Sending emails programmatically through the Amazon SES SMTP interface

To send an email using the Amazon SES SMTP interface, you can use an SMTP-enabled programming language, email server, or application. Before you start, complete the tasks in Setting up Amazon Simple Email Service. You also need to get the following information:

Your Amazon SES SMTP credentials, which enable you to connect to the Amazon SES SMTP endpoint. To get your Amazon SES SMTP credentials, see Obtaining Amazon SES SMTP credentials.

Important
Your SMTP credentials are different from your AWS credentials. For more information about credentials, see Types of Amazon SES credentials.
The SMTP endpoint address. For a list of Amazon SES SMTP endpoints, see Connecting to an Amazon SES SMTP endpoint.
The Amazon SES SMTP interface port number, which depends on the connection method. For more information, see Connecting to an Amazon SES SMTP endpoint.

Code examples

You can access the Amazon SES SMTP interface by using an SMTP-enabled programming language. You provide the Amazon SES SMTP hostname and port number along with your SMTP credentials and then use the programming language's generic SMTP functions to send the email.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) restricts email traffic over port 25 by default. To avoid timeouts when sending email through the SMTP endpoint from Amazon EC2, you can request that these restrictions be removed. For more information, see How do I remove the restriction on port 25 from my Amazon EC2 instance or AWS Lambda function? in the AWS Knowledge Center.

The code examples in this section for Java and PHP use port 587 to avoid this issue.

Note

In these tutorials, you send an email to yourself so that you can check to see if you received it. For further experimentation or load testing, use the Amazon SES mailbox simulator. Emails that you send to the mailbox simulator do not count toward your sending quota or your bounce and complaint rates. For more information, see Using the mailbox simulator manually.

Select a programing language to view the example for that language:

Warning

Amazon SES does not recommend using static credentials. Refer to AWS Secrets Manager to learn how to improve your security posture by removing hard-coded credentials from your source code. This tutorial is only provided for the purpose of testing the Amazon SES SMTP interface in a non-production environment.

Java

This example uses the Eclipse IDE and the JavaMail API to send email through Amazon SES using the SMTP interface.

Before you perform the following procedure, complete the tasks in Setting up Amazon Simple Email Service.

To send an email using the Amazon SES SMTP interface with Java

In a web browser, go to the JavaMail GitHub page. Under Assets, choose javax.mail.jar to download the latest version of JavaMail.

Important
This tutorial requires JavaMail version 1.5 or later. These procedures were tested using JavaMail version 1.6.1.
In a web browser, go to the Jakarta Activation GitHub page, and under JavaBeans Activation Framework 1.2.1 Final Release, download the jakarta.activation.jar
Create a project in Eclipse by performing the following steps:
1. Start Eclipse.
2. In Eclipse, choose File, choose New, and then choose Java Project.
3. In the Create a Java Project dialog box, type a project name and then choose Next.
4. In the Java Settings dialog box, choose the Libraries tab.
5. Select Classpath and add the two external jar files javax.mail.jar and jakarta.activation.jar using the Add External JARs button.
6. Choose Add External JARs.
7. Browse to the folder in which you downloaded JavaMail. Choose the file javax.mail.jar, and then choose Open.
8. In the Java Settings dialog box, choose Finish.
In Eclipse, in the Package Explorer window, expand your project.
Under your project, right-click the src directory, choose New, and then choose Class.
In the New Java Class dialog box, in the Name field, type AmazonSESSample and then choose Finish.

Replace the entire contents of AmazonSESSample.java with the following code:


import java.util.Properties;

import javax.mail.Message;
import javax.mail.Session;
import javax.mail.Transport;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;

public class AmazonSESSample {

    // Replace sender@example.com with your "From" address.
    // This address must be verified.
    static final String FROM = "sender@example.com";
    static final String FROMNAME = "Sender Name";
    
    // Replace recipient@example.com with a "To" address. If your account 
    // is still in the sandbox, this address must be verified.
    static final String TO = "recipient@example.com";
    
    // Replace smtp_username with your Amazon SES SMTP user name.
    static final String SMTP_USERNAME = "smtp_username";
      
    // The name of the Configuration Set to use for this message.
    // If you comment out or remove this variable, you will also need to
    // comment out or remove the header below.
    static final String CONFIGSET = "ConfigSet";
    
    // Amazon SES SMTP host name. This example uses the US West (Oregon) region.
    // See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/regions.html#region-endpoints
    // for more information.
    static final String HOST = "email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com";
    
