SCOM 2016 - Setting Up External Email Relay

There will come times when you need to use an external email relay service to send notifications from SCOM. If you are working with a smaller company that uses a third party mail service for example. This is also very helpful if you are building SCOM in a lab and want to use a personal email, like Gmail to test notifications.

There are a few things you will need before we begin:

• SMTP Username (usually your email address)
• SMTP Password
• SMTP server name* 
• SMTP port*

*I have added several common email providers to the end of this post that may help you out. If your provider isn't on the list please feel free to add it in the comments and I will update the list.

Create the Run As Account:
First thing we need to do is setup a Run As account. This will be used later for SMTP authentication. Go to Administration > Run As Configuration > Accounts and Create Run As Account. When the Create Run As Account Wizard starts Click Next

Set Run As account type to Simple Authentication. Display name should be easy to remember and recognize. Click Next

For Credentials you would enter the account name and password you use to log into your mail provider. Click Next

More Secure, Click Create

Click Close

Once it is created Right Click on it and select Properties. Go to the Distribution tab and Click Add

Under Options select Search by resource pool name and Click Search. Select Notification Resource Pool and Click Add. Click OK

You should see Notification Resource Pool in the list. Click Apply

Create Run As Profile:
Next thing we need to do is setup the Run As Profile. In Administration > Run As Configuration > Profiles select Create Run as Profile... Click Next

Give it a nice clear name, select or create a management pack and Click Next

For Run As Accounts Click Add

Choose the Run As account you just created and Click OK

All good, click Create

This isn't a Run As account we will be using internally so you can disregard this. Click Close

Create SMTP Channel:
Next  thing we need is to setup the SMTP Channel. In Administration > Notifications > Channels Select New > E-Mail (SMTP)... Give it a good clear name and Click Next

In Settings Click Add

In SMTP server (FQDN): enter the relay server information. Port number should be what was provided by your email service. Authentication method: External Email Authentication and Run as profile of external email account: should be the Run As account created earlier. Click OK

You should see the SMTP server in the list. Enter a return address and Click Next

Click Finish

From here you can setup the Subscribers and Subscriptions normally.

Next thing to do is to test it. Generate an alert and see if everything processes correctly. If it does that's great!

Now for Gmail (and probably others) there will be an additional step you need to do. After the alert was created and SCOM attempted to send the email Gmail will have blocked it. You probably got an email right after similar to this.

The wonderful people at Gmail are trying to protect your security and in doing so have blocked third party relay that is unrecognized. To allow this click the allowing access to less secure apps link.

Turn Allow less secure apps to On

Close the alerts you have in SCOM and you should start seeing the mail flow.

Common Mail Providers:
Here is a list of a few providers I found information for.

Google (Gmail):
Gmail SMTP Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
Gmail SMTP port: 587

Hotmail:
Hotmail SMTP Server Name: smtp.live.com
Hotmail SMTP port: 25

Yahoo:
Yahoo SMTP Server Name: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
Yahoo SMTP port: 587

Cox:
Cox SMTP Server Name: smtp.cox.net
Cox SMTP port: 587

Comcast:
Comcast SMTP Server Name: smtp.comcast.net
Comcast SMTP port: 587

Microsoft (O365):
O365 SMTP Server Name: smtp.office365.com
O365 SMTP port: 587


More to come!

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