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Alteryx Designer Desktop Knowledge Base

Definitive answers from Designer Desktop experts.

Email SMTP Troubleshooting

MattD
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Created

The Email Tool is a tremendously useful shortcut when it comes time to disseminate your analyses and other results straight from your workflow. However, in order to do so, it must communicate using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is often restricted by IT infrastructure and firewalls to protect organizations from spam. As a result, many users excited to try the tool get the direct, yet demoralizing, error below (among others):


“SMTP Failed.”

smtp1.png

That’s why we’ve detailed in this article the steps you can take to investigate what, exactly, is giving you trouble:


Manually-entered SMTP server

  • First make sure a colon and port number are appended to the server name:

smtpwhoops.png

  • Does this SMTP server use SSL/TLS or require username/password authentication?

Unless the SMTP server uses windows authentication you won’t be able to use the Email Tool, as SSL and TLS are not yet supported through the tool. You can, however, look into other approaches to sending emails inthe Designer that can accommodate those requirements.

  • If not, do you have the required ports open in your network firewall? You can check with your IT team for port numbers and statuses, but the default ports you can check yourself are usually 25, 445, 465, 587, and 993:

You can check to see if a server and port are open using the Telnet utility; if you have Telnet installed, open the command prompt and simply type telnet.

smtp2.png

smtp3.png

If you do not see the second prompt above then you’ll have to install a Telnet/SSH third party client like PuTTY.

From either the Telnet prompt or client, you can open a connection to the server and port to test:


In Telnet, connect to the server and port using the command below.

smtp4.png

In PuTTY, opening the port will look like the following.

smtp5.png

Either approach will then send you to the following prompt.

smtp6.png

Then use these commands ( is the enter key) to send a test email that, if received, will indicate that your port is open.


HELO
mail from:
rcpt to:
dataCRLF>
subject:


.


To send the email, you must end the body by hitting the enter key (), then period, then enter again (please note that after specifying your subject you must also press the enter key twice – not doing may neglect the message body argument). The test should look something like the below:

smtp7.png

smtp8.png

If the email sends and the mail to address confirms receipt, then your port is open. Otherwise, you should receive an error that should help your IT team diagnose why the traffic is being blocked.


Use the steps above to determine likely causes for the error and you’ll be able to take steps to get the Email Tool unrestricted in your network. Once that happens, bid adieu to whatever repetitious emails you might have to send in the future!

smtp9.jpg

Comments
Tbrown9
5 - Atom

Is there any reason why the e-mail tool is sending the same e-mail over and over again?  I set up according to your example and got 465 of the same e-mail before I stopped the workflow.

 

It was trying to send me a file with 2548 records in it.  Was it sending it once for each record?

 

Sanitized Tool AnnotationsSanitized Tool Annotations

lepome
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Tbrown9 

 

Yes, by design, the email tool sends one email for each record it receives.  Although that might be counter-intuitive, it is literally stated in the very first line of the Help for that tool.

gkakarlapudi
Alteryx
Alteryx

Hey everyone,

 

For those of you following this thread, as of the 2019.3 version of Alteryx Designer we have authentication functionality within the Email Tool. Users can now enter their credentials (username & password), select an encryption method, and connect to the appropriate port number.

 

 

alison
7 - Meteor

Help. My email tool is working but randomly rejects some (internal) email addresses. I have the thought that perhaps Alteryx is trying to validate against a different address book that doesn't  include these addresses. I might be grasping at straws. Can you give me any insight to this process so we can try to troubleshoot?

 

Jes
8 - Asteroid

I was able to connect and send an email via Telnet , however when using the same details to send via Alteryx, I am getting an 'Unable to connect to server' error.

I've tried appending and excluding the port number to the SMTP server details, both are not working.

My IT department is asking if Alteryx has a server number that they need to allow connection to..any ideas?

 

JH0123_0-1612197429014.png

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salbol1
8 - Asteroid

@Jes -

 

This is obviously well after the fact, but normal smtp traffic flows over port 25, whereas you've selected an SSL technology that is also normally accompanied with an authentication step against the AD services within your company. I wouldn't select an encryption methodology and force that traffic over port 25, that is likely the issue in your setup.

When you select an authentication method, you are also normally enforcing an smtp validation against your companies AD services, which is normally your username/password to obtain authentication to your network:

salbol1_0-1662586105402.png