SMTP Relay Configuration

Important

Information and features vary according to the roles to which you belong and the permissions associated with those roles. For more information, contact your module manager or your campus support team.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) are the rules for sending messages from one server to another until they reach the recipient's inbox. SMTP Relay carries these emails and lets recipients trust the email is coming from a reputable source.

The SMTP Relay Configuration options let you choose how emails are relayed from the system: SMTP, SMTP via CAS, or Microsoft Graph.

Note

Before these settings can be established, the Client Application Services (CAS) must be installed on any workstations or servers that will be used to run scheduled processes and/or relay email messages. The CAS is not included with the J1 Wed or Desktop installers. It must be downloaded and installed separately. For installers and detailed installation steps, see the Downloads section of MyJenzabar.net. Once installed, "Jenzabar J1 Client Application Services" will be listed with your other Windows services.

What is Client Application Services (CAS)?

CAS is a Windows service that runs in the background of a user's machine or a dedicated server with two primary responsibilities:

Running scheduled J1 processes automatically on the days and times you specify
Relaying email messages

The CAS has five main steps for managing scheduled processes and emails.

The Client Application Services calls the stored procedure named PROCESS_SCHEDULE$CHECK_STATUS every minute.
The PROCESS_SCHEDULE$CHECK_STATUS stored procedure checks the PROCESS_SCHEDULE table for jobs to be run.
If the stored procedure finds any processes that need to be run by the service text from the COMMAND_LINE column of the PROCESS_SCHEDULE table is returned to the CAS. The stored procedure also calculates and sets the next run date of the process and creates a row in the PROCESS_HIST table with a status of I (In Progress).
If the stored procedure finds that a process was missed or needs to be skipped, it creates a row in the PROCESS_HIST table with a status of M (Missed) or S (Skipped). Information about missed or skipped processes is also returned to the CAS.
The CAS executes the command line text returned from the stored procedure. The command line tells Windows to launch a J1 Web/Desktop process (like Financial Aid Manager) and run the process. If the stored procedure returns information about a skipped or missed process, the Service writes notification information (if any) to various notification-related tables in J1.
The process launched by CAS runs and writes status information to the J1 Web/Desktop application log.
If the job normally creates reports during processing, a snapshot of the reports is saved to the J1 database. The process updates the PROCESS_HIST table with a status of C (Completed) if it completed successfully or a status of E (Error) if it encountered any errors. The process also writes notification information (if any) to various notification-related tables in J1.
If a machine is configured to send emails, the CAS checks the various notification-related tables in J1 Desktop for messages that need to be sent. If there are any emails that need to be sent, the Service relays the message to the server defined in the SMTP Server Name column on the J1 Web Communications page (System Administration hub, System Settings, Communications) or the Desktop SMTP Relay Configuration window.

Understanding the Relay Options

	SMTP	SMTP via CAS	Microsoft Graph
Description	Standard protocol for sending emails. Relays messages directly through your mail server. Recommended if you have an existing SMTP server you want to use.	Uses a background Windows service to relay messages. Can run without user interaction.	Uses Microsoft's Graph API to send messages through Exchange Online (Office 365). Meets Microsoft's latest security and authentication requirements.
Recommended For	Direct connection to an existing server.	Unattended sending from a Windows environment.	Office 365 environments.
Supports Batch Sending
Control the Number of Messages and Relay Interval
Secure Sending with SSL			Handled by Graph API
Default Reply Email Address			Uses Exchange account settings

Configuration Fields

Number of email messages	How many messages the relay will send in each batch.
Relay interval	How often the relay sends batches of messages.
Relay email messages securely by using SSL?	When selected, messages are encrypted in transit. Jenzabar strongly recommends using this option.
SMTP Server Name*	Mail server address (e.g., smtp.yourdomain.com).
SMTP Server Port*	SMTP traffic port (e.g., 465 or 587 for secure connections).
Default Reply To/From Address	Email address recipients see when replying.
Include user credentials when relaying email messages?*	When selected, messages are sent using specific login credentials for authentication.
Exchange Online Account Settings

^{*SMTP and SMTP Via CAS options}

^{**Microsoft Graph options}

Desktop Location

SMTP configurations can also be managed using the Desktop's SMTP Relay Configuration window. Changes made in J1 Web are saved in Desktop, and vice versa.

Permissions

To manage SMTP relay configurations, you must belong to a role with Can view & edit communication settings permission enabled. Jenzabar provides this permission with the Core, System Administration role.