PingFederate Server

Configuring an SMTP Notification Publisher instance

Set up an instance of the SMTP Notification Publisher for PingFederate to notify administrators and end users about various events. You can configure multiple instances, each with different settings as needed.

Steps

  1. On the Instance Configuration tab, provide the required information or update any default or previously configured setting values.

    For more information about each field, refer to the following table.

    Field Description

    From Address

    (Required)

    The email address that appears in the “From” header line in email messages generated by PingFederate. The address needs a valid format but does not need to be set up on your system.

    Sender Name

    The sender name displayed in email messages generated by PingFederate.

    Sender name cannot exceed 256 characters.

    Email Server

    (Required)

    The IP address or host name of your email server.

    SMTP Port

    The SMTP port on your email server.

    The default value is 25.

    Encryption Method

    Select SSL/TLS to establish a secure connection to the email server at the SMTPS port.

    Select STARTTLS to establish an unencrypted connection to the email server at the SMTP port and initiate a secure channel afterward.

    Select None, the default value, to establish an unencrypted connection to the email server at the SMTP port.

    SMTPS Port

    The secure SMTP port on your email server. Not applicable unless SSL/TLS is the chosen encryption method.

    The default value is 465.

    Verify Hostname

    Indicates whether to verify the host name of the email server matches the Subject (CN) or one of the Subject Alternative Names from the certificate. Not applicable unless either SSL/TLS or STARTTLS is the chosen encryption method.

    This check box is selected by default.

    UTF-8 Message Header Support

    Indicates whether the email server supports UTF-8 encoding in message headers; for example, in the recipient email address. Enable this option only if your email server supports this feature.

    With this option enabled, PingFederate supports UTF-8 characters in the sender and recipient email addresses. It does not support emojis in the domain portion of the email address.

    Username

    The username for the SMTP server.

    Password

    The password for the SMTP server.

    Test Address

    Enter an email address PingFederate should use to verify connectivity with the configured email server.

    Click Show Advanced Fields to review the following settings. Modify as needed.

    Connection Timeout

    The amount of time in seconds that PingFederate waits before it times out connecting to the SMTP server.

    The default value is 30.

    Enable SMTP Debugging Messages

    Turns on detailed error messages for the PingFederate server log to help troubleshoot SMTP issues.

    This setting is disabled by default. When enabled, PingFederate logs email messages, which can contain sensitive information, to the server log. Consider enabling debug messages solely for troubleshooting purposes and disabling this option when debug messages are no longer required.

  2. Click Next.

Next steps

You can modify email-notification template files to suit the particular branding requirements. For more information, see Customizable email notifications.