Getting started with Yandex Cloud Postbox

Use this guide to create your address and send a verification email.

Getting startedGetting started

Sign up for Yandex Cloud and create a billing account:

1. Go to the management console and log in to Yandex Cloud or create an account if you do not have one yet.
2. On the Yandex Cloud Billing page, make sure you have a billing account linked and it has the ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE status. If you do not have a billing account, create one.

If you have an active billing account, you can go to the cloud page to create or select a folder for your infrastructure to operate in.

Learn more about clouds and folders.

Create a service account and keysCreate a service account and keys

1. Create a service account named postbox-user with the postbox.sender role.
2. Create static access keys. Save the ID and secret key to a secure location. You will not be able to view the secret key parameters again after you close the window.
3. Generate a key to create a DKIM signature:

   openssl genrsa -out privatekey.pem 2048
   

Create an addressCreate an address

Pass domain ownership verificationPass domain ownership verification

To send emails, confirm domain ownership. After creating an address, DKIM signature settings will be generated on its page. Specify them as the values of the resource record you need to add to your domain zone. You can add a record with your registrar or in Yandex Cloud DNS if you have delegated your domain.

Example of creating a resource record in Cloud DNS

Send a verification emailSend a verification email

You can send a verification email using:

• AWS CLI
• SMTP protocol

AWS CLIAWS CLI

1. Install the AWS CLI.

2. Set up the AWS CLI:

   1. Launch the interactive profile setup:

      aws configure
      

   2. Specify the previously obtained key ID of the postbox-user service account:

      AWS Access Key ID [****************ver_]: <service_account_key_ID>
      

   3. Specify the previously obtained secret key of the postbox-user service account:

      AWS Secret Access Key [****************w5lb]: <service_account_secret_key>
      

   4. Specify the ru-central1 default region name:

      Default region name [ru-central1]: ru-central1
      

   5. Specify JSON as the default format for output data:

      Default output format [None]: json
      

3. Prepare two JSON files:

   • destination.json: File with a list of destination addresses:

     {
       "ToAddresses": ["test@example.com"]
     }
     

   • message.json: File with the subject and content of the email:

     {
       "Simple": {
         "Subject": {
           "Data": "Test message",
           "Charset": "UTF-8"
         },
         "Body": {
           "Text": {
             "Data": "Test message. Hello!",
             "Charset": "UTF-8"
           }
         }
       }
     }
     

4. Send an email using the AWS CLI:

   aws sesv2 send-email --from-email-address mail@example.com --destination file://destination.json --content file://message.json --endpoint-url https://postbox.cloud.yandex.net
   

5. Check the mailbox specified in destination.json for the test email.

SMTPSMTP

1. Get a password by using the secret key of the postbox-user service account. To do this, run the generate.py script. Use Python 3 or higher.

   python generate.py <service_account_secret_key>
   

   generate.py

   #!/usr/bin/env python3
   
   import hmac
   import hashlib
   import base64
   import argparse
   import sys
   
   # These values are required to calculate the signature. Do not change them.
   DATE = "20230926"
   SERVICE = "postbox"
   MESSAGE = "SendRawEmail"
   REGION = "ru-central1"
   TERMINAL = "aws4_request"
   VERSION = 0x04
   
   
   def sign(key, msg):
       return hmac.new(key, msg.encode("utf-8"), hashlib.sha256).digest()
   
   
   def calculate_key(secret_access_key):
       signature = sign(("AWS4" + secret_access_key).encode("utf-8"), DATE)
       signature = sign(signature, REGION)
       signature = sign(signature, SERVICE)
       signature = sign(signature, TERMINAL)
       signature = sign(signature, MESSAGE)
       signature_and_version = bytes([VERSION]) + signature
       smtp_password = base64.b64encode(signature_and_version)
       return smtp_password.decode("utf-8")
   
   
   def main():
       if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
           raise Exception("Must be using Python 3")
   
       parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
           description="Convert a Secret Access Key to an SMTP password."
       )
       parser.add_argument("secret", help="The Secret Access Key to convert.")
       args = parser.parse_args()
   
       print(calculate_key(args.secret))
   
   
   if __name__ == "__main__":
       main()
   

2. Specify the following parameters in your email client:

   • Server name: postbox.cloud.yandex.net.
   • Port: 587.
   • Username: Static key ID of the postbox-user service account.
   • Password you obtained in the previous step.

   Note

   Your email client must support the STARTTLS extension to encrypt emails you send.

3. Send an email using your email client and make sure the specified recipients receive it.

See alsoSee also

• Email delivery notifications