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unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

didsi01

didsi01Aug 16, 2018 08:02 AM

  • 1.  unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 16, 2018 04:27 AM

    i'm trying to configure external smtp server to be used in our on prem portal according to documentation at: Configure and Use External Mail Server - CA API Developer Portal - 4.2 - CA Technologies Documentation 

    however, seems like there is no option in portal tenant settings Settings for "Email Settings". This is wrong or needs to be updated in documentation. (i'm using version 4.2.7.7)

    it seems like currently the latest update is for Version 4.2.7.8 shall i update to this minor update to have the "email settings" available ? this is not clear at all from documentation. 

    will appreciate your help. 

     

    thanks

    #portal4.2

     



  • 2.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 16, 2018 04:34 AM

    I am not quite sure if this answers your question - since it was setup not just for one tenant - but posting it just in case: 

     

    Unable to send Emails - CA Knowledge 

     

    Cheers - Mark



  • 3.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 16, 2018 10:15 AM

    thanks mark, unfortunately i still need to configure it per tenant.

    specially since currently the built in smtp docker container is not working for me.



  • 4.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Posted Aug 16, 2018 05:33 AM

    Hi,

     

    I have already upgraded to 4.2.7.8 and the option is not available, as mentioned in the comments section of the documentation

     

    It seems this second "Configure SMTP at the Tenant-level" is only available in SaaS Portal or On-prem past version 4.2.8



  • 5.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 16, 2018 07:24 AM

    does 4.2.8 version available ?

    I could not find it in the patches url at

    https://support.ca.com/us/product-content/recommended-reading/technical-document-index/ca-api-developer-portal-solutions-and-patches.html

    the highest version is 4.2.7.8



  • 6.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 16, 2018 07:24 AM

    does 4.2.8 version available ?

    I could not find it in the patches url at

    https://support.ca.com/us/product-content/recommended-reading/technical-document-index/ca-api-developer-portal-solutions-and-patches.html

    the highest version is 4.2.7.8



  • 7.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Posted Aug 16, 2018 08:02 AM

    its not released yet



  • 8.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Posted Aug 16, 2018 01:21 PM

    Hi Ido,

     

    Unfortunately it appears this was caused by some pre-released documentation details on that page, as that feature is not yet available in any current releases of the Portal. This should, however, be introduced soon (no ETA yet though) when 4.2.8 is released. Of course, these things can change, but according to our systems internally that feature is committed to 4.2.8 already. It also currently exists in SaaS Portal, but that is a different set of documentation (which I think is where this came to exist in on-prem documentation prematurely as a lot of code is shared between the two distributions).

     

    Sorry for the confusion this has caused. I have reached out to our DocOps manager today to notify him of this being raised previously but not yet pulled from the docs, so this should be corrected soon and then released again when 4.2.8 is released publicly.



  • 9.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 16, 2018 02:05 PM

    NP, thanks for clarifying.

    so basically the bottom line is that currently I cannot use external smtp server in on prem portal ?

    If so I will try for now to get the default portal smtp mail docker container to work. so far I could not manage to get it to work.



  • 10.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Posted Aug 16, 2018 03:21 PM

    Oh, no you absolutely can use an external SMTP server with Portal. You'll just need to instead follow the steps under "Configure SMTP at Portal level" instead of the "Configure SMTP at the Tenant-level" section.

     

    Does the above make sense?



  • 11.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 16, 2018 03:44 PM

    oh ok, I already configured it at portal level initially , but it does not seem to work. this is why tried the other option of tenant level.

    any recommendations how can I troubleshoot the portal level configuration ?



  • 12.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Posted Aug 16, 2018 04:01 PM

    Hi Ido,

     

    That's unfortunate, sorry to hear that. Well, the first question I have is... Do you receive or see any errors when email is trying to be sent from the Portal?

     

    Secondly, how is your SMTP settings configured on the Portal side so far? Have you validated those are correct with your SMTP server admin too? Sometimes validating those details with a mail server admin can be helpful, as they can often either find a problem (even as simple as a typo, for example) or assist in troubleshooting too.

     

    Lastly, are you sure all of your Portal containers are functioning and operational?

     

    Ultimately, we really need to know the error being thrown, as that will be the most effective to any CA Support team members (such as myself) for troubleshooting with, if the issue is on the Portal side of things.



  • 13.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 17, 2018 08:43 AM

    Hi Dustin,

    when using the pre defined default smtp mail server I get the following errors in the portal_smtp container:

     07976A5A27: to=<ido.neamani@contractor.ca.com>, relay=none, delay=126439, delays=126377/0.01/62/0, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to mxb-001c7801.gslb.pphosted.com[148.163.158.172]:25: Operation timed out)

     

    as for your second question, I am trying to use gmail smtp server with ssl. 

