Mail Server Requirements

Overview

TASS has the ability to send a wide variety of emails to employees, students, parents, and other external parties such as suppliers. As such, you need to have an SMTP mail server configured with TASS.

Please contact our Technical Services team for assistance with updating your mail server configuration. 

General Recommendations

• We recommend using a cloud hosted email service for the best performance (eg Office 365/Exchange Online, Google Workspace [formerly G Suite], SendGrid, etc).

• Review any rate limits enforced by your mail server to ensure that they are adequate for the volume of emails you expect to send from TASS.

Technical Requirements

Sender Addresses

The sender address used by TASS varies depending on the portal or module you are working in.

• For emails sent from Staff Kiosk, TASS will use the email address of the logged-in teacher or employee by default. It is possible to configure generic address in the Email Settings program. 

• For emails sent from modules in TASS.web, these will be sent from an address specified in the module's setup program. For example, if emailing parent account statements, the sender address is configured in the Parent Accounts Setup program.

• Other system emails may use a no-reply address specified in the Company Information program. 

Make sure your mail server will relay emails from all sender addresses used by TASS. 

Setup Guidance

If you are using one of the below services, ensure they are set up as follows:

Microsoft Office 365/Exchange Online

You must use the SMTP Relay method (Step 3 in the below article). Other methods do not work and are not supported. 

1. The following article from Microsoft has instructions on how to configure a connector in Exchange Online (see Step 3 - SMTP relay method) and specify the public IP address of the TASS web server: How to set up a multifunction device or application to send email using Microsoft 365 or Office 365

   

   Important

   You must follow Step 3: SMTP relay method. Other methods (eg username and password) are not compatible with TASS and are not supported. 

2. Once the connector is configured, provide your MX endpoint to our Technical Services team to assist with further configuration.

3. Ensure that your SPF record is updated with the public IP address of your TASS web server as per the following guidance from Microsoft: Set up SPF to help prevent spoofing

Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite or Google Apps for Education)

You must use the SMTP Relay method. Other methods do not work and are not supported. 

1. The following article from Google has instructions on how to enable SMTP relay for TASS (see Step 1: Route outbound mail using the SMTP relay service): SMTP relay: Route outgoing non-Gmail messages through Google

2. When configuring the SMTP relay service for TASS, select the following options:

3. Once this has been configured, reach out to the Technical Services team to assist with further configuration on your TASS server.

4. Ensure that your SPF record is updated with the public IP address of your TASS web server as per the following guidance from Google: Ensure mail delivery & prevent spoofing (SPF)

Note: Consumer Gmail accounts are not supported.

Testing a Mail Server (self-hosted customers only)

Note: this will not work if your mail server requires an encrypted connection. 

1. Connect to your web server via Remote Desktop.

2. Open a telnet client (eg PuTTY).

3. Connect to your mail server using the address and port.

4. Enter the following commands, pressing enter after each line:

^{HELO
MAIL FROM:[type in your email address]
RCPT TO:[type in your email address]
DATA
Subject: [type in your subject]
[type in email body eg This is a test email]
[press enter for a blank line]
.
[press enter for a blank line]}

This should send a test email.