Hi everyone,
First off, a huge thank you to this community and developers like @sahsanu. With your help, I’ve managed to fix several major issues on my server recently, including getting the File Manager and UI Database Downloads working perfectly, and securing the server much better! I’m learning a lot.
Now, I’m stuck on one last piece: getting Hestia’s system email alerts to send via an external SMTP relay. I’ve disabled local Exim/Dovecot and want Hestia to send notifications (like backup status, maldet
alerts if it uses the system mailer, etc.) through a third-party service.
Server Info:
- HestiaCP Version: 1.9.3
- Hestia Panel PHP Version: 8.3.17
- OS: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS
- Local Mail Server (Exim/Dovecot): Disabled.
The Problem:
I’ve tried configuring three different SMTP relay services using /usr/local/hestia/install/upgrade/manual/configure-server-smtp.sh, but in each case, test emails (e.g., triggered by sudo /usr/local/hestia/bin/v-backup-user admin) are not being sent. There’s no record of the email attempt in the SMTP provider’s “Sent” logs or activity dashboard, and the notification email is not received. Hestia’s own logs (/var/log/hestia/error.log, system.log, and /var/log/nginx/error.log for the panel) don’t show any specific SMTP connection or authentication errors during these attempts.
Services Tried & Steps Taken for Each (using mydomain.com
as example sending domain):
- Gmail (with App Password):
- 2-Step Verification enabled on Gmail account.
- Generated a 16-digit App Password.
- Configured Hestia SMTP with:
smtp.gmail.com
, port587
, securityTLS
, username (full Gmail address), App Password. Also tried port465
withSSL
. telnet smtp.gmail.com 587
(and465
) from server was successful.- Result: No email sent, nothing in Gmail “Sent” folder.
- Elastic Email (Free Tier):
- Signed up with account
[email protected]
. - Successfully authenticated sending domain
mydomain.com
(SPF, DKIM, verification code, DMARC all verified in their dashboard). - Obtained SMTP credentials: Host
smtp.elasticemail.com
, Port2525
, Username[email protected]
, API Key as password. - Configured Hestia SMTP with these details, using
TLS
security. telnet smtp.elasticemail.com 2525
from server was successful.- Result: No email sent, “0 Submitted” in Elastic Email activity log.
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue - Free Tier):
- Signed up.
- Successfully authenticated sending domain
mydomain.com
(SPF:include:brevo.com
, DKIM via CNAMEs, Brevo code, DMARC all verified in their dashboard). - Obtained SMTP credentials: Host
smtp-relay.brevo.com
, Port587
, Login[BREVO_SMTP_LOGIN]
, generated SMTP Key as password. - Configured Hestia SMTP with these details, using
TLS
security. telnet smtp-relay.brevo.com 587
from server was successful.- Result: No email sent, “Waiting for log” (no activity) in Brevo’s transactional dashboard.
Current Hestia SMTP Configuration (Example from Brevo attempt, but all failed similarly): (Output of sudo grep '^SERVER_SMTP' /usr/local/hestia/conf/hestia.conf
)
SERVER_SMTP_ADDR='[email protected]' # Or [email protected]
SERVER_SMTP_HOST='smtp-relay.brevo.com'
SERVER_SMTP_PASSWD='***************************' # Actual SMTP Key/Password
SERVER_SMTP_PORT='587'
SERVER_SMTP_SECURITY='TLS'
SERVER_SMTP_USER='[BREVO_SMTP_LOGIN]'
USE_SERVER_SMTP='true'
(Currently, I’ve set USE_SERVER_SMTP='false'
since it’s not working).
Question:
Given that direct SMTP port connectivity from the server is fine, and domain authentication with the providers is complete, why would Hestia be failing to send emails through these relays without logging any specific errors? Is there a known issue with the SMTP relay function in Hestia 1.9.3 or its interaction with PHP 8.3.17? Are there more detailed PHP mailer logs within Hestia I can check, or other diagnostics I can perform?
I’m really trying to get this last piece working so the server can send its own alerts. Any guidance or suggestions would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks so much,
Newbie (but learning!)