3945: Option to bypass SMTP relay server - Composr CMS feature tracker

ID	Project	Category	View Status	Date Submitted	Last Update

3945	Composr	core	public	2019-11-07 20:10	2019-11-14 21:35

Reporter	Chris Graham	Assigned To	Guest
Priority	normal	Severity	feature
Status	new	Resolution	open

Summary	3945: Option to bypass SMTP relay server
Description	E-mail is implemented in a complicated way, more complicated and error prone than it needs to be for our situation. A mail client connects to an SMTP relay server (smarthost), and the message goes into that server's queue - and that server then connects to the recipient's SMTP server (or another relay, in a chain). That recipient server then puts it into a mailbox, which is typically accessed via webmail/POP3/IMAP. The reasons for the SMTP relay server are: 1) The recipient's SMTP server may be down, so it may need to go through a re-try/back-off algorithm. 2) The relay server implements a queue, levelling out load. 3) The mail client may be running on a residential connection, via an ISP that has to block direct use of SMTP (anything but a smarthost) to avoid their networks getting banned for spam-abuse. Half this complexity is unnecessary for Composr: 1/2) We already have a mail queue, so effectively we are X% of an SMTP server already (we need to have a queue as we cannot rely on our own SMTP relay being active or having low latency to send through it; ideally every web server would have it's own smarthost that relayed to the next smarthost, but that is not always the case due to configuration complexity). 3) Composr is likely not running on a residential connection. Yet, the complexity of using an SMTP relay means that: a) Said relay needs to be configured. Even if we have a local smarthost that relays to the next smarthost, that needs to be configured. b) Said relay's configuration may break down, and it is hard to know because Health Check emails won't get sent if SMTP is down. I am working with a client right now where regularly the SMTP password is changed and the Composr config needs to be matched to it. I would therefore propose a few improvements to Composr... a) If an e-mail won't send, make sure it is always (re-)queued. Currently I think it depends on context, an e-mail coded to bypass-queue will fail without ever going into the queue. b) Allow the SMTP configuration to be enabled, but with no configured relay. In this situation Composr will work as its own outgoing SMTP server, providing direct delivery. c) Implement a back-off algorithm into the mail queue. d) Implement SMTP message logging into the mail queue, and ability to view this in the Composr mail queue UI. i.e. Each queue item would get its own little embedded log file. e) Implement the ability to filter within the Composr mail queue UI, e.g. to mails that have had problems sending. Then an admin can choose to bulk-delete. f) If an SMTP auth to a configured relay server is failing, or PHP's mail command is failing, automatically fall back to direct sending.
Tags	Pseudo-addon: E-mail log
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Time estimation (hours)	16
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Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2019-11-07 20:10	Chris Graham	New Issue
2019-11-07 20:11	Chris Graham	Tag Attached: Pseudo-addon: E-mail log
2019-11-07 20:11	Chris Graham	Tag Attached: ocProducts client-work (likely)
2019-11-14 21:35	Chris Graham	Tag Detached: ocProducts client-work (likely)