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Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

develmail.com

61–70 of 91 posts

Re: Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

#61
post #57

On my laptop, where I do all of my development work, I just configured Postfix to send everything to plain files: http://harold.internal.org/configuring-a-dev-box-mail-server... I like this a lot better than sending stuff out across the network.

Mailcatcher is an even simpler solution (assuming you can install rubygems): https://mailcatcher.me/

Re: Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

#62

> No fake recipient email addresses anymore, use real ones! What if you send to the wrong server by mistake; not to develmail.com? develmai.com won't save your butt then. Say something breaks in your configuration, and some mail-related layer resolves the address directly to an MX host and sends it there instead of the SMTP forwarding host it is supposed to be using ... know what I mean? If you don't want packets to…

You're right, but it's just a suggestion. It's really up to you how you use the service, sometimes it might be handy to see real data :)

Re: Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

#63
post #57

On my laptop, where I do all of my development work, I just configured Postfix to send everything to plain files: http://harold.internal.org/configuring-a-dev-box-mail-server... I like this a lot better than sending stuff out across the network.

https://github.com/mailhog/MailHog looks like a really nice alternative, where you can also test HTML mail, etc.

Personally, my local SMTP actually sends email, because I DO want legitimate email (mutt, cron) though, so I'd be scared to mix up two local smtp instances.

Re: Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

#65
post #8

So this is useful for: 1. developing software that sends e-mails, but not having to set up a test environment/pray you don't break production, and 2. testing out new software that insists on sending e-mail when you're just one person in a small/localhost-only environment. I love it. One thing I'm sad to see is that there seems to be no TLS/STARTTLS support on the side of develmail. Given that TLS can be a bit finicky…

Thanks! We understand that encryption is a must, we plan to add this feature as soon as possible.

Re: Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

#67
post #62

> No fake recipient email addresses anymore, use real ones! What if you send to the wrong server by mistake; not to develmail.com? develmai.com won't save your butt then. Say something breaks in your configuration, and some mail-related layer resolves the address directly to an MX host and sends it there instead of the SMTP forwarding host it is supposed to be using ... know what I mean? If you don't want packets to…

You're right, but it's just a suggestion. It's really up to you how you use the service, sometimes it might be handy to see real data :)

The point is that you can use real data with your own isolated test bed.

I'm not going to involve some random thing on the Internet in my test setup!

For one thing, I'm pretty sure I'd be violating a document that I signed about promising to safeguard my client's IT security, secrets and intellectual property.

Real data could be sensitive.

Anything of this sort that you set up will eventually be used by other people, who don't always know the full ramifications of what they are using. Somewhere down the line, someone will leak something into the test system. Maybe a user ID or password. Names of clients. Whatever.

Also, a test system has to be reliably operational. According to Murphy's Law, someone's thing you depend on on the Internet gonna disappear exactly when a lot of integration activity starts happening before a release.

Lastly, you should control every aspect of a test tool. Exactly how someone's SMTP thing handles SMTP could change in subtle ways from one day to the next.

Re: Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

#68
post #57

On my laptop, where I do all of my development work, I just configured Postfix to send everything to plain files: http://harold.internal.org/configuring-a-dev-box-mail-server... I like this a lot better than sending stuff out across the network.

https://github.com/mailhog/MailHog looks like a really nice alternative, where you can also test HTML mail, etc. Personally, my local SMTP actually sends email, because I DO want legitimate email (mutt, cron) though, so I'd be scared to mix up two local smtp instances.

MailHog is pretty great. In response to your concern, by default it runs on a non-standard port, so you need to configure your apps to point at it (port 1025 by default). Even then, you can configure it to act as a MITM, where the webmail interface lets you "release" messages you actually want to send out: https://github.com/mailhog/MailHog/blob/master/docs/CONFIG.m...

Re: Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

#69
post #57

On my laptop, where I do all of my development work, I just configured Postfix to send everything to plain files: http://harold.internal.org/configuring-a-dev-box-mail-server... I like this a lot better than sending stuff out across the network.

Mailcatcher is an even simpler solution (assuming you can install rubygems): https://mailcatcher.me/

Mailcatcher is available as a Docker container, so you don't even necessarily have to set up Rubygems yourself: https://hub.docker.com/r/schickling/mailcatcher/

Re: Show HN: Fake SMTP server as a service

#70
pogo77, congrats on launching. somewhat random comment: your site is completely broken when JS is disabled. This is usually not a problem for general Internet population, but somewhat important for your target audience who's got fed up with laggy JS animations and battery drain and installed NoJS with aggressive settings.
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