SMTP Relay With Office 365
SMTP relay with Office 365 lets you send emails using Total Access Emailer from devices or line of business applications that can’t authenticate via an email login. It also allows you to send emails to external recipients.
To set up SMTP relay, you need to create a new connector in Exchange Admin Center. This article will guide you through this process.
How to Configure
SMTP relay is similar to direct send but allows Office 365 to relay messages that you send from your devices and applications. To set up SMTP relay, you must create a connector with the public (static) IP address of the device or application that will be sending mail. You can create a connector in the Exchange Admin center or use PowerShell to do it. Before you do either of these, make sure that the MX record for your domain points to a Microsoft 365 SMTP server and that there are no firewall restrictions that prevent incoming connections on port 25.
To start, log in to the Exchange Admin center and click Mail flow, then Connectors. Click New connector, and in the New Connector wizard, select the same mail flow scenario that you used when creating the non-TLS connector. Give the connector a name and description, and then set the properties for the method of authentication that you want Office 365 to use.
Authentication
Many Internet service providers and Email service provider restrict emails to prevent those who send spam. However, a growing business requires more and more emails to engage with subscribers and support them. In addition to newsletters and marketing emails, businesses also send transactional emails that need to be delivered reliably and in real time.
Authenticated SMTP relay helps to keep your server safe from unwanted emails by ensuring that the email sent is from the correct source. This process works through subject name certification or public IP address verification.
Besides boosting your email delivery rates, an SMTP relay also provides you with data about how your emails are delivered to the end user. This information is valuable for marketers as they can understand what went wrong in their campaigns and fix them to improve future deliverability. The best smtp relay providers will have a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for any marketer to view the status of their email.
Routing
SMTP relay allows devices and applications to send email directly to recipients in your organization. This method allows for higher sending limits and does not require a certificate on the device or application to authenticate with Office 365.
To set up SMTP relay for your network appliances, sign in to the Exchange admin center and click Mail flow > Connectors. Click Add a connector to open the new connector wizard. Select Your organization’s email server as a connection from option and Your organization’s email server as a destination option, then click Next.
Using an SMTP relay can help you separate regular business emails from marketing messages. It can also prevent your primary business email from getting blocked by spammers. This service is a great option for organizations that need to send a lot of marketing or transactional messages to their customers without putting their own servers at risk of getting blocklisted. It also offers several features to safeguard your data including automated backups, multiple output formats, and smart filters.
Security
SMTP relay is an essential email solution for businesses that want to send emails in large volume. It allows organizations to send a significant amount of marketing or transactional emails without risking getting their own internal email servers blocklisted as spam.
To use smtp relay with office 365, you must have a device or application with a public (static) IP address and a certificate that’s used for authentication. The common name (CN) or subject alternative names (SAN) in the certificate should contain a domain name that you’ve registered in Exchange Online and that’s verified for mail flow.
You also need to create a receive connector in Exchange Online with a CN or FQDN (full qualified domain name) that matches the expected IP address for the devices or applications. This ensures that Microsoft identifies the devices or applications as trustworthy and helps to prevent spoofing. Also, you must configure SPF records to ensure that recipients can recognize the true origin of the email.