Sending email via AWS SES within AWS Lambda function

Question

I have created a very basic simple function on AWS Lambda which will be used to accept form submissions.

Part of the function will be to send an email to a particular person, pretty simple. I am trying to use AWS SES in order to do this. I have setup the SES service etc, and verified the account I wish to send to and have been able to send out a test email. All works!!

Now when I try and do the same within AWS Lambda and use the aws sdk it doesn't send out the email. I don't get an error or anything.

Below is the code that I am using for the AWS Lambda function.

Has anyone had any experience using lambda and sending emails via ses, through a lambda function? Or even just using the node.js aws sdk would more than likely be helpful.

var aws = require('aws-sdk');
var ses = new aws.SES({
   accessKeyId: 'myAccessKey',
   secretAccesskey: 'mySecretKey',
   region: 'eu-west-1' 
});

exports.handler = function(event, context) {
    console.log("Incoming: ", event);
    var output = querystring.parse(event);

    var eParams = {
        Destination: {
            ToAddresses: ["[email protected]"]
        },
        Message: {
            Body: {
                Text: {
                    Data: output.Key1
                }
            },
            Subject: {
                Data: "Ses Test Email"
            }
        },
        Source: "[email protected]"
    };

    console.log('===SENDING EMAIL===');
    var email = ses.sendEmail(eParams, function(err, data){
        if(err) console.log(err);
        else {
            console.log("===EMAIL SENT===");
            console.log(data);
        }
    });
    console.log("EMAIL CODE END");
    console.log('EMAIL: ', email);
    context.succeed(event);
};

AccessKey is not required. Recommended approach is to use IAM Roles to manage access. — swogger
Yes I second @swogger, always should use roles where ever possible which reduces the risk of secret keys getting exposed any since being a plain text javascript on console, is more risky than a packaged lambda code. — Kartik Narayana Maringanti

Darren Darren · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-16T13:35:57

It would appear that I had the context.succeed(event) placed in the wrong area of code.

Once I moved it into the sendEmail callback all worked.

var aws = require('aws-sdk');
var ses = new aws.SES({
  accessKeyId: 'myAccessKey',
  secretAccesskey: 'mySecretKey',
  region: 'eu-west-1' 
});

exports.handler = function(event, context) {
  console.log("Incoming: ", event);
  var output = querystring.parse(event);

  var eParams = {
    Destination: {
        ToAddresses: ["[email protected]"]
    },
    Message: {
        Body: {
            Text: {
                Data: output.Key1
            }
        },
        Subject: {
            Data: "Ses Test Email"
        }
    },
    Source: "[email protected]"
};

console.log('===SENDING EMAIL===');
var email = ses.sendEmail(eParams, function(err, data){
    if(err) {
       console.log(err);
       context.fail(err);
    } else {
        console.log("===EMAIL SENT===");
        console.log("EMAIL CODE END");
        console.log('EMAIL: ', email);
        console.log(data);
        context.succeed(event);
    }
});};

Sending email via AWS SES within AWS Lambda function

3 Answers