Bitnami Canvas image - Sending email notifications isn't working

[Eric Harvey]

The info below is from my original issue posted to canvas-lms here: https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms/issues/2265

I'm now here, asking for help, under their advisement. Anyone with similar issues, what I should attempt next?

-------

I'm currently using the AWS Bitnami image (Ubuntu 20.04) for deploying Canvas and they (Bitnami) are referring folks back to canvas-lms for help. I'm having a good experience with this so far (fixed issues with SSL, LTI, SIS Imports, and RCE API), but emails are still not sending.

I'm using Brevo for my SMTP relay and everything is good when testing against that account from the server command line:

curl --ssl --url 'smtps://smtp-relay.sendinblue.com:465' --mail-from mytest...@gmailaddr.com / --mail-rcpt mye...@gmailaddr.com --upload-file email.txt --user '{brevo-user}:{brevo-password}'

... so I know I've got a clear path to the SMTP server.

Steps to reproduce:

1 ) Change the outgoing_mail.yml to the desired config and restart services:

production: address: "smtp-relay.sendinblue.com" port: "465" enable_starttls_auto: false ssl: true user_name: "{brevo-user}" password: "{brevo-password}" authentication: "login" # plain, login, or cram_md5 domain: "sendinblue.com" outgoing_address: "{my outgoing email}" default_name: "Instructure Canvas"

2. I've tried authentication using plain, login, and cram_md5 and I'm ASSUMING it should be login.
3. I also do not understand what is expected in domain. There's no good explanation in your docs other than "Canvas needs it".
4. I've tried all methods of setting ssl to true and false, as well as enable_starttls_auto - both true and false.
5. I'm able to observe the email attempt in the /log/delayed_job.log
6. The admin-level feature flags for all accounts are set to "Allow the ability to send notifications through our dispatch queue".
7. Followed Bitnami initially but didn't work: https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/apps/canvaslms/configuration/configure-smtp/
8. Attempted Bitnami's troubleshooting for SMTP: https://docs.bitnami.com/general/how-to/troubleshoot-smtp-issues/

Expected behavior:

Notification emails to be sent from Canvas LMS.

Actual behavior:

All actions happen and nothing is sent.

[Nicolas Lopez]

Hi ERic, the main issue seems to be that you have to put that setting "Use remote service for notifications" DISABLED, even if it sounds like it should be enabled.

Apart from it, some time ago we used Brevo without issues, and the config had the following differences with yours:

- port 578 (as per Brevo configuration shown in https://app.brevo.com/settings/keys/smtp)

- authentication "plain"
- "enable_starttls_auto:" and "ssl:" lines were not present (try commenting it)

- domain was the same as in outgoing_address, the domain that you have validated in Brevo.

Nico

[Nicolas Lopez]

Hi Eric, please can you share if it worked? It might be useful for others in this group.

[Nicolás López - Aulanexo]

If you changed the “Use remote service for notifications” to disabled, modified the config, and restarted the delayed jobs, I don´t know what could be the reason.

 

 

De: canvas-l...@googlegroups.com <canvas-l...@googlegroups.com> En nombre de Eric Harvey
Enviado el: jueves, 9 de noviembre de 2023 14:11
Para: Canvas LMS Users <canvas-l...@googlegroups.com>
Asunto: Re: [Canvas] Re: Bitnami Canvas image - Sending email notifications isn't working

 

Unfortunately, still not working with these changes applied:

 

outgoing_mail.yml:

production:
  address: "smtp-relay.sendinblue.com"
  port: "578"
    #enable_starttls_auto: true
    #ssl: true
  user_name: "<brevo_user>"
  password: "<brevo_pass>"
  authentication: "plain" # plain, login, or cram_md5
  domain: "<my_canvas_domain>"
  outgoing_address: "<outgoing_email>"
  default_name: "Instructure Canvas"

 

from the delayed_job.log

Mailer#create_message: processed outbound mail in 16.0ms
^[[1m^[[36mSQL Message Update All (1.3ms)^[[0m  ^[[1m^[[33mUPDATE "public"."messages_2023_45" SET "workflow_state" = 'sent', "updated_at" = '2023-11-09 16:25:13.364195', "sent_at" = '2023-11-09 16:25:13.364043' WHERE "messages_2023_45"."id" = 53 AND "messages_2023_45"."created_at" = '2023-11-09 16:25:13.298248'^[[0m  [production:1 primary]

 

Retesting from the command line on my server using curl on port 587 does still work -- verified.

 

Checked spam and All Mail in my recipient account. Nothing! Still a mystery. I feel like I've attempted all combinations of configuration options at this point.

Any other ideas that could help me trace the path from Canvas outbound on the server?

 

On Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at 4:22:23 PM UTC-5 Eric Harvey wrote:

Hi Nicolas, personal things going on that require my attention... I will post once I've had a chance to look at the issue again.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Canvas LMS Users" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/canvas-lms-users/IMNTW5uVwnk/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to canvas-lms-use...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/canvas-lms-users/51f091b1-0a00-45ee-bc48-25be4e62770bn%40googlegroups.com.

 

--

Eric Harvey

804-647-7522

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Canvas LMS Users" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to canvas-lms-use...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/canvas-lms-users/916ffa7f-797b-47a9-b7e0-6e110bf8383bn%40googlegroups.com.

[Eric Harvey]

Ooops, the port should be 587. I checked and it's correct on the server, only wrong in my post.

As of this post, still not working. I got an odd message from Bitnami that they are looking into it but I can no longer view my ticket with them. Finger's crossed.

On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 12:10:31 PM UTC-5 Eric Harvey wrote:

Unfortunately, still not working with these changes applied:

outgoing_mail.yml:

production:
  address: "smtp-relay.sendinblue.com"
  port: "578"
    #enable_starttls_auto: true
    #ssl: true
  user_name: "<brevo_user>"
  password: "<brevo_pass>"
  authentication: "plain" # plain, login, or cram_md5
  domain: "<my_canvas_domain>"
  outgoing_address: "<outgoing_email>"
  default_name: "Instructure Canvas"

from the delayed_job.log

Mailer#create_message: processed outbound mail in 16.0ms
^[[1m^[[36mSQL Message Update All (1.3ms)^[[0m  ^[[1m^[[33mUPDATE "public"."messages_2023_45" SET "workflow_state" = 'sent', "updated_at" = '2023-11-09 16:25:13.364195', "sent_at" = '2023-11-09 16:25:13.364043' WHERE "messages_2023_45"."id" = 53 AND "messages_2023_45"."created_at" = '2023-11-09 16:25:13.298248'^[[0m  [production:1 primary]

Retesting from the command line on my server using curl on port 587 does still work -- verified.

Checked spam and All Mail in my recipient account. Nothing! Still a mystery. I feel like I've attempted all combinations of configuration options at this point.

Any other ideas that could help me trace the path from Canvas outbound on the server?

On Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at 4:22:23 PM UTC-5 Eric Harvey wrote:

Hi Nicolas, personal things going on that require my attention... I will post once I've had a chance to look at the issue again.

On Tue, Nov 7, 2023 at 2:27 PM Nicolas Lopez <nicola...@aulanexo.com> wrote: