How to get ssmtp working with Zoneminder

From ZoneMinder Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

Why do you need this

If you want Zoneminder to send you emails about alarms, you need to configure a way for ZM to send emails. SSMTP is one of several ways, and a lightweight and efficient one.


Background

SSMTP is a really light mail transfer agent (MTA) that a lot of people use in Linux. It is much more lightweight that sendmail for sure and I am told postfix too. Note that SSMTP does not really run a daemon process in your box, so trying "telnet localhost 25" is going to fail (and also why a traditional Zoneminder configuration of using local host fails) Instead what is does is this:

  • It installs a program called ssmtp that you can use to send emails
  • Creates a soft link to point sendmail to ssmtp, so you can use the sendmail command too

If you are running ZM on a "not to high end" machine and are monitoring more than 3-4 HD cameras, you will want to be prudent on what you want to install. SSMTP is a great choice.


Installation of SSMTP

Installation is very simple

sudo apt-get update
apt-get install ssmtp
apt-get installutils