Django and AWS Simple Email Service

Question

I'm attempting to get a django site up and running and I'm trying to enable django's standard password reset service.

My site is hosted by AWS EC2, so I figured I would use AWS SES for my email service. However, I can't get the smtp connection to work. Any idea on how to solve for the following error:

Exception Type: SMTPSenderRefused Exception Value: (530, b'Authentication required', '[email protected]')

I've looked at the following, but I'd prefer to stay with django's built-in email back-ends if possible:

Email Settings:

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
EMAIL_HOST = 'email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com'
EMAIL_PORT = 587 # (I've also tried 25, 465, & 2587)
EMAIL_HOST_USER = ''
EMAIL_PASSWORD = ''
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '[email protected]' # but my real email address

My EMAIL_HOST_USER and EMAIL_PASSWORD are set to my SMTP credentials I obtained by following the instructions at: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/smtp-credentials.html

Also, I was sure to verify my DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL and my domain following these instructions: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/verify-addresses-and-domains.html

And DKIM is enabled and my nameservers have been updated.

Any help would really be appreciated.

UPDATE:

I was able to get the django email send working with the django-ses 3rd party library, but I'm still not able to figure out why the standard backend doesn't work via SMTP.

I think there is definitely something wrong with my code as I went so far as to switch email clients from AWS SES to Zoho mail and I'm still receiving the same 530 Authentication required error.

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.zoho.com'
EMAIL_PORT = 587
EMAIL_HOST_USER = '[email protected]'
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '[email protected]'
EMAIL_PASSWORD = ''

Kai Kai · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-10T18:44:42

2021: Django-3.2.4

No libraries needed such as django-ses or django-amazon-ses !!

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
EMAIL_HOST = 'email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com'
EMAIL_PORT = 587
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'my_smtp_username'      # Must create SMTP Credentials
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = 'my_smtp_password'  # Must create SMTP Credentials
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '[email protected]'

For EMAIL_HOST, choose SMTP Settings:

Then, put Server Name to EMAIL_HOST.

EMAIL_HOST = 'email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com'

For EMAIL_HOST_USER and EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD, you must create SMTP Credentials.

Press Create My SMTP Credentials Button:

Given SMTP Credentials:

Then, put the SMTP Credentials as below:

EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'AKIAWP3TMGZN4OZH5H37'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = 'BB6dufiw96jJHUTrowXI8R4gcyOI+t1+Skbi51cdHYhV'

*(I've already deleted these SMTP Credentials)

Moreover, for DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL, put one verified domain or email address whether or not your account is in the sandbox.

So for the varified domain sender.com below,

Three of them below are valid: (Use only one of three)

DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '[email protected]' # OR
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '[email protected]' # OR
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '[email protected]'

But these two below are not valid: (These give you error)

*The format must be [email protected] !!

DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = 'sender.com' 
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '@sender.com'

Then, for the varified 2 email addresses below,

Just use only one of two below:

DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '[email protected]' # OR
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = '[email protected]'

Django and AWS Simple Email Service

2 Answers