Is an SPF Record required to get CiviCRM to work with Amazon SES? (1and1 hosting)
An SPF record is recommended, but not the cause of the above error.

That error message indicates failure to make a network connection from CiviCRM's mail library to the configured SMTP server.

According to http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/smtp-connect.html, port 587 is for STARTTLS connections. ("TLS" is an overloaded term used in a confusing sense here, don't sweat it.)

It looks like you currently have a value of ssl://email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com:587 in your Admin > System Settings > Outbound Email > SMTP Server field.

I suggest you try using the following - please report back if one or both work?


tls://email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com:587
ssl://email-smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com:465


I see that for optimal performance, Palante recommend using a local Postfix MTA which then routes email to Amazon SES. Make special note of the SMTP throttling warning at the bottom of that page.