Applications, servers, and devices that wish to send email can do so using Marley - our authenticated mail relay service. Emails sent this way will pass all email authentication checks, meaning they are less likely to be marked as spam.

Our authenticated mail relay is available for any application or device in any location.

In order to use the SMTP Relay, your application must:

1. Support SMTP authentication (with the SASL PLAIN mechanism).
2. Support TLS encryption (STARTTLS).

Request an email-svcrelay account in SIMS

Please note that all accounts require administrative approval and may take up to 24 hours to process.

1. Go to the SIMS homepage.
2. Click the New ID button.
3. Click the System drop-down menu.
4. Select email list management.
5. On the line for email-svcrelay, click Request.
    
6. Fill out the form with your account name and description, as well as the directory IDs of any additional owners in the “Additional Owners” field.
   1. Please note - this account name will not be your “From” email address, email recipients will not see this account name.
7. Click Submit Create Request
    
8. You will be taken to a page that displays the initial password for the account. This password will not appear again, store it somewhere safe.
    
9. While the password has been created, the account has not been created yet. You will receive an email once the account has been approved.

 

Configure your application to use the SMTP Mail Relay

Once your account has been approved, you will be able to configure your application to send email.

• SMTP Server Address (or Hostname): marley.umd.edu
• Port Number: 587
• Enable authentication with:
  • Username: Your service account name (only the name - not an email address).
  • Password: Your service account’s password.
  • Authentication Mechanism: PLAIN
• Enable TLS encryption.
  • Method: STARTTLS
  • Please note - many applications automatically use STARTTLS when the port is set to 587, and may not have a way to explicitly enable STARTTLS. If no setting for STARTTLS is available - chances are using port 587 will implicitly enable the correct encryption method.
• Set your “From” email address to any @umd.edu email address.
  • This does not have to match your service account name - you can use the email address of a user, a group, a shared account, or noreply@umd.edu.
  • The address must be @umd.edu, using a subdomain like @example.umd.edu or any other domain is not supported.

How to the password on your email-svcrelay account

In certain situations (such as a data breach) you may be required to log in to SIMS to reset your password. You will be notified by email administrators if this is required.

1. Login to SIMS
2. Scroll to Identities You Own and locate your service account.
3. Click the Reset Password button.
4. SIMS will generate and display a password. It will take about 5 minutes for this new password to take effect.