DBMail fails to send email to Group Account

  • We've installed database mail for two SQL Server 2008 instances. We have job notifications failures and database alerts going out to a group email account. Installation is fine.

    We now installed database mail on a few more 2008 instances - test emails will not send the same group account. Individual accounts test fine. I tried stopping and starting dbmail - no difference. What am I missing?

    When I test send to the group account via outlook - there are no issues. The group

    account is not the issue.

    Mail Log: The mail could not be sent to the recipients because of the mail server failure. (Sending Mail using Account 1 (2013-03-14T11:04:21).

    Exception Message: Cannot send mails to mail server. (A recipient must be specified.).)

    It almost sounds that DBMail install failed except that it will send to indiviual user emails. Does the group account need permission for each SQL Server instance?

    Any comments / URLs would be appreciated...thanks.

  • sp_send_dbmail can only send to an address that conforms to an actual email address format, ie mygroup@mydomain.com; you cannot send to just "MyGroup"

    a group account is handled special by an exchange server; it is optional to expose the group to external resources outside of the domain, so you have to get the mail admin to map mygroup@mydomain.com; to your group; when the exchange mail server receives the email, it will process it and duplicate the email out to each of the real members of the group.

    get with your Exchange admin to create that or to make sure you know the mapped email for it.

    it's optional specifically because it would be too easy to get spam from outside world with a staff@mycompany.com going out to everyone, for example.

    Lowell


    --help us help you! If you post a question, make sure you include a CREATE TABLE... statement and INSERT INTO... statement into that table to give the volunteers here representative data. with your description of the problem, we can provide a tested, verifiable solution to your question! asking the question the right way gets you a tested answer the fastest way possible!

  • Lowell,

    Thanks for responding. I should have clarified that in my posting - the email account has the full domain. And the mapping you mentioned was done. I did some more digging and at least for now I have an intermin solution.

    I changed the SMTP authentication from anonymous to Basic, entered the credentials for the account, bounced the SQL agent and sent a test email to the group account. It worked. I do need to speak with our exchange administrator because anonymous does work for one of our 2008 instances.

    You were spot on with your comments about the group account requirements.

    Thank you for responding.

  • jralston88 (3/14/2013)


    Lowell,

    Thanks for responding. I should have clarified that in my posting - the email account has the full domain. And the mapping you mentioned was done. I did some more digging and at least for now I have an intermin solution.

    I changed the SMTP authentication from anonymous to Basic, entered the credentials for the account, bounced the SQL agent and sent a test email to the group account. It worked. I do need to speak with our exchange administrator because anonymous does work for one of our 2008 instances.

    You were spot on with your comments about the group account requirements.

    Thank you for responding.

    ahh yes anonymous authentication is usually only allowed for machines on the same LAN as the exchange server, or machines/ip addresses that have been explicitly put on a white list of allowed servers; ;

    like you identified, that should be a quick fix for your mail admin. I missed that when i read your post, sorry, i would have mentioned that possibility too.

    Lowell


    --help us help you! If you post a question, make sure you include a CREATE TABLE... statement and INSERT INTO... statement into that table to give the volunteers here representative data. with your description of the problem, we can provide a tested, verifiable solution to your question! asking the question the right way gets you a tested answer the fastest way possible!

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply