Notifications and High Availability

This article covers two lower-traffic admin areas: system email (notification) settings, and High Availability (HA) failover between two servers.

System Email (Notification) Settings#

What it's for: this page configures the outgoing email server (SMTP) your system uses to send invoices and receipts to customers and account owners. It is not related to support tickets, voicemail-to-email, or fax-to-email — those use their own delivery paths. Whether a specific user actually receives an invoice/receipt email is controlled separately on that user's own profile (their Invoice/Receipt Notify setting).

How to Set Up System Email#

1. Go to Notification Settings.
2. Enter your mail server's SMTP Host and SMTP Port.
3. Enter the SMTP Username and SMTP Password for that mail server account. (Leave the password blank when editing later to keep the one already saved.)
4. Choose the Security mode: TLS, SSL, or None, to match your mail provider's requirements.
5. Enter the From Address and, optionally, a From Name that recipients will see.
6. Click Save.
7. To confirm it works, enter an address under Send Test Email To and click Test Email — this sends immediately, using exactly the settings you just saved.

How to Verify It's Working#

Use the Test Email button after saving. If the test fails, it will show the error returned by your mail server (for example, an authentication failure or a connection timeout) — fix the underlying SMTP detail (host, port, username/password, or security mode) and test again.

The System Email notification settings screen

Screenshot needed · system-email-settings

Platform Update Notifications#

What it's for: an optional, separate opt-in for your system itself to receive update-related notifications about the underlying platform software it runs on — security advisories, new stable releases, project events, and general news — delivered by email to an address you choose. This is unrelated to your day-to-day call or billing notifications; it exists for whoever maintains your system's software to stay informed about platform updates.

How to Turn It On#

1. Go to Notifications (under system settings).
2. Set Project Notifications to Enabled.
3. Choose which categories you want: Security, Releases, Events, and News — each can be turned on or off independently.
4. Enter the recipient email address.
5. Click Save.

If this option isn't visible on your account, it has been reserved for top-level system administrators.

High Availability (HA)#

What it's for: HA lets you run two servers — a Primary and a Secondary — so that if the active one goes down or becomes unreachable, the other can take over and keep calls flowing. It works by pointing a single hostname (the one your phones and trunks are configured to register against, e.g. sip.yourcompany.com) at whichever server is currently healthy, automatically updating that DNS record when a failover happens. This page is where that pairing and failover behavior is configured — it is not something most single-server accounts will ever need to touch.

How to Set Up HA#

1. Go to HA (High Availability).
2. Choose this server's Role: Primary or Secondary. (Both servers run the identical setup screen — only this setting differs between them.)
3. Enter this server's Local IP Address and the other server's Peer IP Address. Optionally enter a Peer Hostname for display purposes only.
4. If you want the two servers to set up their secure connection to each other automatically rather than doing it manually, use the Set Up SSH Access option and enter the peer's SSH username/password once — it's used only for that one setup step and is never stored.
5. Turn Enabled on once you're ready for HA to actually monitor and act.
6. Under Cloudflare DNS, enter the API token, zone ID, and the DNS record details for the hostname that should follow the active server (plus a wildcard record, if used). This is what allows the system to actually redirect traffic during a failover.
7. Under Health Check Tuning, set the Health Check Interval (how often the servers check each other), the Failure Threshold (how many missed checks before the peer is considered down), and the Reclaim Cooldown (how long the Primary must stay healthy after recovering before it takes back control, to avoid flapping back and forth).
8. Click Save.

Checking HA Status#

The top of the HA page shows:

• This server's current Role (Primary/Secondary).
• Which node is currently Active.
• The Last Check time and whether the peer is currently healthy.
• A Recent Events log showing failover history (date, event type, and the servers involved).

How to Edit HA Settings#

1. Go to HA.
2. Adjust the role, IP addresses, Cloudflare DNS details, or tuning values as needed.
3. Click Save.

There is also a Force Primary option, intended only to manually resolve a broken pair where both servers believe they are Primary at the same time — leave this unchecked under normal circumstances.

Field Reference#

System Email Settings#

Platform Update Notifications#

High Availability#

Tips & Common Issues#

• If invoice/receipt emails never arrive, first confirm the recipient has invoice/receipt notifications turned on in their own user profile — System Email Settings only controls the mail server, not who receives what.
• Always use Test Email after changing any SMTP setting — it sends immediately and shows the exact error if something is misconfigured.
• Platform Update Notifications are about the underlying software platform, not about your phone system's day-to-day operation — most accounts can leave this alone.
• HA is only relevant if you were provisioned with two servers for failover. Changing the Role or Enabled setting incorrectly can affect live service — if you're not sure, contact support before changing these settings.