Email SMTP Integration

Modified on Tue, Nov 7, 2023 at 1:36 PM

Configuring SMTP integration with Genesis

Genesis provides many features that can send e-mail messages to users. Before using any of these features however, Genesis must be configured to talk to an SMTP mail server.

Perform the following tasks on your e-mail server:

Create a mailbox (e-mail account) on your SMTP Mail Server specifically for Genesis. All rejected e-mails will be sent to this in-box. All outgoing e-mails will be sent from this mailbox as well.
Send a test message from this mailbox to an e-mail account outside of your location (for example: someone@gmail.com) using an e-mail client to verify that the mailbox is setup correctly.
Send an e-mail from outside of your location to this e-mail account; to verify that that mailbox can receive e-mail.

Once these tasks have been completed; you can now move onto configuring Genesis to use this mailbox. The configuration of the SMTP Mail Server connection is done on the Core > E-Mail > Setup screen.

Configuring the Core > E-Mail > Setup screen:

Field / Setting	Notes
SMTP Server (IP Address or DNS Name)	This is the fully qualified domain name, or TCPIP address of your SMTP mail server.
Port	25 is used by standard SMTP. (Customers hosted by Genesis have Port 25 automatically blocked. You will need to use port 465 or 587) 587 is used for SMTPS or SMTP / STARTTLS. All traffic is encrypted.
Secure Connection Options	SMTP over SSL (SMTPS): This option will open a Secure TLS/SSL Encryption to the mail server. All traffic is sent encrypted. Use STARTTLS to encrypt session: The initial TCP Connection is made in clear text; but the first command sent is STARTTLS which promotes the connection to an encrypted connection.
From Address	This is the text that appears as the "From" address for any general e-mail messages. This field can be formatted such as this: "Genesis School District" <DoNotReply@domain.org>
Parent Access From Address	This is the text that appears as the "From" address for e-mails sent from the Parent Access module (messages sent to Parent or Student users). This field can be formatted such as this: "Genesis Parent-Student Portal" <DoNotReply@domain.org>
GenMessaging From Address	This is the text that appears as the "From" address for GenMessages sent by e-mail.
Gradebook From Address	This is the text that appears as the "From" address for e-mails sent by teachers from their Gradebook such as progress reports, or e-mail blasts to the entire class. This field can be formatted the same as above. If left blank, the teacher's e-mail address will be used instead (Not Recommended, see below).
Use Reply-To	This will allow messages sent from certain screens (ex: teacher's Gradebook) to insert the user's e-mail address into the SMTP Header "Reply-To" field. For example, the "From" address will be the same as the "From Address" field set above, but the teacher's actual e-mail address is used as the "Reply To" field. This means, that messages received by parents and students will appear as though they were sent by the teacher, and not the generic "Do Not Reply" e-mail. This is highly recommended, as some e-mail servers will not deliver mail where the 'from' address does not match the authenticated username.
Use Email Display Name from User	The new E-mail Display Name field will be used as the sender name. This is a field that can be set on the sender's Genesis account in Setup > Security. This will only occur for messages sent from certain screens, such as: Gradebook, Lesson Planner, and student's Contacts screen (e-mail student contacts tool). For example, if the user's E-mail Display Name is set as 'John Smith' then any e-mails received from this user will appear in the person's inbox as "John Smith" instead of "jsmith@edu.com".
Always send as 'From Address' (set above)	If a user sends an e-mail from a student's Contacts screen or from Gradebook or Lesson Planner, the e-mail will be sent using the 'From Address' set above rather than the user's own e-mail address. The Use Email Display Name from User option will still be honored, and will not affect the 'Reply To' portion of the email which will still be set as the user sending out the email. Use this option if your mail server will only send e-mails as the authenticated user ("username" field set above).
Server Requires Authentication	Virtually all e-mail servers require authentication. Check this box, and fill out the Username (mailbox name) and Password. These two fields will appear after checking the box.

Test Genesis E-Mail Configuration

Send a test message to an e-mail account outside of your location, such as Yahoo mail or Gmail. Type in your e-mail address in the "To" field, and click the Send Test E-Mail button. You should receive that e-mail within approximately 1-2 minutes.

The E-Mail Queue

Genesis keeps an internal queue of all e-mail that is to be sent. All outgoing e-mail messages are listed on the Core > E-mail > Search screen, whether they are sent successfully, or have failed for some reason. Genesis considers a message to be successfully sent, when the SMTP mail server accepts the message. Depending on the behavior of your e-mail server, you may need to check the mailbox that you configured for dead messages. Certain types of invalid messages however, will be picked up by Genesis and marked in error, such as those with invalid e-mail address or domain names.

If a message cannot be delivered to the SMTP Server, you will still see it appear in the queue. You have the option to delete the message, or re-send the message by checking off the message(s) and clicking the Resend Selected Messages button.

Support for SMTP Mail

Genesis cannot provide any support for your SMTP Mail configuration unless you are an ASP customer using the Genesis SMTP Server. If any issues arise with your SMTP Mail configuration, you will need to contact your mail administrator or vendor for assistance. If a message appears as "Sent" successfully, but the e-mail was not received by the user, Genesis support will be unable to determine the cause if there are no errors or visible issues.

E-mail FAQ

E-Mails are only going out to users in my domain.

There are two reasons why this common problem occurs:

There is no username or password specified on the Core.Email screen. Most mail servers will not deliver mail outside of its own domain with out authentication.
The mailbox does not have security to send mail outside of its own domain. Check with the mail server's documentation on how to correct this problem.

E-mails to certain domains are rejected (aol.com etc..)

It is possible that your mail server has been black listed because it is not configured correctly. A lot of popular email domains such as yahoo.com and aol.com check block lists. The most popular block list is The Spamhaus Block List. Check its website at http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/ to see if your e-mail server has been blocked.
A lot of popular email domains will block emails coming from mail servers with an invalid or incorrect reverse DNS configuration.

Is my Mail Server configured correctly?

A great website that verifies the configuration of your mail server can be found at http://www.mxtoolbox.com/. It will test to see if your mail server is on any block lists, and if the DNS entries are setup correctly.

SMTP configuration with AntiVirus programs (McAfee, etc.)

McAfee Access Protection, among other antivirus applications have been known to prevent Genesis from connecting to your SMTP server. Disable any and all such programs from running on your servers and scanning traffic between them.

How do I track recent changes to the Email Setup screen?

To audit what was changed on the Email.setup screen, you can use the Administration > Audit Trail > Updates/Deletes screen to see what was changed when, and by whom. Search updates for Group: System and Table: SMTP Settings.

Parents are receiving messages sent by the teacher, but with the district "do not reply" address in the From field. How can e-mails appear as being sent "from" the teacher?

Visit your Core > E-mail > Setup screen, and fill in the Gradebook From Address with the district's generic address, usually the same e-mail that's used in the From Address set above. Then, check off the Use Reply-To field, and Save Changes. Messages will then appear as if they were being sent from the teacher. When a parent replies to the e-mail, it will be sent back to the teacher's address directly.

We have verified the admin 'Username' and 'Password' but still receive an error for "username and password not accepted" with our Gmail.

If the username/password is correct, but Genesis is still receiving the "username and password not accepted" error when executing messages through Gmail, this could mean you need to create an 'app password' within Google. You can follow this guide to help get started: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833