diff --git a/src/analyzer/alerters.py b/src/analyzer/alerters.py
index 04f42096..f6e87bd2 100644
--- a/src/analyzer/alerters.py
+++ b/src/analyzer/alerters.py
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
 def alert_smtp(alert, metric):
 
     # For backwards compatibility
+    server = settings.SMTP_OPTS['server']
+    port = settings.SMTP_OPTS['port']
+    
     if '@' in alert[1]:
         sender = settings.ALERT_SENDER
         recipient = alert[1]
@@ -42,7 +45,7 @@ def alert_smtp(alert, metric):
         link = settings.GRAPH_URL % (metric[1])
         body = 'Anomalous value: %s <br> Next alert in: %s seconds <a href="%s"><img src="%s"/></a>' % (metric[0], alert[2], link, link)
         msg.attach(MIMEText(body, 'html'))
-        s = SMTP('127.0.0.1')
+        s = SMTP(server, port)
         s.sendmail(sender, recipient, msg.as_string())
         s.quit()
 
diff --git a/src/analyzer/analyzer.py b/src/analyzer/analyzer.py
index 51bf4d95..b1ddc334 100644
--- a/src/analyzer/analyzer.py
+++ b/src/analyzer/analyzer.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import logging
+import traceback
 from Queue import Empty
 from redis import StrictRedis
 from time import time, sleep
@@ -201,6 +202,7 @@ def run(self):
 
                             except Exception as e:
                                 logger.error("couldn't send alert: %s" % e)
+                                logger.error("stacktrace: %s" % str(traceback.format_exc()))
 
             # Write anomalous_metrics to static webapp directory
             filename = path.abspath(path.join(path.dirname(__file__), '..', settings.ANOMALY_DUMP))
diff --git a/src/settings.py.example b/src/settings.py.example
index 5a65a1f0..d8a81f03 100644
--- a/src/settings.py.example
+++ b/src/settings.py.example
@@ -127,6 +127,10 @@ ALERTS = (
 
 # Each alert module requires additional information.
 SMTP_OPTS = {
+    # The SMTP server to use
+    "server": "localhost",
+    # The SMTP port to use on the above server
+    "port": "25",
     # This specifies the sender of email alerts.
     "sender": "skyline-alerts@etsy.com",
     # recipients is a dictionary mapping metric names