CONFIGURING JAVAMAIL SESSIONS IN GLASSFISH SERVER - THREE DIFFERENT WAYS

This post describes how we can configure  JavaMail Sessions in Glassfish Server.

It is very easy to construct a mailing logic If a JavaMail Session is pre-configured in Application server. In JavaEE 7, you can fetch a JavaMail Session configured in the Application Server using @Resource annotation.

@Resource

This annotation is available under javax.annotation package.

Note: In JavaEE, @EJB, @PersistenceContext, @PersistenceUnit, @Inject, @WebServiceRef, @Resource are some of the annotations used for dependecny injection.

@Resource

This annotation is mainly used to inject several resources such as JDBC data sources, JMS connection factories & destinations, JavaMail Sessions, Timer service, etc..

Here, we will see how to configure JavaMail Sessions in Glassfish Server and fetch the resource using @Resource annotation.

We can configure a JavaMail Session in Glassfish server in three ways:

1. Using Admin Console - a web page
   
      URL:   http://localhost:4848/common/index.jsf

2. Using Glassfish Server Command-Line Tool (CLI) : asadmin

3. Using a Glassfish Server XML Resource Configuration file
    ( glassfish-resources.xml )


First Way:

1. Using admin console:

>>> Start the Glassfish server.

   you can start using a command line tool: asadmin

   you can find asadmin (bat/sh file) -navigate to bin folder of your Glassfish Server location on file system.

eg:  /home/dinesh/glassfish/bin  (on Linux)

     C:\Softwares\Glassfish\bin (On Windows)

Command to start the Glassfish server using CLI:

>asadmin start-domain

Note: This is best way to start the server. But you can do this very easily if you are using any IDE.

>>>  Once the server is started properly - open a browser - go to 
http://localhost:4848/common/index.jsf

you should see admin console.

>>> On left-side Tree Pane - Select Resources -> JavaMail Sessions

You should see the web page like this: 

 >>> Click the New... button, then configure the JavaMail Session Details.

In the example, I have configured like this:

Important Details to be Entered:

JNDI Name: *  mail/myOwn

Note: Generally JNDI names have some default naming conventions like for JDBC starts with "jdbc/" .So here, this should be prefixed with "mail/".

Mail Host: * smtp.gmail.com

Mail host for gmail is smtp.gmail.com

Default User: * donthadineshkumar
(username for connecting to mail server - from mail id remove the @gmail.com )

Here, you can set your mail username

Default Sender Address: * donthadineshkumar@gmail.com

(from Email address - from this mail id the mail will be sent).

Here, you can set your email address.

Note: These are the mandatory fields needs to be filled. Some defaults are already provided by Glassfish Server Admin console.

Additional Properties:

At the bottom of the same page - you need to add some important properties.

property  :   value

mail-smtp-auth : true

mail-smtp-starttls-enable:true

mail-smtp-port:587

mail-smtp-password: <<your password>>

I have used gmail SMTP TLS configuration. That is the reason why the smtp-port is 587 & smtp-starttls-enable property is enabled. you can also use SMTP SSL configuration where your port is 465. I think an SSL configuration may be required.

Even ways I have used SMTP TLS configuration.

Your configuration should look like this:

Additional properties (on same page- bottom)

Here, In the pic, I have blurred the place where password should be entered for the default mail user entered in the previous fields.

Now, go to upper right-side corner(on the same page) to save the configuration.

If you are properly configured your details- then this should show a success message. This completes the JavaMail Session configuration using Admin Console.

Second Way:

2. Using Glassfish Server Command-Line Tool : asadmin

As aforementioned, you must to bin folder of Glassfish Server on your file system.

>>start the server

>asadmin start-domain

This will start the Glassfish Server.

Waiting for domain1 to start ......................
Successfully started the domain : domain1
domain  Location: /home/dinesh/Downloads/JavaDownloads/GlassFish_Server/glassfish/domains/domain1
Log File: /home/dinesh/Downloads/JavaDownloads/GlassFish_Server/glassfish/domains/domain1/logs/server.log
Admin Port: 4848
Command start-domain executed successfully.
 
asadmin>

you can configure JavaMail Session using a command

create-javamail-resource

Note: To get more on this type

asadmin>create-javamail-resource --help

From this help you can see lot of usage details.

Example:

     Usage: create-javamail-resource --mailhost=mailhost --mailus
     er=mailuser --fromaddress=fromaddress [--storeprotocol=imap]
      [--storeprotocolclass=com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore] [--trans
     protocol=smtp] [--transprotocolclass=com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPT
     ransport] [--enabled=true] [--debug=false] [--property=prope
     rty] [--target=server] [--description=description] jndi_name


If you observe, there are properties which are specified in brackets [ ] - those are optional.

Configure like this:
(As we configured in Admin console - same details are given here)

--mailhost smtp.gmail.com

--mailuser donthadineshkumar

--fromaddress donthadineshkumar@gmail.com

Example:

create-javamail-resource  --mailhost smtp.gmail.com --mailuser donthadineshkumar --fromaddress donthadineshkumar@gmail.com  --property mail-smtp-auth=true:mail-smtp-starttls-enable=true:mail-smtp-port=587:mail-smtp-password=*****  mail/cmdMailSession 

>>>All additional properties must be separated by colon :

>>>Must be prefixed with --property  

>>>Must enter your password (replace **** with your password)

Note: For Windows Users, if the above does not work then try replacing the separator using semi-colon.

