Question

External SMPT installation/configureation

Posted on November 21, 2022
Email Networking
Asked by John Berg

Good day! I know that Digital Ocean recommends to use external email services and I want to know how to do it properly. I want to know how to implement my proton account into my droplet - (Linux based server,Ubuntu 20.04) in order to get external SMTP server. I try to put SMTP credentials for CMS on the Linux server that I get from ProtonMailBridge on my computer (Windows 10) but it doesn’t work. I entered SMTP hostname (both 127.0.0.1 and mail.protonmail.ch), port, username, password) but got fsockopen(): unable to connect to … As far as I understand I need to install ProtonMailBridge on Linux server, then log in my account on this server, get SMTP credentials and then enter them on CMS as I truly get proton SMTP server on the Linux server. Could you explain me if my guess is right? Thanks in advance.

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KFSys

Site Moderator

• November 22, 2022

Accepted Answer

Hi @johnberg,

I’ve not actually used ProtonMail before however and it seems Sergio has already explained how to configure it. What I’ll say additionally, is to use an external Mail service, you’ll need to point your MX record to them, that would be the first and most important change to do.

Once your MX is pointed to them, you’ll be able to receive messages on their platform.

Sergio Turpín • November 21, 2022

Hi @johnberg,

Proton Mail Bridge is a desktop application that runs in the background, encrypting and decrypting messages as they enter and leave your computer. It lets you add your Proton Mail account to your favorite email client via IMAP/SMTP by creating a local email server on your computer.

With this ProtonMail email configuration, you can access your ProtonMail account from any desktop or mobile app that supports SMTP.

ProtonMail SMTP Settings

SMTP Host: 127.0.0.1
SMTP Port: 1025 TLS
SMTP Username: Your full email address (name@domain.com)

ProtonMail IMAP settings

IMAP Host: 127.0.0.1
IMAP Port: 1143 TLS
Requires SSL: no
IMAP Username: Your full email address (name@domain.com)
IMAP Password: Passwords get automatically generated from the Bridge. Do not use your Login or Mailbox password.

Hope that helps you,

Sergio Turpín

HappyGrayLobster • November 22, 2022

msmtp with msmtp.service is the easy way to connect your droplet to an external SMTP server.