
Thanks for the information.
The situation where we need the local mail server and the external SMTP simultaneously is when we want to continue to use the Plesk to manage the domains e-mail accouts/mailboxes and use an external SMTP service for example to send newsletters for the same domain.
@José Graça,
In this case we recommend using Plesk mail server only for this purpose. Newsletters scripts can be adjusted to include Plesk SMTP server instead of the external one.
@...
Your solution is not valid since many cloud providers, including AWS, blocks the SMTP port. Reason of my request.
@All
I was able to do the required configuration and additionally use a different relay per domain changing the postfix configuration at linux level.
José Graça I'm glad to hear you were able to implement such a configuration. To see such a functionality in Plesk you may describe it and post as a feature request on our portal.
For those who might be facing SMTP blocks: it is possible to request AWS to unblock it or configure to use relay host.
I need to do more advanced config and I need your advice, using 2 Plesk Obsedian servers one server to act as master mail proxy to relay email and also to receive emails then forward it to the other slave Plesk server which has the mailboxes.
I did that with Cpanel for about 6 years without issues, can I do this using Plesk?
I searched and tried but had issues, also I am afraid on an upgrade Plesk may overwrite main.cf
Advice please?
Is it somehow possible to test the mail delivery? Since the switch to the external smtp server I got no mail from WP Toolkit anymore for example...
To test mail delivery, goto Tools & Settings > Resources > Mass Email. Then send a message to the admin which is you.
Via SSH:
echo -e "Subject: Test Mail\r\n\r\nThis is a test mail." | msmtp --from mail@gmail.com -t mail@gmail.com --debug
Note: Need to change the FROM and T (to).
I use Mailgun as a mail delivery service and my postmaster email account as a sender.
And maybe you get something like this after all the debug:
This is a test mail.
250 Great success
QUIT
See you later. Yours truly, Mailgun
I cant get it to work even if it should be pretty straight forward:
I double checked the settings and also tryed 2 different mail servers. Is there any way to see WHAT the error is?
Kind regards
Patrick
We are using SendGrid SMTP Relay to send email from user scripts because host blocks outgoing email. But that doesn't fix Roundcube. When I saw this article, I thought this would be the solution. However, when I tried to switch from Postfix to MSMTP, it wanted to remove Dovecot. We don't want that. We don't have another mail server for incoming mail. We manage domain email through Plesk.
I saw https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004060494-How-to-configure-Postfix-on-Plesk-server-to-send-emails-using-SendGrid and thought that might be a solution, but it's not persistent.
How do I continue to manage and receive email through Plesk while using an external SMTP server?
Hi
We only want Plesk Notification to be sent using external server and no other can use, with details reports as client now a days want when was resource email was sent and we usually end up investing time into it.
Windows environment.
Hi
I spend a couple of wasted days on this too.
New host I was thinking of moving to blocks port 25 which I need because I have clients using really basic email accounts with their websites. Seems a common theme.
Switching on MSMTP disabled all other email functionality, which makes this component next to useless unless you have a server full of customers that don't use email (never going to happen).
Looks like I'm paying extra to stay in Azure but at least they will turned on port 25 via a support ticket and justification.
Its getting to the point where you can't offer a website hosting service with email to customers.
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