AWS Thinkbox Discussion Forums

GMail for email alerts?

Is there an updated way to get alerts via Gmail? I tried with my previous settings and it doesn’t work, did something change with gmail servers? I tried with work and personal emails.

I’m going to go through the docs again and update here
There’s a blog post here
https://www.awsthinkbox.com/blog/email-notifications-from-deadline
and the documentation is here
https://docs.thinkboxsoftware.com/products/deadline/10.1/1_User%20Manual/manual/repository-config.html#email-notification
Which includes this note

If you are using Google Mail to send emails (smtp.gmail.com), you will typically use port 25 if SSL is disabled, and port 465 if SSL is enabled. See Google’s documentation on Sending Emails for more information.

The google link includes the following info for
smtp.gmail.com
smtp-relay.gmail.com
I’ve previously been (successfully) using the ‘restricted SMTP’
aspmx.l.google.com

The ports listed are
Port 25, 465, or 587
(none / SSL / TSL)

None of these are working, I’m going to dig through the Google apps / suite / workspaces / whatevertheycallitnow admin interface to see if the security thing has been changed.

(It’s here)
https://admin.google.com/AdminHome?hl=en_GB#ServiceSettings/service=email&subtab=filters

I need to go through the gmail settings and figure this out

thanks
Ant

I still never got anywhere with this

Tried with less secure switched on
https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps

I’ve tried Yandex too and this also seems to fail, anyone able to recommend a service which won’t block email alerts? or does something need updating in Deadline?

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I also tried some time ago and could not get it to work. But I will try again one day :slight_smile:

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Using Gmail from a non-GUI session has been complicated for quite a few years now. They (rightfully so) want you to obtain a token to use the service API, which may include many manual steps like 2FA and “I’m not a robot” type things.

Not sure if you can use the API as a non-human user, eg. with app key and secret. Either way, I guess my ramblings aren’t really addressing your actual question.

Since you’re using the built-in email method there are probably two options here:

  1. You stumble upon the correct “insecure” SMTP settings that still work. If any
  2. Thinkbox updates their backing code for the email system to allow more modern integrations – similar to how your phone or whatever sets up a new account. This would probably require substantial development from Thinkbox

If you want to roll your own solution though, you can just tunnel your email request through a trusted third party “automation” platform like Zapier. They’ll take your money, but will make your life pretty convenient at the same time.

2 Likes

Thanks for this, zapier is a real payment cluster! I’m looking for something that will suit all users and work as it used to.

I have a ticket open for this (105274) but still not getting anywhere, last suggestion was to increase the timeout but this doesn’t change anything as the response usually comes back quickly that it didn’t work

I have it working via the smtp-relay.gmail.com on port 587 no ssl. Just had to allow access in my Google Workspaces Admin for the Relay settings.

https://admin.google.com/ac/apps/gmail/routing?hl=en

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this way for us too!

Thanks for this info, I checked and I did have this set-up

I’m getting a (slightly) different error which seems chopped off

Attempting to send test email...
Error occurred while trying to send email:
System.Net.Mail.SmtpException - Mailbox unavailable. The server response was: 5.7.1 Invalid credentials for relay [123.45.67.89]. The IP address you've

I’ll have a dig through the gmail admin as I’m sure that IP will be set somewhere

Hey sorry, not sure why I never got notified with this. Hopefully you got it working!

But I am leaving a screenshot of the “Edit settings” that I have working for anyone else finding this post later.

2 Likes

Thanks Douglas,

Can confirm adding the IP only allows it to work.

image

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Hi @anthonygelatka,

I’ve followed your steps but can’t get it to work. Have you changed anything in the last years?

I’ve not used it for a while, google changes all the time and I have 2FA enabled now, I’ll check this if I get chance and report back

We have it working with the smtp-relay. Use SSL is on, and the port is 587. Also smtp authentication is on, with one human user login (which should probably be a service user).

yeah, this doesn’t work anymore, I have the following set, with our static IP the same

Allowed Senders: Only addresses in my domains
Only accept mail from the specified IP addresses: ON
Allowed IP addresses: Our Office
Require SMTP Authentication: OFF
Require TLS encryption: OFF

this isn’t working anymore, switching to credential required seems to cause an error with saving in ‘Secrets’.
Failed to store the secret (/admin/emailnotifications/PrimaryUsername) due to an unexpected error. Please see Server's application log for further information

I found this issue below and fixed this

./deadlinecommand.exe secrets ListAllMachines Admin "*" "*"
./deadlinecommand.exe secrets GrantKeyAccessToServer Admin defaultKey 12-34-56-...
./deadlinecommand.exe secrets PutSecret Admin /admin/emailnotifications/PrimaryUsername "Primary email username"
./deadlinecommand.exe secrets PutSecret Admin /admin/emailnotifications/PrimaryPassword "Primary email password"

I think the issue was from 2FA

Adding an option here
https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords
and it still doesn’t work, with SSL/TLS auth on or off

I’ll investigate further when I get some free time

Damn this is confusing, I’ve turned it all off again and now it’s getting mail through again…

smtp-relay.gmail.com
antg@***.com
25
SSL (OFF)

check the Google Admin settings that Douglas posted are set, and give it a couple of mins before testing again

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