Setting up Email notifications

Email notifications are used to authenticate log-ins and to inform users when they have been authorized by an admin to use the system.

There are two alternative methods for email notification. Only one needs to be set up. The two methods are Amazon Web Services/Simple Email Service (AWS-SES) and client email (Nodemailer). The AWS-SES method requires you to have an AWS account. The Nodemailer method merely requires you to be able to allocate a client email address on your enterprise mail server.

How to set up Nodemailer

1. Allocate a new client account on your organization's email system (for example [email protected]). This is the From: account that notifications will be sent from.

2. Add the following keys to the Environment tab in the Render.com dashboard:

   NOTIFICATIONS_EMAIL - this is the From: address for all notifications, e.g. [email protected]

   NOTIFICATIONS_EMAIL_PW - this is the password for the From: address

   NODEMAILER_HOST - your organizational email system host, e.g. "smtp.omb.mystate.gov"

   NODEMAILER_PORT e.g. 465

How to set up AWS-SES

1. Allocate a new client account on your organization's email system (for example [email protected]). This is the From: account that notifications will be sent from.

2. Verify the email address of your new From: account with SES (Amazon documentation).

3. Generate the IAM credentials for sending email.

4. Submit an AWS customer support ticket to move the account out of SES Sandbox mode.

5. Submit a separate ticket to request a fixed IP address for SES.

6. White-list this IP address on your enterprise spam filter.

7. Once the AWS support tickets are resolved, add the following keys to the Environment tab of the Render.com dashboard:

   NOTIFICATIONS_EMAIL - this is the From: address for all notifications, e.g. [email protected]

   SES\_REGION

   AWS\_ACCESS\_KEY\_ID

   AWS\_SECRET\_ACCESS_KEY