Need SMTP setup help

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:00 pm

I have been having lots of problems with my e-mail notification not working. I think it has alot to do with the SMTP settings. I can get the bundled phpbb to work because I can enter my ISP's SMTP settings (SMTP address, username and password) but have been extramly unsuccessful in getting PostCast to work.

I have the following setup. Windows XP Pro SP2 (firewall set to accept PostCast, port 25 and port 53), Apache 2.0.54, MySQL 4.1.14, PHP 4.4.0 (I have not been able to get PHP 5.0.4 to work correctly, so I removed it and reinstalled 4.4.0 again.) and PHP-Nuke 7.7. My server is behind a firewall witch is port-forwarding HTTP port 80, FTP port 20-21, port 25 and port 53. My server has a dynamic IP address through DynDNS.com

Is there anyway to use my ISP SMTP as my default SMTP for PHP-Nuke or someone walk me through setting up SMTP so that it actually works so I can quite beating my head against the wall?

Captain Joined: Oct 10, 2004 Posts: 562

In nuke forums, here, and problems I had, there are often questions setting up Nuke and postcast smtp server....the problems are not the code, but the enviroment and/or user error or Windows IIS smtp server is activated also.
So I hope this thread helps. It looks a lot to read below, and complex, once u have your Nuke and post cast in front , you will find each step is simple and hopefully for Dumbies lol.
PART ONE: PhP NUKE
1. Set up the php.ini in windows/
Find
[mail function]
; For Win32 only.
SMTP = localhost
; For Win32 only.
sendmail_from = yourname@yoursite.com
; For Unix only. You may supply arguments as well (default: "sendmail -t -i").
;sendmail_path =
in SMTP = localhost u add the ip of the machine on which u have loaded the sntp server, note localhost is if the smtp server is on the same machine on which your web site is loaded.
sendmail_from =
here u add the return email address that you wish to use as Admin of the site, any leget email can be used, if u use a boggus email the chances are the out going emauils will be regeated at the destination. Also there will be no way anyone can reply.
2/ In your nuke website Admin Contol panel/preferences/site url enter your site as
www.yoursite.com DONT use http:// because it will mess up registration and links to reply to posts
3/ In your nuke website Admin CP/forums/Admin/General Admin/configuration/Domain Name www.yoursite.com see notes in 2/
4/Scroll down the bottom of the above page you will find smtp server address enter the same as in php.ini file as mentioned in 1/
leave user name and password blank...this if you are relaying thru another server (eg your isp and doesnt apply here) it will apply if you are using the full version of Postcast and it is set to require a user name/password to relay mail.
Im only dealing with simple smtp server here.
5/In email signture you can add sig for out going mail eg
have a nive day
Webmaster
www.yoursite.com.
OK thats now got your Nuke site set up, lets now setup your Postcast SMTP server
PART TWO: PostCast smtp server
1/Install
2/ open and go to settings/System:
a) host name enter the same as in php.ini as mentioned above...I have had couple problems when every thing is on local host, so try "localhost" or "theNameoftheMachine" or the local ip or " 127.0.0.1 " which is the same as localhost...if your nuke site comes up with an error or doesnt "talk" to the server, one of these WILL work..dont change the Nuke settings above!!.
b)Port/dns all set to genric, I prefer to set mail send frequency to immediate.
2/Connection: these I prefer set at 10 20 and 1 minute
3/Admin :
a)Undeliverable mail I prefer 4 tries and next 3 boxes ticked
b)Create log file I prefer tick create log file and use single log file.
Note: This opens in notepad, I tend to clear this every so often, select all delete (DONT do this to actually delete emails in OutBox.ftp !!! will cover this later.
4/Security: In the top box add 127.0.0.1 also the local ip of the server machine, and any other local machines ip that u wish to connect to the Postcast smtp server INCLUDING the ip of the Nuke server machine if not one of the above. This restricts use of the mail server to these and prevents spamers using it behind your back.
5/Dialup: I doubt if one is going to host a web site on dialup so leave this section alone.
6/UnDelievered: I never seemed to get this to work right ??? If a email is undelivered after several tries u will see this in the logs in 3/ b)
7/Advanced:
a)I tick Min at start, min x, run at startup, tray icon, detect changed IP, check for updates, I prefer to do this manually for all progs, virus scanners, windows updates...I dont like things that can hogg memory at times when they are not needed.
b)Server 'helo' handshake/settings...note these are important and cause alsorts of what appears weird things.
Using any of the top 4 boxes, many or even most destination servers WILL do either of the following reject the mail, filter it as spam.
Filling in use this identfication will work, but there are 2 several situations that can occur here.
i)you Dont have a fully regist domain name, are using something from a DNS server like No-ip.....and enter you url yoursitename.noip.net Often the mail will not get thru because rejection or spam filters.
Sol'n is to use (borrow)the name of a fully regist domain...doing this reqires the permission of that Domain name owner...DO NOT do it unless you have full written permission, otherwise they will 'spit tacks' and u could loose your connection thru your isp altogether!!!
I strongly suggest the following
ii)Registar a domain name, shop around, No-ip is worth looking at, it doesnt have to be expensive US$20.
Enter this domain name as yoursite.com without the http:// or www.
Now your email SMTP server works fine.
Maintance: There is not much to this.
1/Every so often check the logs open postcast ,logs on menu bar, read what has been sent etc...keep this log clear it makes it easy to read...select what u dont want to keep and delete.
2/Find in Postacast install folder/messages/Outbox.fpt this keeps the actual emails sent. I use a php edit program Crimson editor to open this and read the emails. IMPORTANT...DO NOT CHANGE or EDIT in anyway, postcast will after a few minutes start to use 80 to 100% of your cpu usage trying to read or do stuff with the file. To clear old email, open postcast/tools/create new message data base. Note this wipes all the old emails and starts a new database. If u wish to keep these emails, make a copy/backup of Outbox.fpt before creating a new database.
All the above is a summary from using forum search buttons here, nuke sites, google searches, and mainly my own screw ups and messing around.
I have tried many other smtp servers, fancy, simple, cmd line, and conclude Postcast and one other are the most reliable and good gui.
I only have one issue that I cant find how to do (and it is most proberly realy basic)
When the database is being cleared or starting postcast for the 1st time it sends a test email. youraccount@yoursever.com that gets rejected, how does one change this to a leget email?

