SMTP

Overview

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the industry standard for sending email over a TCP/IP network. Turbo360 provides an SMTP notification channel that delivers alert notifications to configured email recipients, supporting direct email, CC, and BCC addressing as well as dynamic sender lists across modules.

Business value

SMTP is the most universally compatible notification channel. Configuring an SMTP channel in Turbo360 ensures that alert notifications reach recipients through standard email, without requiring any third-party service integration.

Prerequisites

• A valid SMTP server accessible from Turbo360 (or a Gmail account if using Gmail SMTP).
• Sender and recipient email addresses.
• If using Gmail: two-step verification enabled on the Google account and an app password generated for Turbo360.

Required permissions

No special permissions are required within Turbo360. The SMTP server or email account must allow outbound relay from the Turbo360 application.

Dependencies

• Turbo360 must have outbound connectivity to your SMTP server over the configured port.

How it works

Turbo360 sends alert notifications via email using SMTP. You configure the sender address, recipient addresses, and optional CC/BCC addresses. When an alert condition is met, Turbo360 sends an email to all configured recipients. Turbo360 also supports a dynamic senders list, allowing multiple To addresses to be configured per module using semicolon-separated values.

For Gmail accounts, Google requires an app-specific password rather than your regular account password. The Gmail authentication section below covers how to generate one.

Steps

Use the following steps to configure an SMTP notification channel. Navigate to Settings > Notification channels and select SMTP to get started.

Configure the SMTP channel

Configuring the SMTP channel sets up the sender, recipient, and optional CC/BCC addresses Turbo360 uses to deliver alert notifications.

1. Enter a Friendly name to identify this channel in the Turbo360 application.
2. Enter the recipient's email address in the Email to field.

3. Enter the sender's email address in the Email from field.
4. Optionally, enter email addresses in the CC and BCC fields.
5. Click Validate. Turbo360 sends a test notification to all addresses in the Email to, CC, and BCC fields to verify the configuration.
6. After successful validation, click Save to complete the setup.

Dynamic senders

Turbo360 supports configuring multiple To addresses using a semicolon-separated list, providing a senders list for SMTP setup across modules.

Authenticate SMTP for Gmail

Gmail requires additional authentication when used as an SMTP source. Follow these steps to generate an app password for Turbo360:

1. Sign in to your Gmail account.
2. Click your profile photo and select My Account.
3. On the My Account page, go to the Sign-in & Security tab and enable Two-Step Verification.
4. Click Get Started. Gmail will guide you through the login confirmation page.
5. Enter your phone number to receive a verification code. Enter the code and select Next to turn on two-step verification.
6. Return to the Sign-in & Security page and select App Passwords.
7. On the Login tab, enter your password. Gmail will send a 6-digit verification code to your phone.
8. Enter the code and click Next.
9. On the App Passwords tab, enter Turbo360 as the app name and click Generate.
10. Copy the generated app password and use it as the SMTP password in the Turbo360 portal.

Configuration

Permission behavior

With access: Turbo360 can send email notifications to all configured To, CC, and BCC addresses. Test emails can be sent using the Validate action.

Without access: If the SMTP server rejects the connection or the sender address is not authorized, validation will fail. For Gmail, ensure the app password is used instead of the regular account password.

Example scenario

Your operations team needs email alerts for all Cost Analyzer budget breaches. You configure an SMTP channel in Turbo360 with alerts@yourcompany.com as the sender and ops-team@yourcompany.com;manager@yourcompany.com in the Email to field. When a budget threshold is exceeded, both addresses receive the notification simultaneously.

Limitations

• Multiple recipients must be separated by semicolons. There is no UI-based recipient list management.
• Gmail requires an app-specific password. Using a regular Google account password will fail if two-step verification is enabled.
• Turbo360 does not support OAuth-based SMTP authentication (e.g. modern auth for Gmail or Office 365).
• BCC recipients receive the test validation email but are not visible to other recipients.

Troubleshooting

1. Validation fails and no email is received
   Cause: The SMTP server details are incorrect, the server is unreachable, or the sender address is not authorized to relay through the SMTP server.
   Fix: Verify the SMTP server hostname, port, and sender credentials. For Gmail, confirm you are using the app password, not your regular account password.

2. Gmail SMTP validation fails with an authentication error
   Cause: Two-step verification is not enabled on the Gmail account, or the app password has not been generated.
   Fix: Enable two-step verification in your Google account and generate an app password for Turbo360 following the steps in the Gmail authentication section above.

3. Alerts fire in Turbo360 but no email is received
   Cause: The notification channel is not linked to an alert rule or escalation policy, or the channel was not saved.
   Fix: Confirm the channel is saved and verify the relevant alert rule or escalation policy references this SMTP channel.

4. Only some recipients receive the notification email
   Cause: One or more email addresses in the Email to field are formatted incorrectly, or a recipient's mail server is blocking the message.
   Fix: Verify all addresses are separated by semicolons with no spaces. Check recipient mail server spam or block policies.

5. Test email is received but production alerts are not sent
   Cause: The SMTP server has rate limiting or the alert rule is not correctly linked to this channel.
   Fix: Confirm the alert rule references this SMTP channel. Check SMTP server send rate limits if high-volume alerting is expected.

FAQs

1. How many recipients can I configure in the Email to field?
   There are no restrictions on the number of recipients in the Email to field.

2. Can I use different SMTP channels for different alert rules?
   Yes. You can create multiple SMTP notification channels, each with different recipients or sender addresses, and assign them to different alert rules or escalation policies.

Related articles

• Email templates