Troubleshooting Email Problems
Overview of email procedure
BackupAssist will send out emails via a SMTP server. Generally all you need is a connection to your SMTP server, its address and port, and optionally, some login information (username and password).
Setting up your email configuration
There are two places where you can change your email configuration:
- During the initial configuration wizard, where you can type in the details.
- Once BackupAssist is installed, you can modify settings by going to the Navigator > Settings > Mail (SMTP) Server, or by going to the System Settings menu > Mail server settings.
The settings to fill in are:
- SMTP Server - the name of your mail server, such as mail.domain.com - as a tip, it can be a good idea to use the server's IP address, because it removes the dependency on DNS. For example, if your DNS server is down, then your mail will still be sent if you use the IP address of the server.
- Port - most servers run on port 25, but some ISPs? will block Port 25, and run their mail server on a different port.
- SMTP Server requires authentication - if your ISP requires you to login to send emails, then type your username and password for your mail server.
- BackupAssist emails come from this person - this is the sender information for the emails. When you receive BackupAssist emails, they look as if they were sent by this person.
- Advanced - communication method (new in v3.0.9) - we provide two methods of communication with your mail server. If you have any problems with the Normal method of communication, you can try the Alternative method.
- The Normal method assumes you have an ESMTP (Extended Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server (which is the most common type)
- The Alternative method assumes you have a SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server which is common amongst older servers
Testing your email configuration
To test your configuration, go back into your backup job, and click the Noficiations button. Then ensure that the Email Reminders checkbox is checked, and click the link, Send test reminder notifications now...
This will send out a test email.
Troubleshooting email problems
Common problems you may have are:
- 550 Relaying Denied (or similar) - your mail server requires authentication. You will need a username and password to login to the mail server, and you will need to enter these into BackupAssist. (See above)
- Host not found (or similar) - your internet connection is not working properly, and the mail server cannot be connected
- Ensure that port 25 or the port you use to send outgoing mail is not blocked by a third-party anti-virus or firewall application
- Try switching to the Alternative communication method of mail transfer as outlined above
Additional notes
If
BackupAssist cannot send an email, it will try sending the email again after waiting 15 minutes. It will keep on trying to send the email after that every 15 minutes, for up to 12 attempts.
Therefore, if your internet connection is down temporarily,
BackupAssist will try to resend the email for up to 3 hours.
If you have an unreliable internet connection, then we recommend that you print out the report logs.