How to use e-mail notification in ATI 11

I've sweated blood over this so I thought it would be useful to let readers know of my experiences.

I'm using ATI 11 version 8101 and have no intention of upgrading to 12, at least for now.

The problem was: how to get ATI 11 to e-mail me the result of its backup job. I also run SyncBackSE and that works without any problems. ATI, on the other hand, is a nightmare, as other posts in this forum have indicated, yet I could find no clear answer to users' requests for help.

I want to use Gmail but, so this applies to my experiences with Gmail but other services should(?) be similar. Like almost all e-mail services now, Gmail requires SSL encryption, which ATI 11 does not provide. ATI support has blithely suggested that we upgrade to 12 or find an e-mail provider that doesn't require SSL (easier said than done!).

The answer is to ignore this (non-)advice and install an SSL interface on your machine that sits between ATI and the SMTP server as a tunnel, ie ATI >> SSL interface >> SMTP server. This SSL interface is called stunnel: www.stunnel.org. At the time of writing, it's at version 4.27.

Stunnel sits on the machine and runs as a service at startup. It requires a configuration file, stunnel.conf. To save you the hassle, this is the meat of the config file I successfully use for accessing Gmail:

;>>>>>>>>>>>
; Some debugging stuff useful for troubleshooting
debug = 7
output = stunnel.log

; Use it for client mode
client = yes

; Service-level configuration
delay = yes

[pop3s]
accept = localhost:9110
connect = pop.gmail.com:995

[smtps]
accept = localhost:9025
connect = smtp.gmail.com:465
;<<<<<<<<<<<<<

So far, so good. I could get Thunderbird to send e-mails through stunnel, but not our old friend ATI.

After much trial and error, you need to set the following in the "Send Email" page:

1. The destination e-mail address enclosed in chevrons, eg <myemail123@gmail.com>.
2. The outgoing SMTP server address as either localhost or 127.0.0.1. (Both seem to work for me.)
3. The SMTP port as 9025, to coincide with the stunnel.conf file.
4. The Gmail logon userid - without the @gmail.com
5. The Gmail logon password.
6. Absolutely nothing in the "additional e-mail parameters" screen - and that includes an e-mail subject - except any checked/ticked options.

The test e-mail got through stunnel and I configured my firewall to allow TrueImage.exe to send to IP address 127.0.0.1.

Unfortunately, although the test email button uses TrueImage.exe to send the e-mal, Acronis, in their infinite wisdom, use a different program when the live backup actually runs. Cheers guys. It's TrueImageHomeNotify.exe, so make sure your firewall is configured for both. That caught me out and seems to have caught a few others out too.

After that it's (almost) plain sailing. Oh, except for the long-standing (and never fixed) fact that ATI issues the post-process command (in my case shutdown) after the backup has run but *before* the verify has started.

Hope this is of help to some of you people. It's just a pity that the quality of ATI support is such that I found plenty of people looking for an answer to this issue but nobody actually seeming to get one, at least that I could see.

 

Hello Mike,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

SSL encryption is not supported officially by Acronis True Image 11 Home, you should take into consideration this fact and shouldn't estimate the quality of ATI support if the above solution wasn't provided.

Anyway, Acronis True Image Home 2009 is able to send the notifications to Gmail addresses. Please see this thread for more information.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

 

Hi Oleg,

I feel sure you would agree that the quality of ATI support is determined by the quality/accuracy and timeliness of your answers to users' questions.

Requests for information about using e-mail, in particular Gmail, in ATI 11 have largely been referred to your support page http://kb.acronis.com/content/1531 which states what we already know - that ATI 11 does not support SSL encryption. No answer provided by your support has (as far as I can see) ever addressed the SSL problem in a constructive and helpful manner, except to suggest that we upgrade to ATI 2009. That's just not good enough, I'm afraid.

You may be the best techies in the world but your users are clearly not always happy with the quality of support you provide, eg https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=248009 "Worst technical support I have ever seen".

Best wishes,

Mike Rogers

 

Hello Mike,

Thank you for your response.

I completely agree with you, if we have unsatisfied customers, this means that something is wrong. We are working to improve the entire customer service system and to increase the level of every employee in particular.

We have a system of CSAT Surveys. Customer Satisfaction is measured by CSAT Surveys, which customers get invitation to fill out after each closed interaction with Acronis Customer Service representatives.

The main purpose of measuring customer satisfaction is to have customer feedback which can be used to drive improvements in product as well as process and service delivery at both the program and employee level.

I am unable to share the statics results (it is considered to be an internal information), but I can assure you that the quantity of satisfied customers exceeds the number of unsatisfied customers greatly.

When a customer receives an quality and timeliness support, he perceives this as a normal service, and he doesn't feel a need to go somewhere and to speak about it. And it is normal.

That's why on this forum the quantity of negative feedback regarding the program and service level exceeds the quantity of the positive responses.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee