Using the Amazon SES SMTP interface to send email
To send production email through Amazon SES, you can use the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) interface or the Amazon SES API. For more information about the Amazon SES API, see Using the Amazon SES API to send email. This section describes the SMTP interface.
Amazon SES sends email using SMTP, which is the most common email protocol on the internet. You can send email through Amazon SES by using a variety of SMTP-enabled programming languages and software to connect to the Amazon SES SMTP interface. This section explains how to get your Amazon SES SMTP credentials, how to send email by using the SMTP interface, and how to configure several pieces of software and mail servers to use Amazon SES for email sending.
For solutions to common problems that you might encounter when you use Amazon SES through its SMTP interface, see Amazon SES SMTP issues.
Requirements to send email over SMTP
To send email using the Amazon SES SMTP interface, you need the following:
-
The SMTP endpoint address. For a list of Amazon SES SMTP endpoints, see Connecting to an Amazon SES SMTP endpoint.
-
The SMTP interface port number. The port number varies with the connection method. For more information, see Connecting to an Amazon SES SMTP endpoint.
-
An SMTP user name and password. SMTP credentials are unique to each AWS Region. If you plan to use the SMTP interface to send email in multiple AWS Regions, you need SMTP credentials for each Region.
Important
Your SMTP credentials aren't identical to your AWS access keys or the credentials that you use to sign in to the Amazon SES console. For information about how to generate your SMTP credentials, see Obtaining Amazon SES SMTP credentials.
-
Client software that can communicate using Transport Layer Security (TLS). For more information, see Connecting to an Amazon SES SMTP endpoint.
-
An email address that you've verified with Amazon SES. For more information, see Verified identities in Amazon SES.
-
Increased sending quotas, if you want to send large quantities of email. For more information, see Managing your Amazon SES sending limits.
Methods to send email over SMTP
You can send email over SMTP through any of the following methods:
-
To configure SMTP-enabled software to send email through the Amazon SES SMTP interface, see Sending email through Amazon SES using software packages.
-
To program an application to send email through Amazon SES, see Sending emails programmatically through the Amazon SES SMTP interface.
-
To configure your existing email server to send all of your outgoing mail through Amazon SES, see Integrating Amazon SES with your existing email server.
-
To interact with the Amazon SES SMTP interface using the command line, which can be useful for testing, see Testing your connection to the Amazon SES SMTP interface using the command line.
For a list of SMTP response codes, see SMTP response codes returned by Amazon SES.
Email information to provide
When you access Amazon SES through the SMTP interface, your SMTP client application assembles the message, so the information you need to provide depends on the application that you're using. At a minimum, the SMTP exchange between a client and a server requires the following:
-
a source address
-
a destination address
-
message data
If you're using the SMTP interface and have feedback forwarding enabled, then your bounces, complaints, and delivery notifications are sent to the "MAIL FROM" address. Any "Reply-To" address that you specify isn't used.
