You can use your own SMTP and POP3 servers to send email from the instance and to store and receive email for the instance.

Before you begin

Procedure

  1. On your POP3 server, create a mailbox for your instance.
    For example, create a mailbox for service-desk@company.com.
  2. Navigate to System Mailboxes > Administration > Email Accounts.
    The system displays the list of available email accounts.
  3. Locate the record for ServiceNow SMTP and change Active to false.
  4. (Optional) If you do not want to receive email sent to the instance@service-now.com mailbox, locate the record for ServiceNow POP3 and change Active to false.
    An instance can receive email from multiple POP3 accounts at the same time. Leaving theServiceNow POP3 account active means that the instance receives email sent to its default email address.
  5. Click New.
    The system displays a blank Email Account form.
  6. Create an email account record for your SMTP server where the Type is SMTP.
  7. On the form, fill in the fields.
    FieldDescription
    Name Name of the email account.
    Type Type of mail server.
    Authentication Type of authentication used for the email account to connect to the email server. You can select one of the following:
    • –- None --
    • Password
    • OAUTH
    • OAUTH 2.0
    Server Remote server to which this account connects. To activate a server for an on-premise installation, enter the full address (FQDN) of the node (for example, node.customerdomain).
    User Name Username or ID to authenticate an email address.
    Password Password when the Authentication type is Password.
    Connection Security Type of secure connection. Choose a setting:
    None
    No secure protocol is used.
    STARTTLS
    Upgrades an insecure connection to a secure connection using the SSL/TLS encryption protocol, if your email server supports TLS.
    SSL/TLS
    Connect to an SSL/TLS encrypted port to secure the connection. Email is encrypted between the ServiceNow instance and your mail server.
    Warning: Selecting a less secure protocol like STARTTLS or None may expose your data. To better ensure the security of data in your email server, select SSL/TLS.
    Port Connection TCP port.
    System Address Filter

    System address filter to apply to the email account. If left blank, the system uses the default system address filter for inbound or outbound email.

    For more information, see System address filters.
    Active Option to activate the email account.
    ServiceNow Configured Identifier of whether this account is provisioned by ServiceNow. If you create an account, this option is not selected.
    Enable Debug Logging

    Option to create node logs for the raw data that is exchanged with the email server. You can review the node logs by navigating to System Logs > Utilities > Node Log File Browser.

    You can enable this field temporarily to diagnose issues related to receiving or sending email.
  8. From Related Links, click Test Connection.
    If the email account is valid, the system returns a success message.
    Test SMTP connection
  9. Click New.
    The system displays a blank Email Account form.
  10. Create an email account record for your POP3 server where the Type is POP3.
  11. From Related Links, click Test Connection.
    If the email account is valid, the system returns a success message.
    Test POP3 connection

Example

Figure 1. Using your own SMTP and POP3 servers
Using your own SMTP and POP3 servers