Installing and configuring the email notification service

You can use the email notification service to send automatic email notifications to notify you about the completion status of Baselines that you run. To use this notification feature, you must first install the notification service by running a Task. After you have installed the service, you must configure it by running another Task.

Before you begin

The BigFix Server Plugin Service must be installed on the BigFix Server and the REST API master operator credentials must be configured using Fixlet 1294 on BES Support.

About this task

The installation and setup Task are available from the BES Support site. To help you ensure that you run Task in the correct order, the installation and setup Task become relevant in the order in which you need to run them. So each Task will become relevant only when you need to run it.

Complete the following steps to install and set up the notification service.

Procedure

  1. To install the notification service, from the Fixlets and Tasks node of the navigation tree in BES Support, select one of the following Task, depending on whether you are installing the notification service on Windows or Linux:
    • Task 2238 Install Latest Notification Service (SHA256) to install the notification service on Windows operating system. When you run the Task, target the BigFix Server and enter the port number on which you want the notification service to listen. Enter a string in the passphrase for cert generation field (For secure communication, the Notification service requires SHA 256 certificate that is generated using the OpenSSL). This Task downloads and installs the notification service.
    • Task 2241 Install Latest Notification Service (sha256 - RHEL) to install the notification service on Linux. When you run the Task, target the BigFix Server and enter the port number on which you want the notification service to listen. Enter a string in the passphrase for cert generation field (For secure communication, the Notification service requires SHA 256 certificate that is generated using the OpenSSL). This Task downloads and installs the notification service.
      Note: To install the latest version of Notification Service 3.2.3, upgrade RHEL to 8.2 or later.
    If the installation does not complete successfully, check to see if a Task has become relevant in the Notification > Warnings folder. If there is a Task that is relevant in the Warnings folder, run the relevant Task. After the Task has completed, run the installation Task again.
  2. Activate analysis 2243 Notification Service Settings.
  3. Run Task 2240 Configure Settings for Notification Service to configure the SMTP login settings for the email notification service. Complete the form, as follows, and then click Take Action:
    • Notification Service Port: you can change the value here to update the port number that the notification service listens on, as set in Task 2238 Install Latest Notification Service or Task 2241 Install Latest Notification Service (RHEL).
    • From Email Address: you can change the value here to update the default From email address that is displayed in the From field of the notification email and the email address as configured in Task 2244 Send an Email Notification, which is the Task that you use to send the email notification.
    • SMTP Method: select an SMTP method for the notification service, either Login or None. If you select None, no SMTP authentication is used and the User name and Password fields are disabled. If you select Login, you must authenticate with a user name and password is required.
    • SMTP Host: enter the IP address, host name or fully qualified host name of the SMTP server. This is a required field.
    • SMTP Port: accept the default port number value of 25 or enter a different value for the port number of the SMTP server. This is a required field.
    • User name: enter the user name for the email account. This is a required field if you selected Login as the SMTP method.
    • Password: enter the password for the email account. This is a required field if you selected Login as the SMTP method.
    • Confirm Password: confirm the password that you entered in the previous field. This is a required field if you selected Login as the SMTP method.
    After you have completed this step, the notification service is set up and ready to use.

Results

The notification service is set up and configured according to your settings.
Note: To uninstall the notification service, use Task 2239 Uninstall Notification Service to uninstall from Microsoft Windows platforms or Task 2242 Uninstall Notification Service (RHEL) to uninstall from Linux platforms.