Email (SMTP)

Send HTML notifications via any SMTP server. Supports multiple recipients and per-user delivery for login/account events.

Configuration

Credential Profile required

Email (SMTP) requires a Credential Profile of type SMTP. Create one in Vault → Credentials before saving the notification.

Field	Description	Default	Required
SMTP Host	Mail server hostname	-	✅
Port	SMTP port	587	❌
Security	none, ssl, or starttls	starttls	❌
SMTP login	SMTP credential profile (SMTP username + password)	-	❌
From	Sender email address	-	✅
To	Recipient email address(es)	-	✅

Security modes: none (port 25, unencrypted), ssl (port 465, implicit TLS), starttls (port 587, upgrade to TLS - recommended).

Setup Guide

1. Create an SMTP credential profile in Vault → Credentials with your SMTP username and password (guide)
2. In DBackup: Connections → Channels → New channel → Email (SMTP)
3. Enter your SMTP server details (host, port, security mode)
4. Pick the credential profile under SMTP login
5. In the Message part, set the From address and add the recipients under To (several are supported)
6. Click Send test → check the recipient's inbox (and spam folder) → Create channel

Common SMTP provider settings

Gmail: smtp.gmail.com:587 (STARTTLS) - requires an App Password, not your regular password.

SendGrid: smtp.sendgrid.net:587 (STARTTLS) - User: apikey, Password: your API key.

Amazon SES: email-smtp.{region}.amazonaws.com:587 (STARTTLS) - SMTP credentials from SES console.

Mailgun: smtp.mailgun.org:587 (STARTTLS) - User: postmaster@your-domain.mailgun.org.

How It Works

• One template for every mail: a banner in the color of the status (green when all went well, red for a failure, amber for a partial run or an alert, gray for news), then a card with the key numbers, what went wrong in plain words with the message as the server wrote it, the destinations of a run and the details.
• Buttons into DBackup: Open run, Open job, Open destination and the like lead to the right page. They use the address in BETTER_AUTH_URL, and a mail without that address leaves them out.
• Times follow the time zone under Settings → General, like 4 Oct 2026, 02:00.
• Sender name: a From that is only an address goes out as DBackup · <Name>, with the name under Settings → General. A From that has a name keeps it.
• Why it came: the last line names the job or the event that sent the mail and where to change it.
• Dark mode: Apple Mail, iOS Mail and other clients that follow the system show the mail dark. Gmail darkens it on its own.
• Pictures load from docs.dbackup.app. A client that blocks them still shows every word, and every mail carries a plain text part for clients without HTML.
• Send test sends a mail in the same template.
• Multiple recipients: Add multiple email addresses in the To field
• Per-user delivery: For login and account events, DBackup can email the affected user directly - configure in Settings → Notifications (see System Notifications)

Troubleshooting

Connection Refused / Timeout

Verify host and port are correct. Check firewall allows outbound connections on the SMTP port. Common mistake: using port 25 instead of 587. In Docker, ensure the container can reach the mail server.

Authentication Failed

Double-check credentials. For Gmail, use an App Password (requires 2-Step Verification enabled). Verify the security setting matches the server's expected protocol.

Email Not Received

Check spam/junk folder, verify the To address, and check sender domain reputation. Configure SPF/DKIM/DMARC records for the sender domain to avoid spam filters.