How to set gmail mail server for monit

To set up Gmail as a mail server for Monit, you'll need to configure Monit to use Gmail's SMTP server to send notifications. Here's a step-by-step guide:

Prerequisites:

  1. You have a Gmail account with 2-Step Verification (2SV) enabled.
  2. You have Monit installed and running on your system.

Step 1: Enable Less Secure Apps

To allow Monit to access your Gmail account, you need to enable "Less Secure Apps" in your Google Account settings. Follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to your Google Account.
  2. Go to the Google Account settings page.
  3. Click on "Security" from the navigation menu.
  4. Scroll down to the "Less secure app access" section.
  5. Toggle the switch to "On".

Step 2: Configure Monit

Edit the Monit configuration file (usually /etc/monit/monitrc or C:\Program Files\Monit\monitrc on Windows) and add the following lines:

set mailserver smtp.gmail.com port 587
set mailfrom [email protected]
set mailsubject "Monit Alert: {{ SERVICE }} {{ STATUS }}"

# Replace with your Gmail username and password
set mailuser [email protected]
set mailpass your_email_password

# Set the notification email address
set notify-commands {
  /usr/bin/printf "%s\n" "Monit Alert: {{ SERVICE }} {{ STATUS }}" | sendmail -t -i -f [email protected]
}

Replace [email protected] and your_email_password with your actual Gmail username and password.

Step 3: Restart Monit

Restart the Monit service to apply the changes:

sudo service monit restart

or

net stop monit
net start monit

Step 4: Test the Configuration

To test the configuration, you can simulate a Monit alert by running the following command:

monit alert "Test Alert"

This should send a test email to the notification email address you specified in the Monit configuration file.

That's it! With these steps, you should now have Monit configured to use Gmail as its mail server for sending notifications.