How to enable Mac OS X server email alerts
I've come up with my own answers for this in case anyone comes across this question.

1) No, you do not have to enable Apple Push notifications.

2 &amp; 3) You can configure them to go through your ISP's SMTP gateway with the following steps (for 10.7.x and 10.8.x).


Go to Server.app
Go Mail
Check "Relay outgound mail through ISP"
Click edit to the right of that checkbox
Specify your ISP's SMTP gateway in the "Outgoing Mail Relay" field.
Specify SMTP relay authentication if required. Click OK.


4) Use the command line shell to issue this command:

echo hello | mail -s TESTSUBJECT youremail@yourdomain.com