Overview¶

Cloud Platform provides the Platform Email service as a robust transactional email sending solution. This service is an advancement to the existing email service, which has certain limitations causing email outages and maintenance overhead. The Platform Email service overcomes those limitations by leveraging the capabilities of Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES). This service provides credibility to emails, prevents email spoofing, and enhances the deliverability of emails by implementing DMARC on the SPF and DKIM sender authentication frameworks. This service is FedRAMP, ISO, and PCI compliant. For highly-targeted reputation management, enhanced security, and better deliverability, this service requires you to register a specific domain with proof of ownership.

The Platform Email service offers the following enhancements over the existing email service:

• Enhanced security
  It provides enhanced security through email authentication standards, such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC). For an email sending solution, these standards are crucial as they provide credibility to emails, prevent email spoofing, and enhance the deliverability of emails.

• Improved email reputation
  It has enhanced controls to protect the shared email reputation. Acquia monitors bounce rate and complaints and block them whenever necessary. This ensures that the overall reputation is maintained. Spam emails or other forms of email abuse from a customer cannot cause an outage for other customers.

• Encryption
  It supports end-to-end encryption of emails.

• Robustness
  It is highly robust and secure because its usage is not shared.

Before you begin¶

Cloud Platform supports limited outgoing emails, such as Drupal registration confirmation emails and node subscription emails, in accordance with the Acceptable Use Policy. Therefore, you cannot use it to send mass emails such as marketing messages or newsletters. The Platform Email service also does not support email attachments.

For sending mass emails, you must instead use external email services or applications with a specified service level for email. For more information, see Using a third-party email service.

You should review the Acceptable Use Policy and Platform Email Service Guide before configuring Platform Email.

Process flow¶

The following diagram depicts the high-level process flow of the Platform Email service:

The following table describes the steps mentioned in the diagram: