Unable to use SMTP server when "Mailbox" option unchecked

[alanferg]

Plesk is set up to forward incoming mail to my gmail account. I've configured an account in gmail to "Send mail as" so that email sent from my gmail account is routed through my web host's SMTP server. However, this only works when "Mailbox" is checked in the Plesk mail settings. I prefer leaving "Mailbox" unchecked because it forwards mail only and doesn't pile mail up on my server. The problem is gmail is unable to send mail through my server's SMTP when "Mailbox" is unchecked.

This is the error I receive from gmail when "Mailbox" option is unchecked in Plesk:
Authentication failed. Please check your username/password.
[Server response: Unspecified Error (SMTP AUTH): Protocol error code(0) ]

Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Faris Raouf]

You could solve the problem by selecting the "send through gmail" option in Gmail instead of sending through your own server.

I didn't even know you could configure gmail to send through an external smtp server until you mentioned it just now and I had a look in my account. Very interesting!!

Of course there advantages to sending through your own server. dkim/spf etc spring to mind.

In this case, why not tick the mailbox, and instead of forwarding to gmail, get gmail to pick up the email via pop3 (and make sure there's no tick in "leave a copy"). In that way your mailbox won't clog up.

Yet another option would be to create a special mailbox account specifically for use by google for authenticated smtp. You can make the username/address some random string that spammers won't guess, (and/or make the mailbox size close to nothing if you want, I suppose, but be careful with that). Then just use that account's username and password instead of your normal mailbox's username and password in the configuration in Gmail for "send mail as" for your mailbox.

 

[alanferg]

Would prefer not to send through gmail. Your suggestion for an un-guessable address is a great idea though, way to think outside the box! I'll let you know how it works but my only concern is if the weird address causes problems with spam filters, etc.

 

[Faris Raouf]

Would prefer not to send through gmail. Your suggestion for an un-guessable address is a great idea though, way to think outside the box! I'll let you know how it works but my only concern is if the weird address causes problems with spam filters, etc.

The random address will only be used to authenticate you - it is purely a username and password in this case. It won't appear in any sent email's headers. So it won't make any different to any spam filter.

 

[alanferg]

Awesome, it works. Thanks for the suggestion.