Email Configuration FAQ - Support and Troubleshooting

Email Configuration FAQ

Contents I would like to setup my own email/mail/pop/pop3/smtp server. Is this possible? If so, how do I do this? My company is adding/removing/updating mail servers. Are there any changes we need to make in our instance? Can we increase the number of characters allowed for the email's Subject field [sys_email.subject]? Can we configure our instance/POP Reader to NOT delete email from the server after its been retrieved/downloaded/pulled? How long are email records kept on the instance? What is the retention policy on our email data? Is the communication between the instance and mail servers TLS1.2 compliant?

1. I would like to setup my own email/mail/pop/pop3/smtp server. Is this possible? If so, how do I do this? Yes you can use your own mail server. Follow instructions here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/rome-platform-administration/page/administer/notification/task/t_ConfigureAnEmailAccount.html

2. My company is adding/removing/updating mail servers. Are there any changes we need to make in our instance? If you are using ServiceNow mail servers to send and receive mail, then there are no changes to make on the instance. If you are using your own mail servers, then you need to review all the Email Account records in the instance. For more information, see https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/sandiego-servicenow-platform/page/administer/reference-pages/concept/c_AlternateEmailConfigurations.html

3. Can we increase the number of characters allowed for the email's Subject field [sys_email.subject]? This email [ sys_email ] table is frequently extremely large, modify the default would take hours or even days to apply the change .

It is also worth noting that the email subject by default is used also as the default SMS message when a notification has not supplied an SMS-specific message. That means the email subject length should be limited to the length of SMS text messages unless SMS-specific text is also supplied in each notification.

Customers wanting a longer email subject are free to customize their instance in light of this information.

4. Can we configure our instance/POP Reader to NOT delete email from the server after its been retrieved/downloaded/pulled? We do not recommend this, but there is a workaround if absolutely necessary. For more information, see https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0957758

5. How long are email records kept on the instance? What is the retention policy on our email data? By default, emails that are not marked as 'Ignored' are archived after 90 days. All other emails are archived after a year. After emails have been archived for a year, they will get destoryed. For more information, see KB0563024 - Email Retention and Deletion Best Practices and 'Email retention' documentation article at https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/sandiego-servicenow-platform/page/administer/notification/concept/email-retention.html

6. Is the communication between the instance and mail servers TLS1.2 compliant? Official support is currently non-SSL/TLS connections between the instance and the ServiceNow internal email infrastructure, and opportunistic TLS (STARTTLS) is used when the ServiceNow internal mail infrastructure initiates a connection with your external email server. This means TLS will be used only if your mail server supports TLS for encryption. In this case, the communication will be TLS1.2 compliant.

If you require enforced TLS, you cannot do so using ServiceNow email infrastructure. You must configure your own mail servers appropriately, and create your own email account records in the ServiceNow instance.

For more information see

KB0743089 - Cannot enforce TLS in ServiceNow configured email accounts KB0746078 - Retiring TLS1.0 and 1.1 KB0743094 - How to confirm ServiceNow email server is using Opportunistic TLS