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 5:50 pm

I found and followed all that stuff on my own, Thanks for the repost though.

It seems that my SMTP is working fine, the problem I seem to have with PostCast is that it doesn't seem to want to work with all e-mail address.

I get "Error: DNS not" found or "Error: Interupted" for most address. I.E. AOL, EV1, PDQ.

How do I fix this?

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 6:06 pm

BTW, I also found more info on an issue with Win XP SP2's firewall.
http://www.postcastserver.com/forums/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=1&MessageID=53

Quote:

Enabling PostCast Server to work on Windows XP SP2

Windows XP SP2 comes with a built-in firewall that in certain situations may prevent PostCast Server from sending or accepting messages.

To configure the firewall in Windows XP, open the Windows Security Center window by clicking the "Security Center" icon in the Control Panel. Click the Windows Firewall link to open the settings for the firewall.

In the Windows Firewall window make sure that the ON option is selected if you are using firewall that comes with Windows. Select the OFF option to disable the firewall if you are running a separate firewall product like, for example, ZoneAlarm.

Configure the firewall

To ensure that PostCast Server can receive and send messages uninteruptedly you would need to configure the firewall to exclude the program from blocking.

Open the Windows Firewall window.

Select the Exceptions tab in the Windows Firewall window.

Click the "Add Program" button and select "PostCast Server" if you are running the free version or "PostCast Server Professional" if you are running the professional version of PostCast Server. Click OK to save the settings.

You would also need to enable port 25 and 53. You can do that by pressing the "Add Port" button and entering any port name in the Name text box and number for each port in the "Port Number" text box.

Unblock PostCast Server

You may get the "Windows Security Alert" window explaining that Windows Firewall has blocked some features of PostCast Server. This window always pops-up when some of the applications on your computer are configured to accept incoming connection from the network.

Since PostCast Server is a server program and accepting incoming connections is a core program's feature, you would need to enable the program to accept messages from your e-mail client program. Unblock the program by pressing the Unblock button.

Captain Joined: Oct 10, 2004 Posts: 562

Quote:

doesn't seem to want to work with all e-mail address

Thayt is not a post cast issue, it is an issue to do with domain names unregistared and dynamic ips
Yes there are several ips and AOL that will bounce your email, u may also find some will reject or filter out as spam.
How to deal with this, I posted in another thread within the last couple weeks.

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:32 pm

Thank you Steptoe. Very Happy