    // The port you will connect to on the Amazon SES SMTP endpoint. 
    static final int PORT = 587;
    
    static final String SUBJECT = "Amazon SES test (SMTP interface accessed using Java)";
    
    static final String BODY = String.join(
            System.getProperty("line.separator"),
            "<h1>Amazon SES SMTP Email Test</h1>",
            "<p>This email was sent with Amazon SES using the ", 
            "<a href='https://github.com/javaee/javamail'>Javamail Package</a>",
            " for <a href='https://www.java.com'>Java</a>."
        );

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        // Create a Properties object to contain connection configuration information.
        Properties props = System.getProperties();
        props.put("mail.transport.protocol", "smtp");
        props.put("mail.smtp.port", PORT); 
        props.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
        props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");

        // Create a Session object to represent a mail session with the specified properties. 
        Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props);

        // Create a message with the specified information. 
        MimeMessage msg = new MimeMessage(session);
        msg.setFrom(new InternetAddress(FROM,FROMNAME));
        msg.setRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(TO));
        msg.setSubject(SUBJECT);
        msg.setContent(BODY,"text/html");
        
        // Add a configuration set header. Comment or delete the 
        // next line if you are not using a configuration set
        msg.setHeader("X-SES-CONFIGURATION-SET", CONFIGSET);
            
        // Create a transport.
        Transport transport = session.getTransport();

        // Get the password 
        String SMTP_PASSWORD = fetchSMTPPasswordFromSecureStorage();
                    
        // Send the message.
        try
        {
            System.out.println("Sending...");
            
            // Connect to Amazon SES using the SMTP username and password you specified above.
            transport.connect(HOST, SMTP_USERNAME, SMTP_PASSWORD);
            
            // Send the email.
            transport.sendMessage(msg, msg.getAllRecipients());
            System.out.println("Email sent!");
        }
        catch (Exception ex) {
            System.out.println("The email was not sent.");
            System.out.println("Error message: " + ex.getMessage());
        }
        finally
        {
            // Close and terminate the connection.
            transport.close();
        }
    }

    static String fetchSMTPPasswordFromSecureStorage() {
        /* IMPLEMENT THIS METHOD */
        // For example, you might fetch it from a secure location or AWS Secrets Manager: https://aws.amazon.com/secrets-manager/
    }
}

In AmazonSESSample.java, replace the following email addresses with your own values:

Important
The email addresses are case-sensitive. Make sure that the addresses are exactly the same as the ones you verified.
- sender@example.com – Replace with your "From" email address. You must verify this address before you run this program. For more information, see Verified identities in Amazon SES.
- recipient@example.com – Replace with your "To" email address. If your account is still in the sandbox, you must verify this address before you use it. For more information, see Request production access (Moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox).
In AmazonSESSample.java replace the following with your own values:
- smtp_username – Replace with your SMTP user name credential. Note that your SMTP user name credential is a 20-character string of letters and numbers, not an intelligible name.
- smtp_password – Implement `fetchSMTPPasswordFromSecureStorage` to fetch the password.
(Optional) If you want to use an Amazon SES SMTP endpoint in an AWS Region other than email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com, change the value of the variable HOST to the endpoint you want to use. For a list of regions where Amazon SES is available, see Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) in the AWS General Reference.
(Optional) If you want to use a configuration set when sending this email, change the value of the variable ConfigSet to the name of the configuration set. For more information about configuration sets, see Using configuration sets in Amazon SES.
Save AmazonSESSample.java.
To build the project, choose Project and then choose Build Project. (If this option is disabled, then you may have automatic building enabled.)
To start the program and send the email, choose Run and then choose Run again.
Review the output. If the email was successfully sent, the console displays "Email sent!" Otherwise, it displays an error message.
Sign into the email client of the recipient address. You will see the message that you sent.

PHP

This example uses the PHPMailer class to send email through Amazon SES using the SMTP interface.

Before you perform the following procedure you must complete the tasks in Setting up Amazon Simple Email Service. In addition to setting up Amazon SES you must complete the following prerequisites to sending email with PHP:

Prerequisites:

Install PHP – PHP is available at http://php.net/downloads.php. After you install PHP, add the path to PHP in your environment variables so that you can run PHP from any command prompt.
Install the Composer dependency manager – After you install the Composer dependency manager, you can download and install the PHPMailer class and its dependencies. To install Composer, follow the installation instructions at https://getcomposer.org/download.
Install the PHPMailer class – After you install Composer, run the following command to install PHPMailer:
```
path/to/composer require phpmailer/phpmailer
```
In the preceding command, replace path/to/ with the path where you installed Composer.

