PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud

Email provider

PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud uses email provider configuration to support email-dependent end-user journeys. For example, registration and password reset end-user journeys usually include an email component.

By default, Advanced Identity Cloud configures the email provider with default values to connect to a built-in SMTP server. At the start of your onboarding process, this lets you quickly create and test email-dependent journeys using the ready-to-use email templates.

During onboarding, update the email provider configuration to use your own external email service to ensure reliable email delivery to end users.

Email provider configuration changes made in one realm are applied to both realms.

Built-in SMTP server

The built-in SMTP server is preconfigured in Advanced Identity Cloud and enabled by default in your tenant development and sandbox[1] environments.

The built-in SMTP server is for testing purposes only and has the following limitations:

  • Outbound email is rate-limited to 10 messages per minute.

  • All emails are sent from a standard address in the format noreply@<tenant-fqdn>, which overrides any sender address set in email templates or API calls. It provides consistent delivery and helps ensure messages are sent securely.

  • It doesn’t support OTP Email Sender nodes in password journeys.

  • It doesn’t support non-ASCII characters in email addresses.

In your staging, UAT[2], and production tenant environments, you must update the email provider configuration to use your own external email provider.

External email services

Advanced Identity Cloud supports the following external provider types:

Custom SMTP

Send emails through your own SMTP server or a third-party email service such as Amazon SES.

This provider type supports sending email to international email addresses.

Microsoft Graph

Send emails using the Microsoft Graph sendMail endpoint.

Prerequisite: Before configuring a Microsoft Graph email provider, configure a Microsoft Azure tenant and register an application with the required Microsoft Graph permissions. You’ll need the application client ID and client secret. Learn more in Configure a Microsoft Azure tenant for the Microsoft Graph email provider.

Both types can only be configured in mutable environments:

  • For testing, use the admin console or REST API to set literal values.

  • For promotion-compatible configuration, use the REST API to set ESV placeholders for most fields. The admin console supports ESV placeholders for the From Address field only.

International email addresses

To use international email addresses, you must:

Email provider configuration workflow

The high-level process to set up an email provider across your tenant environments is as follows:

  1. In your development environment:

    1. Create and test a journey that uses an email node. By default, the email provider uses the built-in SMTP server to test the email node.

    2. When you’re satisfied with your test results:

      1. Update the email provider configuration to use a custom SMTP provider or Microsoft Graph. Use the instructions to configure the provider using the admin console or the API.

      2. Verify that your email templates work with the external email service.

    3. When you’re satisfied that your external email provider is working correctly:

      1. Insert ESV placeholders into the email provider configuration to make it compatible with the promotion process.

      2. Restart Advanced Identity Cloud services.

      3. Verify that your email templates work with the updated ESV configuration.

  2. Determine the promotion order of your tenant environments. This will depend on whether you have a standard promotion group of environments or whether you also have additional UAT environments.

  3. In promotion order, for each of the tenant environments in your promotion group, perform the following steps:

    1. Create the same ESVs in the tenant environment as you created in step 1c. Ensure the ESV values are correct for the tenant environment.

    2. Run a promotion to move the configuration changes to the tenant environment from its respective lower tenant environment. Learn more in:

  4. (Optional) If you have sandbox[1] environments, repeat steps 1b and 1c for each sandbox environment.

Configure an external email provider

In your development or sandbox[1] tenant environments, configure the email provider to use your own external email service.

Find a complete list of API configuration options in Email provider configuration reference.

Test the email provider configuration

  1. In the Advanced Identity Cloud admin console, go to power Integrations > Email Provider.

  2. On the Email Provider page, click Send Test Email.

  3. In the Send test email modal, enter your own email address.

  4. Click Send.

    If the test is successful, a confirmation message appears in the admin console. Check the inbox of the email address you provided to verify delivery.

Delivery to the recipient inbox depends on your email service. For Microsoft Graph, a successful test might result in the email appearing in the Sent folder of the sending account without being delivered to the recipient inbox.