    I followed the docops instructions and added the following entries to the portal.conf file:

     

    PORTAL_SMTP_HOST="smtp.gmail.com"
    PORTAL_SMTP_PORT="465"
    PORTAL_SMTP_USERNAME="*****"
    PORTAL_SMTP_PASSWORD="*****"
    PORTAL_SMTP_SSL_CERT=/home/portal/gmail.crt

     

    yet, after configuring it, when I perform sign up process for user, I don't see any incoming message with mail notification.

    in addition, I don't know where are the logs related to this external mail server for troubleshooting .

     

    Thanks,



  • 14.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Posted Aug 20, 2018 05:35 PM

    Hi Ido,

     

    I apologize, as I just realized you are a CA employee. If you are on the CA network while testing, we actually have issues running the SMTP service or sending emails out to the CA SMTP server, due to the way our network is configured (it seems). This tech tip may assist you though as it relates to the network and how it would not work on our CA corporate network: https://communities.ca.com/thread/241812842-tech-note-api-portal-42-use-of-internal-subnets-10000-and-10010

     



  • 15.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 27, 2018 02:20 AM

    Hi Ido,

    The modern mail server has limitation on SMTP relay. CA mail server will block any mail send from portal.

    Gmail account should work, but for the first few emails, you may need to find them in spam folder.

     

    Regards,

    Mark



  • 16.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 27, 2018 06:51 AM

    Dustin / Zhijun,

    the portal was installed in an internal vlan (10.64.7.x) not related / connected to CA network at all. so i'm not sure the tech tip you specified above will be relevant.

     

    since i saw that email notification was not working (using the built in default smtp container). afterwards i tried to configure external smtp server (gmail smtp 25) but unfortunately it is blocked by our firewall. when I tried to use it with ssl port It was not working.


    now, when i try to revert back to original setting of using the built in smtp container (i removed external smtp server entry lines from portal.conf file) , it seems like the portal is still using the external smtp server configuration to send email notifications.

    I need your help please with the following :
    1. revert back to oroginal standard built in smtp container
    2. check why originally email notifications are not sent using the built in smtp container

     

    I already opened a support case on that but perhaps you can assist quickly.

     

    THanks,



  • 17.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Posted Aug 27, 2018 01:23 PM

    Hi Ido,

     

    I wouldn't want to duplicate efforts, so it may be best to wait on the support case resolution in this case. But I wanted to point out that the tech note was not specific to the CA network, it was for anything on a 10.0.1.x network (in that example provided, anyways), and as you specified yours was 10.64.7.x, I think that tech note may still be relevant to you. If you haven't already done so, please review the tech note to confirm if this applies to your environment. Also, if your Portal is now using an external SMTP server and you can't seem to switch it back, I presume this would have to do with the way you're starting your Portal after making critical system changes like that. You may want to review the following documentation to to properly restart the Portal creation: Troubleshoot the Installation - CA API Developer Portal - 4.2 - CA Technologies Documentation 

    most importantly, I want to point out the following command: 

    docker stack rm portal

    Also be sure to note this community post and it's efforts in your support case so that the Support Engineer can reach out to me as well to tag team the case if needed. Once the support case is resolved, we will need to make sure we come back to this thread to provide the conclusion.

     

    Thank you.



  • 18.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 27, 2018 03:27 PM

    NP, i will continue it with the support team.

    note that I also used this command "docker stack rm portal" as well but still seems like it's still using previous configuration of external gmail smtp server.



  • 19.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2

    Posted Aug 31, 2018 06:48 PM

    Hi Ido,

     

    I just came across this KB article, which may be of assistance: How to identify if CA API Portal 4.2 internal SMTP - CA Knowledge 



  • 20.  Re: unable to configure external mail server in developer portal 4.2
    Best Answer

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Sep 02, 2018 05:03 AM

    i have managed to resolve the issue and modify the portal.conf parameters to take effect.
    i updated portal conf file to be used first with our org smtp server as followed :

    PORTAL_DOMAIN=local.poc
    PORTAL_LICENSE_FILENAME=/home/portal/gw_license.xml
    PORTAL_ENROLL_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL=ido.neamani@contractor.ca.com
    PORTAL_ENABLE_ANALYTICS=n
    PORTAL_SMTP_HOST=10.1.20.168
    PORTAL_SMTP_PORT=25

    then, i just executed the following command as u suggested: "docker stack rm portal"
    and the ./portal.sh deployment script
    and now it's working.

    i will check later if it works as well with smtp server with ssl.