On the SES Dashboard, view your account’s current sending status, such as whether you are in the SES sandbox or have Production access. The dashboard also provides an overview of verified domains, email addresses, and daily sending statistics.
Verified Identities:
In the left-hand menu, select Verified identities to review the list of verified email addresses and domains. Verification is required to send emails using SES.
Configuration Sets:
Click on Configuration Sets in the left-hand menu to explore any configuration sets that define how SES handles email sending, including event destinations (e.g., SNS, CloudWatch Logs) for monitoring.
Email Sending:
Select Email sending to view information about the sending limits, bounce rates, and sending activity.
Suppression List:
In the Suppression list section, explore email addresses that have been automatically added to the list due to bounces or complaints. The suppression list helps maintain sender reputation.
3. Exploring the AWS Well-Architected Framework Pillars
In the Email sending section, review Sending statistics to monitor daily usage, including the number of sent, delivered, bounced, and rejected emails. Regularly monitoring these metrics helps you identify and address operational issues, such as high bounce rates.
Configuration Sets:
Go to Configuration Sets to review any existing sets. Configuration sets allow you to specify how SES should handle email events, such as tracking bounces and complaints. Proper configuration enhances operational visibility and monitoring.
Event Destinations:
Under Configuration Sets, examine the Event destinations. These destinations (e.g., Amazon SNS, CloudWatch Logs) allow you to monitor and log email events, such as bounces, deliveries, and complaints, contributing to operational excellence.
Verified Identities:
In the Verified identities section, ensure that email addresses and domains used for sending are correctly verified. Properly managing verified identities ensures smooth email sending operations and improves email deliverability.
Under Verified identities, select a domain to check if DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) signing is enabled. DKIM helps authenticate email messages, enhancing security and reducing the likelihood of your emails being marked as spam.
Email Sending Authentication:
In the domain details under Verified identities, review the status of SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM settings. Properly configured SPF and DKIM settings help prevent email spoofing and unauthorized use of your domain for sending emails.
Suppression List:
Go to the Suppression list to review addresses that are suppressed due to bounces or complaints. Using the suppression list helps protect sender reputation by avoiding sending to problematic addresses.
Access Control:
While direct access to IAM policies is not available with read-only access, ensure that SES permissions (e.g., using IAM roles and policies) follow the principle of least privilege. Restrict access to only those users and applications that require email sending capabilities.
In the Email sending section, check the Sending limits to understand your daily sending quota and maximum send rate. Staying within your sending limits is critical for maintaining reliable email delivery.
Bounce and Complaint Monitoring:
Review the Sending statistics in the Email sending section to monitor bounce and complaint rates. High bounce or complaint rates can affect your email sending reputation and reliability. Addressing these issues promptly ensures reliable email delivery.
Event Notifications:
In Configuration Sets, explore Event destinations to see how notifications are configured for different events (e.g., bounces, complaints, deliveries). Receiving notifications allows you to take timely action in case of issues, improving the reliability of your email system.
Domain Verification:
Ensure that all domains and email addresses in the Verified identities section are correctly verified. Unverified identities may lead to failed or delayed email deliveries, affecting the reliability of your communication.
In the Email sending section, review your Sending statistics to monitor your usage. By analyzing your email sending patterns, you can adjust your strategies to optimize costs, such as sending fewer emails or using efficient bulk sending.
Configuration Sets:
Check the Configuration Sets for any event destinations that may incur costs, such as Amazon SNS or CloudWatch Logs. Optimize configurations to log only necessary events to reduce costs associated with storing and processing event data.
Suppression List Management:
Regularly review the Suppression list to avoid sending emails to addresses that have previously bounced or marked your emails as spam. This practice reduces wasted resources and costs associated with sending emails that are likely to fail.
Free Tier Usage:
Monitor your SES usage against the AWS Free Tier limits (if applicable). Sending a certain number of emails each month may be free, especially when sending emails from an application hosted on Amazon EC2. Staying within the free tier helps optimize costs.
Under Verified identities, verify that domains use DKIM and SPF for email authentication. Properly configured authentication helps improve email deliverability rates, thereby enhancing the performance of your email campaigns.
Sending Limits:
In the Email sending section, review the Maximum send rate. Optimize the send rate to match your application's needs, ensuring that SES processes your emails efficiently without causing delays.
Configuration Sets for Event Tracking:
Use Configuration Sets to track email metrics (e.g., bounces, complaints, opens) efficiently. Properly configured event tracking helps you analyze and adjust your email sending strategy for better performance.
Suppression List:
Regularly maintain the Suppression list to avoid sending emails to addresses that have previously bounced or caused complaints. This practice optimizes the performance of your email campaigns by targeting valid and engaged recipients.
If SES is integrated with CloudWatch, use CloudWatch Metrics to monitor email sending activity and set up alarms for bounce rates, complaint rates, and delivery failures.
AWS Config and Security Hub:
If AWS Config and Security Hub are enabled, review findings related to SES to ensure compliance with security best practices, such as proper domain verification and access controls.