Sendmail - Send email and text notifications, (notification device) no local server needed

Hi folks, I hate to jump into an active conversation, and also hate piling onto such a long thread. However, I'm having an issue and hoping someone might be able to offer suggestions.

I just got a Hubitat C-7, and am trying to set it up to send out email notifications, from this device through an SMTP server I control. I tried installing the sendmail driver and creating a device, with advice from @aaiyar . However, I'm getting some errors, and am not sure the cause or what to try next. Here is a log snippet:


(URLs/URIs masked)

It seems that on the SMTP server, I'm seeing sendmail connect via telnet, then disconnect without actually trying to send anything. I'm seeing no server-side errors. On Hubitat, I'm seeing HTTP 220 and 421 codes, and what looks like maybe a syntax error. I'm also wondering if it might be misinterpreting the server's MOTD/welcome message as being something else entirely.

I have tried many variations for configuration, but had no success so far (although I've found new ways to break it). One remaining question: the auth creds I enter for the SMTP server should be base64 encoded by me, right? (It's not saying that sendmail will do it, right?)

Any suggestions?

(I started this discussion in this other thread, and was directed to come here.)