How to create an email account and set up email receiver when using AWS EC2 and SES?

Question

So we are planning to use AWS SES for sending emails. But how do we set up the email receivers? And how do we create an email accounts? When activating AWS SES, it asks to verify an email account (eg. [email protected])...

I tried to create a mail server on one of the instances using postfix following this article: http://flurdy.com/docs/postfix/, but it's not easy at all... Does anybody know any better alternatives?

Thanks.

Solution 1

SES is for sending email only. As you note, you must have some other way set up to receive email at least at the "From" address you intend to use, because Amazon will verify it before letting you send.

While you certainly could set up an email server and domain on an EC2 instance, it's very complicated. I recommend that you get an email service for just that purpose. If you only need a single address for all your messages, just get a free address from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.

If you need multiple addresses, consider getting Google Apps for Business, either for an existing or new domain name (it's easiest to set up if you have it register a new domain name for you). It's no longer free, but it's still quite cheap. A single user account can receive emails for every address in the domain, it's flexible, and it's reliable. It's a good companion to using SES for sending automated emails.

Solution 2

Use Amazon WorkMail if you prefer AWS. Gmail for work, Office 365, Hostgator, are some other examples. FYI, none of these providers simply provide domain emails. They come bundled with many other things such as chat clients, calenders, etc. Pricing of these services depends on what other things they are bundled with.

• $4/user/month for AWS
• $5/user/month for Google
• $5/user/month for Microsoft

Since you are in AWS cloud, I will tell you a few things about Amazon WorkMail.

1. You get your own domain and 50GB of storage per user.
2. You get calendars for free.
3. You cannot use just any desktop mail client. You have to either use Outlook, or Mac's mail client, or the web interface. This is their weakest point. However, including other IMAP clients is in their roadmap (I guess atleast a year).
4. Integrates nicely with SES.
5. Important links:
   • FAQ page.
   • Features page.
6. There are many more features such as remotely removing emails from a device, managing your users, and so on.

What I can recommend you is to use Amazon WorkMail because they almost provide all the features supported by others, and you are tied with AWS anyway. AWS also recently launched Workspace and Workdocs (both separately billed) that will allow you to create a complete work solution. These services also combine nicely with IAM.

Solution 3

But how do we set up the email receivers? And how do we create an email accounts?

With AWS Lambda setting up an email address and having email from that address forwarded elsewhere does not require an email server or EC2 instance. Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to receive and forward email using SES with Lambda:

Serverless Email Forwards with SES and Lambda

The tutorial also describes the steps needed to set-up any email address your heart desires and configure your own custom forwarding rules.

Comments

[Moshe Shaham]

also note that in google apps you don't pay per email. you can have infinite email addresses using groups and catch-all address

[Raju Sidda]

present any chance is there in amazon aws for something that's customizable using my own domain name, eg. [email protected]

[jordanm]

Note: SES does now allow receiving email, but this not intended for end-user use. It's intended for automated email processing.