Understanding SMTP Authentication in SQL Database Mail Configuration

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Understanding SMTP Authentication in SQL Database Mail Configuration

Sai Praneeth Eranti 210

In the SQL Database Mail Configuration Wizard, basic authentication is currently being used. Does this imply the use of interactive or non-interactive login? Some articles suggest that providing a username and password constitutes interactive login, while others state that since the password is configured only once and emails are sent without user interaction with the mail server, it is non-interactive. The requirement is for a non-interactive login. Clarification and need help to setup non-interactive login .

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Answer 1

Bruce (SqlWork.com) 77,476 Volunteer Moderator

SMTP is a protocol for sending mail. The SMTP server may require authentication. If it supports basic, then it’s a user name and password. The account can be an interactive account, or a non interactive account, it just needs to be supported by the SMTP server.

Note: the sql mail client only supports basic authentication, many mail servers, like office 365, Gmail, etc no longer supports basic authentication due to security concerns. They have switched to oauth/ openid authenication which sql mail does not support.

Sai Praneeth Eranti 210 Reputation points

2025-06-11T12:31:00.26+00:00

Greg Low I agree with your point. We typically configure this once and store the credentials securely in Key Vault. We do not grant permissions for logging into SQL Server directly; instead, we only allow authentication to the SMTP server. In this scenario, would such a login be considered interactive or non-interactive?

Also, as Bruce (SqlWork.com) mentioned above, does SQL Server only support basic authentication? If it supports Windows Authentication as well, could you please share a MS article that outlines the end-to-end implementation of Windows Authentication for this use case?

Answer 2

Greg Low 1,980 Microsoft Regional Director

It certainly can be used as a non-interactive login, but it's just using stored credentials that you could have used for an interactive login.

Generally, we just create a user (usually a ___domain user) that has permissions to send the mail, and could be used for an interactive login, but the user is never used for anything except the database mail.

The user doesn't have to be given permission to log onto the SQL Server box itself, just to authenticate to the mail server to send mail.

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Understanding SMTP Authentication in SQL Database Mail Configuration

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