Database Mail Accounts
A Database Mail account contains the information that Microsoft SQL Server uses to send e-mail messages to an SMTP server. Each account contains information for one e-mail server.
A Database Mail account is only used for Database Mail. A Database Mail account does not correspond to a SQL Server account or a Microsoft Windows account. Database Mail supports three methods of authentication to communicate with an SMTP server:
- Windows Authentication: Database Mail uses the credentials of the SQL Server Database Engine Windows service account for authentication on the SMTP server.
- Basic Authentication: Database Mail uses the username and password specified to authenticate on the SMTP server.
- Anonymous Authentication: The SMTP server does not require any authentication. Database Mail will not use any credentials to authenticate on the SMTP server.
When creating a Database mail account, specify the authentication method required for each SMTP server.
.gif "ms188668.security(en-US,SQL.90).gif") Security Note: |
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| If your e-mail server requires authentication, consider creating a user on that SMTP server specifically for Database Mail. This user should have minimal permissions on the SMTP server, and should not be used for any other purpose. |
Account information is stored in the msdb database. Each account consists of the following information:
- The name of the account.
- A description of the account.
- The e-mail address of the account.
- The display name for the account.
- The e-mail address to use as the reply-to information for the account.
- The name of the e-mail server.
- The type of the e-mail server. For Microsoft SQL Server 2005, this is always Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
- The port number of the e-mail server.
- A bit column indicating whether the connection to the SMTP mail server is made using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
- A bit column indicating whether the connection to the SMTP server is made using the credentials configured for the SQL Server Database Engine.
- The user name to use for authentication to the e-mail server, if the e-mail server requires authentication.
- The password to use for authentication to the e-mail server, if the e-mail server requires authentication.
The Database Mail Configuration Wizard provides a convenient way to create and manage accounts. You can also use the configuration stored procedures in msdb to create and manage accounts.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Create Database Mail Accounts (Transact-SQL)
Other Resources
Database Mail Configuration Wizard
Select Configuration Task (Database Mail)
sysmail_add_account_sp (Transact-SQL)
sysmail_update_account_sp (Transact-SQL)
sysmail_delete_account_sp (Transact-SQL)
sysmail_help_account_sp (Transact-SQL)