outbound website emails

nhybgtvfr

out of interest, how is everyone handling outbound emails from wordpress websites and getting them past dkim / spf checks?

just wondering if i'm using the best method.. obviously using a plugin with smtp configured is the preferred choice, but a lot of clients just won't do that, so leave wordpress to submit mail to the phpmailer..

specific scenario:
multiple enhance webservers, none with the email role applied to them. dedicated server with the email role.

do you enable server hostname? just configure the helo name? let them send out directly? configure them to relay through the dedicated email server?

rdbf

nhybgtvfr out of interest, how is everyone handling outbound emails from wordpress websites and getting them past dkim / spf checks?

Rewrite all generic "username1"@"hostname" emails to "wordpress@customerdomain.com", have DNS templating with correct spf record in the Enhance settings, use smarthost in Enhance settings. No setup required for any client, automatically can send emails without plugins.

Steamon

I first used spamexperts as a smarthost per domain and manually editing the files.

But most likely switching to Jetemail soon due server wide smarthost and automation using the enhance smarthost config and only spf change needed per domain you can put into the template you use the enhance dkim with a domain.

You can configure a smarthost per server if you want.

Server hostname you always configure.

I do use a smtp user on wordpress almost always but Jetemail also has a wordpress plugin.

If the php e-mail goes directly over the smarthost not tested yet.

There are more smarthosts like mail baby and mailchannels.

I am just telling what I am doing in my situation 😉

MarkD

We push all outbound email through mail baby.

nzadam

I install Fluent SMTP, tell it to use the PHP local mailer, make sure the From address matches the website domain, and configure the domain correctly for SPF, DKIM, DMARC. Seems to work fine.

nhybgtvfr

nzadam

do you have the email role installed on the webserver?
if not, how are you getting the outbound emails dkim signed?

i've just tried that fluent smtp plugin, and submitting mail via php is working fine,
it gets sent, is arc signed, and spf is validated, but looking at the headers of the received mail, there's no sign of it being dkim signed. (dkim is configured)

so it is all ok unless the recipients mailserver insists on both spf and dkim passes.

jwaibel

nhybgtvfr
proper spf, dkim, dmarc setup is a must now that all major email providers raise the requirments step by step.
This settings are not a nice to have feature, they are needed to not end in a spam inbox or if you not want to have your email dropped totaly. Also a valid matching ptr record is important more and more

tecreasey

rdbf how are you rewriting the generic email address?

rdbf

PaulN We wrote this some time back

That's with a plugin. And which customer would want to follow dozens of steps to get wordpress to send emails?

tecreasey how are you rewriting the generic email address?

Made a script that watches /var/www/, extracts UUID's, retrieves the primary domain for that UUID via the API and then modifies /etc/postfix/main.cf and /etc/postfix/sender_canonical to do the rewriting automatically.

PaulN

We wrote this some time back

https://pacwebhosting.uk/useful-information/emails-sent-from-wordpress-not-being-received/

Needs updating so read Brevo where it says Send In Blue and you're good to go and works a treat.

PaulN

rdbf

The only answer I can come up with is one that wants their emails to be delivered!

If they care to get them delivered then they will do it, if they don't they won't

rdbf

PaulN one that wants their emails to be delivered!

Customer: My site said that the password reset link was sent to me, but it never arrived. I can't get into my site!
Helpdesk: Yup, that's because you didn't follow our 39-step guide to make email work. Apparently you didn't care about your email being delivered. Good luck!

PaulN If they care to get them delivered then they will do it

👍️

PaulN

rdbf

I mean we would put it in a proper manner and explain why and what they could do about it but you can talk to your customers in any manner you like.

wouta

I ran into the same issue when looking at SpamExperts with Enhance.

A server-wide smarthost is obviously the simplest option when every domain can use the same outbound route, but it becomes more interesting when you want to manage this per domain and avoid manually maintaining Postfix configuration.

I'm currently developing and testing an Enhance-focused solution that automates this on a per-domain basis, including the provisioning/lifecycle side, rather than just setting one global smarthost.

It's still under active development and testing, but the goal is that adding, changing or removing a domain doesn't require manual Postfix or SpamExperts work.

I'd be interested to know if others here are running mixed setups where some domains use a relay/filtering service and others don't.