To send an email using the Amazon SES SMTP interface with PHP

Create a file named amazon-ses-smtp-sample.php. Open the file with a text editor and paste in the following code:


<?php

// Import PHPMailer classes into the global namespace
// These must be at the top of your script, not inside a function
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

// If necessary, modify the path in the require statement below to refer to the
// location of your Composer autoload.php file.
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// Replace sender@example.com with your "From" address.
// This address must be verified with Amazon SES.
$sender = 'sender@example.com';
$senderName = 'Sender Name';

// Replace recipient@example.com with a "To" address. If your account
// is still in the sandbox, this address must be verified.
$recipient = 'recipient@example.com';

// Replace smtp_username with your Amazon SES SMTP user name.
$usernameSmtp = 'smtp_username';

// Specify a configuration set. If you do not want to use a configuration
// set, comment or remove the next line.
$configurationSet = 'ConfigSet';

// If you're using Amazon SES in a region other than US West (Oregon),
// replace email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com with the Amazon SES SMTP
// endpoint in the appropriate region.
$host = 'email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com';
$port = 587;

// The subject line of the email
$subject = 'Amazon SES test (SMTP interface accessed using PHP)';

// The plain-text body of the email
$bodyText =  "Email Test\r\nThis email was sent through the
    Amazon SES SMTP interface using the PHPMailer class.";

// The HTML-formatted body of the email
$bodyHtml = '<h1>Email Test</h1>
    <p>This email was sent through the
    <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/ses">Amazon SES</a> SMTP
    interface using the <a href="https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer">
    PHPMailer</a> class.</p>';

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);

try {
    // Specify the SMTP settings.
    $mail->isSMTP();
    $mail->setFrom($sender, $senderName);
    $mail->Username   = $usernameSmtp;
    $mail->Password   = fetchSMTPPasswordFromSecureStorage();
    $mail->Host       = $host;
    $mail->Port       = $port;
    $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;
    $mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
    $mail->addCustomHeader('X-SES-CONFIGURATION-SET', $configurationSet);

    // Specify the message recipients.
    $mail->addAddress($recipient);
    // You can also add CC, BCC, and additional To recipients here.

    // Specify the content of the message.
    $mail->isHTML(true);
    $mail->Subject    = $subject;
    $mail->Body       = $bodyHtml;
    $mail->AltBody    = $bodyText;
    $mail->Send();
    echo "Email sent!" , PHP_EOL;
} catch (phpmailerException $e) {
    echo "An error occurred. {$e->errorMessage()}", PHP_EOL; //Catch errors from PHPMailer.
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Email not sent. {$mail->ErrorInfo}", PHP_EOL; //Catch errors from Amazon SES.
}
function fetchSMTPPasswordFromSecureStorage() {
/* IMPLEMENT THIS METHOD */
// For example, you might fetch it from a secure location or AWS Secrets Manager: https://aws.amazon.com/secrets-manager/
}

?>

In amazon-ses-smtp-sample.php, replace the following with your own values:
- sender@example.com – Replace with an email address that you have verified with Amazon SES. For more information, see Verified identities. Email addresses in Amazon SES are case-sensitive. Make sure that the address you enter is exactly the same as the one you verified.
- recipient@example.com – Replace with the address of the recipient. If your account is still in the sandbox, you must verify this address before you use it. For more information, see Request production access (Moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox). Make sure that the address you enter is exactly the same as the one you verified.
- smtp_username – Replace with your SMTP user name credential, which you obtained from the SMTP Settings page of the Amazon SES console. This is not the same as your AWS access key ID. Note that your SMTP user name credential is a 20-character string of letters and numbers, not an intelligible name.
- smtp_password – Implement `fetchSMTPPasswordFromSecureStorage` to fetch the password.
- (Optional) ConfigSet – If you want to use a configuration set when sending this email, replace this value with the name of the configuration set. For more information about configuration sets, see Using configuration sets in Amazon SES.
- (Optional) email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com – If you want to use an Amazon SES SMTP endpoint in a Region other than US West (Oregon), replace this with the Amazon SES SMTP endpoint in the Region you want to use. For a list of SMTP endpoint URLs for the AWS Regions where Amazon SES is available, see Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) in the AWS General Reference.
Save amazon-ses-smtp-sample.php.
To run the program, open a command prompt in the same directory as amazon-ses-smtp-sample.php, and then type php amazon-ses-smtp-sample.php.
Review the output. If the email was successfully sent, the console displays "Email sent!" Otherwise, it displays an error message.
Sign in to the email client of the recipient address. You will see the message that you sent.

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Document Conventions

Using software packages to send email

Integrating with your existing email server

Sending emails programmatically through the Amazon SES SMTP interface

Important

Code examples

Note

Warning

To send an email using the Amazon SES SMTP interface with Java

Important

Important

Prerequisites:

To send an email using the Amazon SES SMTP interface with PHP