Knowledge Base

Using SSL for sending alert emails.

Question

I use Gmail, which requires STARTTLS (SSL) to send emails via their SMTP server. Is there any way to have PingPlotter and/or MultiPing send using STARTTLS?

Solution

Yes! Starting with version 3.40 of PingPlotter and 2.10.0 of MultiPing, support for SSL (STARTTLS) is automatically available and installed.

If you're using versions older than that (as old as 3.20.1 of PingPlotter), you can manually download the required libraries (extract to your PingPlotter install directory).

For PingPlotter Standard, PingPlotter Pro and MultiPing

Configure your email server via Edit -> Options, Email Setup. Fill in your server name, port (likely candidate: 587, but could be 25 or some other port) and turn on the option for "Use STARTTLS encryption...".

Go to alert setup to configure an alert for testing.

Service-specific configuration

If you're using Gmail, follow the instructions from Gmail to set the right port, username, password and SMTP server as well. We've recently tested with the following setting for GMail:

• SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com
• Server Port: 587
• Turn ON authentication and fill in your username / password.
• Turn ON STARTTLS

If you're using Gmail with 2-factor authentication - then you'll need to create an application specific password. Google has an article that provides some instructions on how to do this.

Others

Other email services are similar - you'll need to check with them for details. Settings should be similar (look for STARTTLS instructions, we use explicit mode STARTTLS).

If you have any problems or questions, please contact us at support@pingman.com.