Grafana SMTP settings for alert email

Grafana sends alert notifications, user invites and password resets with the `[smtp]` section of `grafana.ini` (`/etc/grafana/grafana.ini` on deb and RPM installs). `host` takes host and port in one value, and Grafana switches to implicit TLS only when that port is exactly 465. Unitpost's 2465 fallback therefore won't work here; if 587 is blocked, use 2587.

1. 1

   Create a send-only key

   In Unitpost, open Settings → SMTP and create a send-only key. from_address defaults to admin@grafana.localhost, so change it to an address on a verified domain.

2. 2

   Edit grafana.ini

   Left empty, startTLS_policy upgrades only if the server offers it; MandatoryStartTLS refuses to send without TLS. For implicit TLS, use host = smtp.unitpost.com:465 and leave the policy empty.

   ini

   [smtp]
   enabled = true
   host = smtp.unitpost.com:587
   user = unitpost
   password = pk_live_...
   from_address = grafana@yourdomain.com
   from_name = Grafana
   startTLS_policy = MandatoryStartTLS

   In Docker, each key maps to GF_SMTP_<KEY>: GF_SMTP_ENABLED=true, GF_SMTP_HOST=smtp.unitpost.com:587, GF_SMTP_USER=unitpost, GF_SMTP_PASSWORD, GF_SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS and GF_SMTP_STARTTLS_POLICY.

3. 3

   Restart Grafana

   Grafana reads grafana.ini at startup.

   Shell

   sudo systemctl restart grafana-server

4. 4

   Test an email contact point

   Go to Alerts & IRM → Alerting → Notification configuration and open the Contact points tab. Edit or create a contact point with the Email integration, click Test, then Send test notification.

5. 5

   If the test fails

   SMTP not configured, check your grafana.ini config file's [smtp] section means enabled is still false or Grafana hasn't restarted. A timeout on 2465 is the port 465 rule above. 550 5.7.1 means from_address isn't on a verified domain.