Speakeasy → Re: SMTP servers

Does 'SSL-encrypted' SMTP authentication require an SSL certificate? If so, those can be pretty expensive. I use 'TLS if available' and my home-run SMTP server without any problem...
KM

If all you're looking to do is encrypt your session, you can use self-signed certificates. Those are free. All you gotta do is generate one. There are dozens of tutorials on how to do so.

If, however, you want MTA-to-MTA traffic to be verifiable, then each MTA has to either have a verified copy of every certificate presented or the sending and receiving MTAs need to have their certificates from a common authority that both recognize as being valid. The "common authority" certificates are the one that are expensive.

You don't, however, need verification to perform encryption. So, use self-signed certificates and save yourself a non-trivial chunk of change.

As a "p.s.": TLS uses SSL certificates. If you've not installed an SSL certificate - commercial or self-signed - into your home-run SMTP server, you aren't encrypting your sessions. In other words, every time you send an email through your MTA, you're sending your login ID and password over the wire in the clear.

Try changing from "TLS if available" to "TLS". If that fails, your MTA doesn't offer TLS and your chattering in the clear.