SMTP eMail setup #2

[N8N]

The thread I found - SMTP email setup - was closed, but I thought I might post this information if anyone finds it useful.

I have a 994i device, quite old, but quite faithful...

I am not a power user or anything, and am just now trying to set up the ability to email, after having this unit for a long time.

I attempted to set up a new email Group, but when I did, I was not prompted with the ability to create a new Recipient.

I figured that because my machine was so old, the "use default" function had been turned off, and I found some forum posts that supported this thought.

I then spent part of the afternoon setting up a new google account (only somehow managing to have google lock it for some unacceptable use policy (I've appealed and am waiting).

While I'm waiting for Google to unlock my new account so that I can use their SMTP server, I tried using the settings for my ISP as they offer IMAP and POP.  When I entered their server information and filled out the fields as recommended by Geddy in this thread,

I was actually able to create a recipient for my new group.

However, I was not successful in getting logged in to my ISP server.  I was getting errors like 50001 -15, with a timeout of 10000ms.

So I decided to try setting the "use default" checkbox, and a test message was immediately successful.

My problem was that I wasn't able to create a new email recipient unless I used a different smpt server, but once I was able to create a recipient I am able to use the "use default" SMTP server.

Seems this might be an alternative to using Google.

hth

Nathan

[gviliunas]

@N8N , Unfortunately the default server is UDI's server which, in the past had (Not sure if still true) a shared-by-all-of-us monthly limit for messages sent  and occasionally went off-line. The advice to use Google or other SMTP server under your control was an attempt to address this unreliability.

Now, with all the Google security changes, Google has also failed to work reliably. I think most of us have given-up on SMTP notification.

I think that the modern accepted and reliable approach is to use a notification service like PushOver.

 

[Geddy]

14 hours ago, N8N said:

I attempted to set up a new email Group, but when I did, I was not prompted with the ability to create a new Recipient.

I don't think anything "prompts" you to make a new recipient. You must click on "ADD" at the bottom of the screen. Once you click "Add" it will add a line in the "Group" box below the SMTP settings area. There you must type the "NAME" then click on the line to the right (under "Recipients". It will pop up this box:

Once you have that box you click on "Add" and it should give you a window in that box to type an email address.

(Box above for examples only. I used TAB after typing an example address in then click "Add" again to get another line to add another address.)

 

 

14 hours ago, N8N said:

I figured that because my machine was so old, the "use default" function had been turned off, and I found some forum posts that supported this thought.

In the ISY994 era there were issues with the UD Default Mail server. That was later fixed in firmware updates. If you don't use Z-wave or have Z-wave 500 series board then you should be on firmware 5.3.4 for ISY994. If you're using Z-wave 300 series then you should be on 5.0.16C (but I'm not 100% certain this was "fixed" to be able to use the default server). There were updates in the 5.x firmware to allow use of the UD Default server again. However, because it is "generic" and could be sending lots of email alerts there are reports of the default server being filtered at times. That is why it's suggested to use a 3rd party email system. Most often Gmail is the easiest method.

 

14 hours ago, N8N said:

I then spent part of the afternoon setting up a new google account (only somehow managing to have google lock it for some unacceptable use policy (I've appealed and am waiting).

If you followed the directions in the wiki to setup the Gmail user/password method it should work without fail. Not sure why/how Google locked your account, but wouldn't bother appealing it...unless it's your personal account, and that would be very crucial to get access back. But I would suggest setting up an ISY only account, but make sure you log into it within 4-6 months to keep it "active". Otherwise, Google will lock dormant/inactive accoutns.

https://wiki.universal-devices.com/ISY994:Configure_Mail_Server_Settings#Configuring_gmail_Account

 

14 hours ago, N8N said:

I was getting errors like 50001 -15, with a timeout of 10000ms.

That might mean you have bad credentials or are trying to access the server too much. 

But, seems like you got the default to work again. Just seems like you didn't have the process to add Recipients correct.

 

 

33 minutes ago, gviliunas said:

Now, with all the Google security changes, Google has also failed to work reliably. I think most of us have given-up on SMTP notification.

I have used Gmail to send alerts since day 1 of my using ISY (then ISY994). I've not had any issues with sending/receiving alerts through email using a Gmail account setup specifically for ISY alerts. Used it with ISY994, Polisy, and eisy. Works perfectly if you set it up as outlined in the wiki.

I agree, that many might have given up, and most that use Polisy or eisy have the great ability to get the Notification plugin and user UD Mobile or other apps for push alerts. 

[N8N]

hhmmm.

Thanks Guys for the education/feedback - I thought I was losing my mind because I was able to get a recipient added tonight, but now trying it again, I can replicate the problem....I click add at the bottom to create a new group, then I click in the recipients line (beside the new group name) and the dialogue box pops up to add eddresses.  Clicking add in that dialogue box does nothing, and clicking on the word "recipients" give me gives me an error of "invalid email address".  But...if after that dialogue box opens, I click delete first, then I can click add and I get a line under the word Recipients that I can type an eddress into.

This may all be extraneous information anyway because the more concerning thing is that when I check under help->about,  I get firmware v4.9.0.  Maybe the new version doesn't require the above trick.

I see internet access is disabled - I presume this is required for an update?  When I click enable internet access I get a failure message.

Do I click on the manually upgrade option under help?

I'd like to get that fixed up before too long.

[Geddy]

10 hours ago, N8N said:

I see internet access is disabled - I presume this is required for an update?  When I click enable internet access I get a failure message.

No, this should show disabled and is no longer a setting that means anything (IMO). I think it was something older ISY devices used. 
 

10 hours ago, N8N said:

Do I click on the manually upgrade option under help?

No, if you’re trying to update firmware make sure you meet the requirements for the version you are going to. Follow the install directions in the link I provided earlier. 

DO NOT UNZIP THE FILE YOU DOWNLOAD!

Since you are on 4.9 you should make a text backup of your programs (right click the “my programs” folder and the last option should be “copy folder to clipboard”. Paste that into a text editor (NOT a word processing app) - for Windows I suggest notepad. Save that file for reference in case any programs use “adjust scene” you will need to adjust those after the update. 

There were significant changes from 4.x to 5.x in scene setup to integrate z-wave so that usually breaks some programs that have “adjust scene” in it. Check the programs tab after updating and fix programs before doing anything else. If I recall looking at the summary tab might help too showing programs that might have issues. You might want to search (I’d suggest google site search) the forums for issues when updating from 4.x to 5.x related to programs being broken.