Last week BizTalk360 announced a new one-click installation process that works great for BizTalk running in Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
This can be used to set up a stand-alone single server BizTalk environment in a short amount of time. One of the key features of BizTalk360 is the ability to send alert emails based on criteria you specify. Sending emails on a isolated environment in Azure may be a challenge due to no SMTP Server.
Never fail! SendGrid has a super easy and free solution to this problem. Just sign up for the free account as an Add-On inside the Windows Azure Management Portal.
SendGrid’s current offer is for 25,000 free email per month! This should last you a while. SendGrid offer the ability to easily send email via SMTP, .Net, or even a REST API – all using their SMTP server.
Once you have your account details and have installed BizTalk360, simply go to Settings. Under Monitoring and Notification – SMTP Settings simply enter your SendGrid account details.
Click the Verify button to have a test email sent to your account. It is that easy.
Using SendGrid with any Windows Azure application looks to be a great solution for sending email.