Email alerts for scheduled searches are failing - ERROR [Errno -3] Temporary failure in name resolution while sending mail

[Mick]

I am encountering the following error in the python.log file when Splunk tries to send an email alert.

2012-08-30 12:11:15,213 ERROR [Errno -3] Temporary failure in name resolution while sending mail to myEmail@email.me

Sending an email manually works without any problem from the command line and the UI

What is this error and how can it be resolved?

[Rob · Accepted solution]

This error shows that the Splunk user is unable to resolve the domain name for sending the email.
Most likely, this is due to a permissions issue where the Splunk user is not allowed to make a DNS lookup on your system/network whereas the user that was used to test sending an email directly from the system is allowed to do so.

You might want to check this by trying to send an email manually from that system as the Splunk user. If you are unable to do so, please check the security permissions and allow for the Splunk user to make DNS lookups.