What is the proper way to configure SMTPAppender i

Question

I'm trying to configure log4j to use the SMTPAppender but I keep getting relay access denied errors. I get this error when executing my code on my laptop AND straight from my shared hosting environment.

Here's the relevant config:

#CONFIGURE SMTP
log4j.appender.email=org.apache.log4j.net.SMTPAppender
log4j.appender.email.SMTPHost=mydomain.com
log4j.appender.email.SMTPUsername=myuser
log4j.appender.email.SMTPPassword=mypw
log4j.appender.email.From=[e-mail]
log4j.appender.email.BufferSize=1
log4j.appender.email.EvaluatorClass=TriggerLogEvent
log4j.appender.email.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.email.layout.ConversionPattern=%m

If I switch to log4j.appender.email.SMTPHost=mail.mydomain.com instead then I get authentication errors. My hosting is on DreamHost so bonus points if anyone has set up log4j SMTPAppender using a DreamHost email account.

Answer 1

SMTPHost should point to your mail server (so, mail.mydomain.com for Dreamhost). Can you send mail manually if you telnet to port 25 and pass credentials by hand?

Answer 2

Turns out I just had the properties all wrong. Should be:

#CONFIGURE SMTP
log4j.appender.email=org.apache.log4j.net.SMTPAppender
log4j.appender.email.SMTPHost=mail.mydomain.com
log4j.appender.email.SMTPUsername=[e-mail]
log4j.appender.email.SMTPPassword=mypw
log4j.appender.email.From=[e-mail]
log4j.appender.email.BufferSize=1
log4j.appender.email.EvaluatorClass=TriggerLogEvent
log4j.appender.email.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.email.layout.ConversionPattern=%m