Email set up on OVH Cloud

[mventures]

Do you how if and how I can create an email id for the website on the OVH VPS? I am searching through their articles but can’t find any, can’t find the option on the dashboard, and waiting to hear from their Support.

The email service is purely for the sake of operating SendGrid transactional emails.

I do have a Shared Web Hosting space with another provider, where I can create an email id but it requires me to “Add a Domain” first, and I am not sure if that addition will impact my website on OVH.

[phenomlab]

@mventures Go to /admin/settings/email and see below

Complete as necessary using the SendGrid credentials you have

Save

[phenomlab]

@mventures The email ID should be created on your domain itself - not OVH. In this case, seeing as you only want to send email out, something like donotreply@mydomain.com should suffice. I doubt very much you need an actual mailbox for this purpose.

[mventures]

@phenomlab The issue is that SendGrid requires the FROM and TO emails to be confirmed.
https://docs.sendgrid.com/ui/sending-email/sender-verification

[mventures]

I have just received an email from OVH also, on how to setup the email:

https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/how-to-host-your-own-email-server-on-a-vps-with-cyberpanel

[phenomlab]

@mventures I don’t think that will work. It’s for Hostinger, which is a competitor for OVH. The steps are also unnecessarily complex in my view. I think you’ll need to actually build a mail server on your VPS - this would typically be something like Postfix - see below

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-configure-postfix-on-ubuntu-22-04

However, this isn’t for the faint hearted and you’ll likely need help setting this up.

[mventures]

@phenomlab Sorry for the delay in my reply. Life has been hectic the last week!

So, instead of setting up a mail server in OVH, can I not just use an external mail server, like Google or Outlook? I just spoke with my domain registrar, and he said I can do this if setting up the private mail server is daunting. He said, because it’s only a MX setup and there is no A Records work, my website at OVH won’t be impacted.

They also offer email hosting which costs AU$ 3-4 per month, which isn’t much at all, and I am willing to pay. Google costs AU$8 here, so I prefer using my registrar’s email service if that can work.

Will this work?

[phenomlab]

@mventures Yes, that will work. As long as you have a username and password to access the service, that’s all you need.

[mventures]

@phenomlab Great! I will get that email working tomorrow, and then configure SendGrid, and then I will come back to you to get the SMTP working for new signups.

[phenomlab]

@mventures you might want to take a look at this supplementary guide also
https://community.nodebb.org/topic/15072/nodebb-email-options

[mventures]

@phenomlab I read through the essay in full - so technical but I took away these 2 points:

• so you can use a Gmail account for instance to email your users.

• “It very thoroughly explains our reasoning and suggestions to use third-party emailers”, a response from Julian

So, I think my idea of yesterday in using a 3rd party email service, is a better option.

[mventures]

Hi @phenomlab

1. I have my emails working from a 3rd party
2. I have verified the Single Identity verification on SendGrid.
3. SendGrid is now asking to verify the domain, and this requires me to add new CNAME records. Will this negatively impact the website?

[mventures]

Update: I have verified the domain and the email on SendGrid. All good and the website is still up! Phew.
Now, how do I get those email verification to new users configured?

[phenomlab]

@mventures Go to /admin/settings/email and see below

Complete as necessary using the SendGrid credentials you have

Save

[mventures]

Thank you!

1. For the SMTP Transport section: Do I enter the password of my email client or the password of my SendGrid account?
2. For Edit Email Template, I have chosen, “Verify-email” - Is that correct?
3. For Email Testing, I have chosen, “Verify-email” - Is that correct?

[phenomlab]

@mventures see below

#1 you need to use the SendGrid username and password you have as you are transmitting over their services

#2 and #3 there is no need to select any of these. This is the email templating system which allows you to change the layout of the emails being sent, and in most cases you don’t touch them unless you actually want to change the content.

The testing section is exactly that. It enables you to send a test message using a specific template so you can verify that your settings work correctly.

[mventures]

@phenomlab

1. The username I have for SendGrid is not an email id. It’s just a word. Is it OK to use that in NodeBB also?

2. Regarding the template - the default selection is “Banned”, for both “Edit Email Template” and “Email Testing”?

3. On my SendGrid - is there anything left to do there?
   

[phenomlab]

@mventures said in Email set up on OVH Cloud:

On my SendGrid - is there anything left to do there?

Yes - you would want to choose “SMTP Relay” as this will provide the credentials you’d need in order to send email from NodeBB.

[mventures]

@phenomlab Thank you! Could you help me with questions 1 and 2 also from the previous message also, please? Regarding username and template.

[phenomlab]

@mventures said in Email set up on OVH Cloud:

1. The username I have for SendGrid is not an email id. It’s just a word. Is it OK to use that in NodeBB also?

No, it needs to be a username and password which is why you need the SMTP relay

2. Regarding the template - the default selection is “Banned”, for both “Edit Email Template” and “Email Testing”?

Yes. You don’t need to change anything here. The point of those is so you can make changes to the email design.

[mventures]

@phenomlab Sorry, what I meant on (1) is when I signed up on SendGrid, my username was a word and not an email id. SendGrid asks you set up a username when you join them. They are not using email id as the username. At least, in my case.