Configure Email and Agents

You can use the Mail Settings page in the Console to configure a SMTP mail server so analysts can email their reports and data visualizations directly from Oracle Analytics. You can also use the System Settings page in the Console to customize Email Delivered by Agents Options.

Alternatively, you can use Fusion Middleware Control to configure a SMTP mail server and common email settings that are used only by agents. Advanced configuration settings for agents are described in Configure and Manage Agents.

Use Console to Configure a SMTP Mail Server to Deliver Reports

Connect to your organization’s mail server, so analysts can email their reports and data visualizations directly from Oracle Analytics.

  1. In the Oracle Analytics Home page, click the Navigator, and then click Console.
  2. Click Mail Settings.
  3. Enter the name of the SMTP Server you want to use to deliver emails.

    For example, mymail.example.com.

    If your email server has a public IP address, you can enter the public IP address here instead of the server name.

  4. Enter the Port number.

    Common SMTP ports include:

    • 25 (Connection Security = None)
    • 465 (Connection Security = SSL/TLS)
    • 587 (Connection Security = STARTTLS)
  5. Enter the name and email address that you want to see in the “From” field of emails delivering reports (Display name of sender and E-mail address of sender).
    For example, Joe Brown and joseph.brown@example.com.
  6. Click Test to verify the connection.

    If you want to test the connection you must do so before you configure any security settings.

    Note:

    You can click Delete at any time to clear all the mail server settings and start again.

  7. Optional: If the mail server requires authentication:
    1. Select Authenticated.
    2. Enter the Username and Password for a user with access to the mail server.

      The password must be between 8 and 255 characters.

  8. Optional: To set up a secure mail server:
    1. Click Connection Security, and select the appropriate security protocol for your mail server.
      • SSL/TLS: Select if your mail server uses SSL or TLS. The port value defaults to 465.
      • STARTTLS: STARTTLS is a way to take an existing insecure connection and upgrade it to a secure connection using SSL or TLS. The port value defaults to 587.

      In TLS Certificate, the Default Certificate is selected for you. The default certificate allows encrypted mail server communication. In most cases, you don’t need to provide a compatible certificate as most mail servers can use the default certificate, including Office 365.

    2. Optional: Upload a custom TLS certificate. In TLS Certificate, select Custom Certificate , and then click Select to navigate to the certificate file (.pem).
      If you haven’t configured a virus scanner, you're prompted to configure one now or proceed without a virus scanner.
  9. Click Save.
    Allow some time for your changes to refresh through your system and Email menu options to display.

Control Who Can Deliver Content (or Links to Content) by Email

By default, everyone can deliver and receive content by email after you set up the email server. If you want to restrict email delivery, you can grant the Deliver Content in Email privilege only to specific users and application roles or you can disable the feature for everyone.

The option to deliver links to content in email isn't enabled by default. So if you want to allow users to email content links, you must specifically grant the Deliver Content Link in Email privilege to one or more users or application roles.

Note:

The Deliver Content in Email and Deliver Content Link in Email privileges apply only to content you create from the Classic home page, that is, analyses, dashboards, pixel-perfect reports, briefing books, and so on.

  1. On the Classic Home page, click the user profile icon, and then click Administration.
  2. Click Manage Privileges, and navigate to the Delivers section.
  3. To restrict who can send and receive content by email, configure the Deliver Content in Email privilege.
    • Select specific users and application roles, and set the permission to Granted (or Denied).
    • Authenticated User - Set to Denied to prevent access to everyone.
    Only users granted the Deliver Content in Email privilege see the Email option.
  4. To allow users to send content links by email, configure the Deliver Content Link in Email privilege.
    • Select specific users and application roles, and set the permission to Granted (or Denied).
    • Authenticated User - Set to Granted to allow everyone to deliver content links.

    Only users granted the Deliver Content Link in Email privilege see the Deliver link to results option when configuring delivery agents.

Use Fusion Middleware Control to Configure Scheduler Email Settings that Affect Agents

Configuring email settings that affect agents ensures users and other notification recipients receive messages appropriately.

Before you begin this procedure, ensure that you're familiar with Fusion Middleware Control.

  1. Go to the Overview page.
  2. Display the Mail tab of the Configuration page as appropriate.
  3. Click Lock and Edit to enable changes to be made.
  4. Complete the following options:

    • SMTP Server

    • Port

    • Display name of sender

      This option is used in the SMTP From field as a meaningful substitution for the sender's address.

    • Email address of sender

      This option specifies the email address on the SMTP Server that's used as the sender's reply-to address for all mail sent from the Scheduler. The initial value is defaultuser@defaultmailserver.com, which you must change to reflect a valid email address. Note that if you want to indicate that email recipients needn't reply, add no_reply@mycompany.com or do_not_reply@mycompany.com to this field.

    • Username

    • Password

    • Confirm password

    • Number of retries upon failure

    • Maximum recipients

    • Addressing method To, Blind Copy Recipient (Bcc)

    • Connection Security

    • Specify CA certificate source

    • CA certificate directory

    • CA certificate file

      You can use the default CA certificate provided with the Oracle Analytics Server installation, to configure SMTP through SSL. The CA certificate is located in ORACLE_HOME/bi/modules/oracle.bi.publictrust/openssl/cacerts.crt.

    • SSL certificate verification depth

    • SSL cipher list

  5. Click Apply, then click Activate Changes.
  6. Return to the Overview page and click Restart.

For information about advanced configuring settings for agents, see Configure and Manage Agents.

For information about corresponding configuration file elements, see Map User Interface Labels with Configuration File Elements.