After all the properties, give you JNDI name for the JavaMail Session. Please provide a unique name. Otherwise It would fail to create the resource.

Using ADMIN CONSOLE : created mail/myOwn

Using asadmin : created mail/cmdMailSession 
(given a different JNDI name)

Once executed - you should see

Mail Resource mail/cmdMailSession created.
Command create-javamail-resource executed successfully.

Listing JavaMail Sessions: 

 You can list all the JavaMail Sessions created using a command
 list-javamail-resources

adamin>list-javamail-resources

Deleting JavaMail Sessions: 

you can delete JavaMail resources created earlier -using command
delete-javamail-resource
 
asadmin>delete-javamail-resource  <<JNDI-JAVAMAIL-SESSION-NAME>>

asadmin>delete-javamail-resource mail/cmdMailSession


Third Way:

3.Using Glassfish Resource XML Configuration file
( glassfish-resources.xml)

Same Details are to be configured:

Example: 
 glassfish-resources.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE resources PUBLIC
"-//GlassFish.org//DTD GlassFish Application Server 3.1 Resource Definitions//EN"
"http://glassfish.org/dtds/glassfish-resources_1_5.dtd">
<resources>
  <mail-resource debug="false"
                 enabled="true"
                 from="donthadineshkumar@gmail.com"
                 host="smtp.gmail.com"
                 jndi-name="mail/myXmlJavaMail"
                 object-type="user"
                 store-protocol="imap"
                 store-protocol-class="com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore"
                 transport-protocol="smtp"
                 transport-protocol-class="com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport"
                 user="donthadineshkumar">
    <description>Configuring JavaMail Session Using glassfish-server.xml    file</description>
    <property name="mail-smtp-auth" value="true"/>
    <property name="mail-smtp-password" value="***your password**"/>
    <property name="mail-smtp-port" value="587"/>
    <property name="mail-smtp-starttls-enable" value="true"/>
  </mail-resource>
</resources>

Note: you can change the details -according to your usage. Properties which are labelled -RED - just change those.

glassfish-resources.xml file location in your project must look like this:

Showing in Enterprise Application Level:

ear
      -> META-INF
                              -> application.xml
                              -> glassfish-resources.xml [Application scoped resources]
      -> web-module
                  -> WEB-INF
                                        -> web.xml
                                        -> glassfish-web.xml
                                        -> glassfish-resources.xml [Module scoped resources]
     -> ejb-module 
                 -> META-INF
                                         -> ejb-jar.xml
                                         -> glassfish-ejb-jar.xml
                                         -> glassfish-resources.xml [Module scoped resources]


Note:

Simple Java Project :  must be in META-INF folder.

Web Project: must be in WEB-INF folder.

EJB Module: must be in META-INF folder.

Even though, if there are no JavaMail Sessions in Glassfish Server, with XML configuration (glassfish-resources.xml) file, you can create a Session during deployment of the project.

Place this proper location and use the JNDI name as specified in XML configuration file.

eg:   @Resource("mail/myXmlJavaMail")

Sample Example:

Here, I am using the configured JavaMail Session in a Servlet using @Resource annotation.

@Resource("mail/myOwn")

package com.mail.example;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import javax.annotation.Resource;
import javax.mail.Message;
import javax.mail.MessagingException;
import javax.mail.Session;
import javax.mail.Transport;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

/**
 *
 * @author dinesh
 */
@WebServlet(name = "MailServlet", urlPatterns = {"/MailServlet"})
public class MailServlet extends HttpServlet {

    @Resource(name = "mail/myOwn")
    private Session mailSession;

    /**
     * Processes requests for both HTTP GET and POST
     * methods.
     *
     * @param request servlet request
     * @param response servlet response
     * @throws ServletException if a servlet-specific error occurs
     * @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs
     */
    
    protected void processRequest(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {
        response.setContentType("text/html;charset=UTF-8");
        try (PrintWriter out = response.getWriter()) {
            /* TODO output your page here. You may use following sample code. */

            Message message = new MimeMessage(mailSession);
            String toUser = request.getParameter("tomailid");
            String sub = request.getParameter("subject");
            String msg = request.getParameter("msg");
            out.println("");
            out.println("");
            out.println("");
            out.println("");
            out.println("");
            out.println("");
            try {
                message.setSubject(sub);
                message.setRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(toUser));
                message.setText(msg);
               Transport.send(message);
                out.println("Message Sent SuccessFully..please check your mail");

            } catch (MessagingException ex) {
                out.println("Oops! Got an Exception");
                out.println(ex.toString());
            }
            out.println("");
            out.println("");
        }
    }

    /**
     * Handles the HTTP POST method.
     *
     * @param request servlet request
     * @param response servlet response
     * @throws ServletException if a servlet-specific error occurs
     * @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs
     */
    @Override
    protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {
        processRequest(request, response);
    }

    /**
     * Returns a short description of the servlet.
     *
     * @return a String containing servlet description
     */
    @Override
    public String getServletInfo() {
        return "Servlet uses glassfish mail resources - preconfigured";
    }} 

Download Complete Example:  Source Code

Note: Can be imported into NETBEANS IDE.

Execution Steps:

>>Download Code - Open In Netbeans IDE
>> First create JavaMail Sessions - in any of three ways.
>> Just change the JavaMail Session name in @Resource("<<your JNDI name>>")

Useful Links:

Glassfish asadmin commands - Read more...
More on glassfish-resources.xml file placement Read More...

Hope you like it - Please Share ☺