IDaaS Employee Identity and Access Management (EIAM) includes a built-in email gateway that works out of the box. However, the built-in gateway has fixed branding and supports only one language per notification type. To send branded email notifications and configure per-language templates for each notification scenario, connect a custom email gateway to your EIAM instance.
Key concepts
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Initial email gateway | The email gateway built into your IDaaS EIAM instance. Its configuration cannot be modified. |
| Custom email gateway | An email gateway you add to your instance. Connects to an external SMTP service such as Alibaba Cloud Direct Mail. |
| Default email gateway | The gateway your instance uses to send email notifications. Can be the initial gateway or any custom gateway you've added. |
Supported editions
Custom email gateways are only available on Trial Edition and Enterprise Edition instances. If your instance is on another edition, start a free trial or upgrade your instance.
Add a custom email gateway
Before you begin, make sure you have:
An active email gateway service. Alibaba Cloud Direct Mail is a supported option.
An email domain and a sender address set up in that service.
To add a custom email gateway:
Go to Personalization > Email Template and click Add Custom Email Gateway.
In the Add Custom Email Gateway panel, fill in the following fields.
Field Description Gateway service provider The email protocol. Set this to SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). Display name A label for this gateway shown only in the IDaaS EIAM console. SMTP endpoint The SMTP server address from your email service. Typically a domain name — for example, Alibaba Cloud Direct Mail uses xxxx.aliyun.com.Port number The port your SMTP service uses. Commonly used ports include 25, 80, and 465. Port 465 uses SSL for encrypted communication. Get the correct port from your email service. Enable SSL encryption Turn on SSL encryption to secure the connection. Enabling this requires a port that supports SSL, such as port 465. SMTP account The account used to authenticate with the SMTP server — usually the sender's full email address or its prefix. SMTP password The password for the SMTP account. Sender email address The address emails are sent from. Example: xxxx@example.com.Sender name (Optional) The display name shown to recipients, such as your company or brand name. If left blank, the email prefix of the sender address is used. 
Click Test sending. In the dialog that appears, enter a recipient email address and click Confirm.
A successful test confirms the gateway configuration is valid.
If the test email does not arrive, check that your SMTP credentials, endpoint, and port are correct, and that your email service is active.
Click Confirm to save the gateway.
A gateway status of Available means the email gateway features of your instance are enabled. It does not confirm that the gateway can successfully send emails — always run a test send to verify delivery.
Manage a custom email gateway
Click Manage in the Actions column of the gateway to open its management page.
Gateway configuration tab — Edit the gateway settings, such as the SMTP endpoint.
Email template tab — Configure the email content sent for each notification scenario.
For each scenario, configure:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Email language | The language for this template. Set a separate subject and body for each language to reach users in their preferred language. Currently, Chinese and English are supported. |
| Email theme | The title displayed in the email. |
| Email content | The email body. Only the content can be customized — the layout and style are fixed. |
Change the default email gateway
IDaaS EIAM sends all email notifications through the default email gateway.
If the custom gateway becomes unavailable — for example, because the underlying email service expires — IDaaS EIAM automatically falls back to the initial email gateway to keep notifications running.
Remove a custom email gateway
After you remove a custom email gateway, all configurations for that gateway are permanently deleted and cannot be restored.
Limitations
| Limitation | Details |
|---|---|
| Supported editions | Trial Edition and Enterprise Edition only |
| Supported languages | Chinese and English |
| Email layout | Cannot be customized — only the subject and body content can be changed |
| Initial gateway | The initial email gateway configuration cannot be modified |