php mail() not working

leicaphotos · 01-20-2009, 07:18 AM

I know something's not right on my server -- php's mail function is not sending mail

is it a problem with sendmail (I know very little about sendmail)
is it a php configuration issue?
is it other?

I can provide access to the site if someone's willing to help

jstephens84 · 01-20-2009, 02:53 PM

First off can you post the script? It will help if we can see something. Also did you check your php.ini file to make sure it is setup correctly? And last what errors does it give in your /var/log/syslog and /var/log/messages. of course the logs can be changed if you used the ini_set() feature to output logging to another file.

leicaphotos · 01-21-2009, 06:59 AM

am new to this so, not sure where to check the logs

jstephens84 · 01-21-2009, 09:45 AM

normally you can check your logs at /var/log/messages or check your httpd.conf file and php.ini files and see where they point to for Error logs. also in your script your can add in your php file

Code:

error_reporting(E_ALL|E_STRICT);
ini_set("display_errors", false);
ini_set("error_log", "/var/log/phperror.log");

course you can change the location so that if you have a folder in your web directory called logs then the output can be placed there. Also can you post the script. It will really help us out. You may also want to set display_errors to true so that it will display an error message.

leicaphotos · 01-21-2009, 11:51 AM

here's a short excerpt from the mailer log:
Jan 21 00:00:02 pcbsd newsyslog[90957]: logfile turned over
Jan 21 00:08:49 pcbsd sm-mta[75682]: n0HGsPZr089826: to=<leicaphotos@gmail.com>, delay=3+12:33:48, xdelay=00:08:54, mailer=esmtp, pri=14972140, relay=gsmtp147.google.com. [209.85.147.27], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Operation timed out with gsmtp147.google.com.
Jan 21 00:08:49 pcbsd sm-mta[75682]: n0HEMLEA001796: to=<blake@cookbooks.com>, delay=3+15:00:48, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=esmtp, pri=15512657, relay=www.cookbooks.com., dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Operation timed out with www.cookbooks.com.
Jan 21 00:08:49 pcbsd sm-mta[75682]: n0HEVmZo007252: to=<blake@cookbooks.com>, ctladdr=<www@localhost.localdomain> (80/80), delay=3+15:37:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=esmtp, pri=15600581, relay=www.cookbooks.com., dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Operation timed out with www.cookbooks.com.

so, I know it's sending

we're on a dev server, so it's moving to cookbooks.com soon - current url is www.cookbooksonline.com

www.cookbooksonline.com/phpinfo.php

so, I'm assuming I've got a dns related issue?

jstephens84 · 01-21-2009, 01:16 PM

Ok try sending a test message from the command line. This will see if it is something in the config of sendmail or if it is in your script.

3rods · 01-21-2009, 01:58 PM

I think we should start at the begining first; did you setup an SMTP server and a mail from name (win32) in you php.ini file?

Search for [mail function] in php.ini file.

PHP sendmail isn't magic, it actually relays through the SMTP server - usually on the local box, but it can be remote (i.e. smtp.comcast.net)

3rods · 01-21-2009, 02:04 PM

I had some problems until I added the <mail from> address in the php.ini. I'm pretty sure that most mail servers do a HELO to ensure that the from email is a valid address. It helps cut down on spam.

Try the sendEmail script here:
http://caspian.dotconf.net/menu/Software/SendEmail/

It's nice to have to diagnos mail issues stuff from the command line in a very basic, granular sense.

At the very least you'll be able to narrow it down to a cofig issue with PHP.

jstephens84 · 01-21-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3rods

I think we should start at the begining first; did you setup an SMTP server and a mail from name (win32) in you php.ini file?

Search for [mail function] in php.ini file.

PHP sendmail isn't magic, it actually relays through the SMTP server - usually on the local box, but it can be remote (i.e. smtp.comcast.net)

win32 has nothing to do with this unless he has it setup on a windows machine. Also the default is to use the localhost which is fine for most installations. And as mentioned it is better to see if his actual sendmail configuration is setup properly as it looks like the script is sending mail to the server.

3rods · 01-21-2009, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstephens84

win32 has nothing to do with this unless he has it setup on a windows machine. Also the default is to use the localhost which is fine for most installations. And as mentioned it is better to see if his actual sendmail configuration is setup properly as it looks like the script is sending mail to the server.

Sorry, thought that might be relavant since I get a 220 reponse from a Microsoft ESMTP Mail Service (Version 6.0.3790.3959) at cookbooks.com

leicaphotos · 01-28-2009, 01:17 PM

bump - still not resolved -- need a little handholding here

jstephens84 · 01-28-2009, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leicaphotos

bump - still not resolved -- need a little handholding here

did you try sending and email via the command line? This will eliminate one thing from the equation. Also as mentioned please post the script so that we can review it.

leicaphotos · 01-29-2009, 06:48 AM

i have a simple php mail script and am seeing this from command line:

php mailtest.php
PHP Warning: Module 'mysql' already loaded in Unknown on line 0
PHP Warning: Module 'zlib' already loaded in Unknown on line 0
1root@pcbsd# php -r mailtest.php
PHP Warning: Module 'mysql' already loaded in Unknown on line 0
PHP Warning: Module 'zlib' already loaded in Unknown on line 0
PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in Command line code on line 1

odd odd am thoroughly confused now

jstephens84 · 01-29-2009, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leicaphotos

i have a simple php mail script and am seeing this from command line:

php mailtest.php
PHP Warning: Module 'mysql' already loaded in Unknown on line 0
PHP Warning: Module 'zlib' already loaded in Unknown on line 0
1root@pcbsd# php -r mailtest.php
PHP Warning: Module 'mysql' already loaded in Unknown on line 0
PHP Warning: Module 'zlib' already loaded in Unknown on line 0
PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in Command line code on line 1

odd odd am thoroughly confused now

Again I can't give you much in the way of help if I can't see your code.
place the code from the mailtest.php script on here between the code tags. This will give me more information to help you with your script.

leicaphotos · 01-29-2009, 09:33 AM

<?
print mail ('leicaphotos@gmail.com',
'No need for reply -- PHP test!', /* subject */
"hi Blake\nLine 2\n"); /* body */
?>