How to setup AWS SES mail relay on WHM/Cpanel Exim

cPanel is a very popular web hosting control panel. Since many websites are hosted on the same server in WHM. All email is sent by a single IP. If one of the domains hosted on the same server sends the spam which reflects the reputation of IP on all domains hosted on the same server. Some of the cloud providers like AWS initially block port 25 which is very hard to disable the email sending restriction. So the best solution is to implement a smart host third party SMTP to send the email from Cpanel mail.

Setup AWS SES mail relay on WHM

This comprehensive guide helps to set up your AWS SES server as the Outgoing SMTP Server in cPanel & WHM with Exim.

Before starting to change on Exim Configuration. We recommend backing your Exim configuration from the backup section.

Step 1: Login to your cPanel & WHM Admin Panel as Administrator. Go to Home > Service Configuration > Exim Configuration Manager.

Step 2: Click on Advanced Editor.

Step 3: Go to Section: AUTH and add below lines of code:

auth_login:

driver = plaintext

public_name = LOGIN

client_send = : USERNAME : PASSWORD

Note: Use username and password from AWS SES dashboard  as the screenshot is shown below:

Step 4: Go to Section: ROUTERSTART and add below lines of code:

smart_route:

driver = manualroute

domains = ! +local_domains

ignore_target_hosts = 127.0.0.0/8

transport = auth_relay

route_list = * email-smtp.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com 

No_more

Note: Above route_list is SMTP endpoint it differs based on the AWS SES account region.

Step 5: Go to Section: TRANSPORTSTART and add below lines of code:

auth_relay:

driver = smtp

port = 587

hosts_require_auth = $host_address

hosts_require_tls = $host_address

In this way, you can set up AWS SES mail relay on WHM/cPanel briefly. Importantly, you don’t have to validate domains in your cPanel, SES does it for you. The implementation allows all of the emails routed through the AWS SES service. That’s all in this blog. If you face any issues while setting up don’t forget to share your feedback with CloudLaya.