DNN websites has built-in feature for email marketing based on SMTP.

And the mail functionality depends on the DNN SMTP settings. However, a small mistake during configuration can cause an error when sending mail.

At Bobcares, we often receive requests to fix DNN errors as part of our Server Management Services.

Today, let us discuss how we set up SMTP in DNN and how our Support Engineers resolve the error with DNN SMTP settings

What is DNN SMTP?

Let’s now have a brief check on the mail functionality of DNN. Normally many windows website owners prefer to use DNN  due to its in-built capability to message users, add multilingual content, etc.

DNN is an open-source content management system built using the .NET framework. DNN SMTP is used for messaging activity within DNN. In short, it’s the SMTP settings that allow you to configure your DotNetNuke website to be able to send email.

How we enable DNN SMTP settings?

We’ll now discuss how our Support Engineers setup DNN SMTP.

As the first step, we login to DNN using a host/super account. This is because, only the administrator user has permission to edit the DNN settings.

From the dashboard click on Settings and then click on Servers.

Now go to the Server Settings tab and then click on the SMTP server.

Now we select the SMTP server mode. Then we enter the SMTP Server and port.

If SMTP is using default port number 25 we give the entry as smtp.domain.com. If using custom port we give the entry as smtp.domain.com:587 as an example.

Then in SMTP authentication select as Basic. Now we enter the SMTP username and password.

Enable option “SMTP enable SSL” only when SMTP is using a secure connection. Otherwise, leave the option as turned OFF.

That’s it, we just enabled SMTP settings in DNN. At this point, it’s worth clicking on Test SMTP Settings button to confirm the connection to the SMTP server with the specified settings.

Common DNN SMTP settings errors and fixes

Though the steps look fairly self explanatory, email sending can face problems in DNN.

Recently, we had a customer who had problems with DNN SMTP settings. On analyzing the SMTP settings and the server, we found that the SMTP port was incorrect in settings.

Let us discuss the top problems and how our Support Engineers resolved the error.

1. Server name and port incorrect

The server name and the port number needs to be correct for the DNN SMTP to work properly. Therefore we always make sure to use the correct server name. The SMTP port can differ based on the port that is used to send mail. We verify the SMTP port from the server. Also make sure to use : between the server name and port number.

A sample entry would be smtp.domain.com:587

Username or password incorrect

Similarly, another common reason for the error can be misspelled username or password. Typo error is always frustrating. That’s why, we always double-check the mail address and password before entering the details in DNN.

[Still having problems sending mails via DNN? We can fix it right away.]

Conclusion

In short, proper DNN SMTP settings help to send mails easily. Today, we discussed how our DNN Experts configure SMTP in DNN and fix the common errors.