PHP mail() pretends to work, doesn't actually send mail.

zearin_galaurum · 2005-05-16T15:48:52+00:00

Website is on a closed IntraNet. (So I can't link you to it, sorry.) The website is hosted on a Windows 2000 Server (IIS 5.0). E-mail server is on another...

PHP mail() pretends to work, doesn't actually send mail.

zearin_galaurum

Website is on a closed IntraNet. (So I can't link you to it, sorry.) The website is hosted on a Windows 2000 Server (IIS 5.0).
E-mail server is on another machine, and is UNIX.
PHP is installed on both machines.

I'm trying to send form data using the built-in mail() function. The code I have (taken from examples and modified) seems to think everything is okay, so when submitting the form it goes to the "Thank you for your request" page, not the error page. But no mail actually gets sent! I'm at a loss to explain it.

The mail code is as follows:

[COLOR=green]$to="intranet@health.umd.edu";

$message="$name has just submitted a Marketing Request. 
They said:\n$other_instr\n\nTheir e-mail address was: $email .";

echo "<html><head><title>Form Submission</title>\n\n";
echo "<style type=\"text/css\"><!--\n";
echo "body {margin-left:12.5%; margin-right:12.5%}\n";
echo "--></style></head><body>\n\n\n";

if (mail($to,"Request!",$message,"From: $email\n"))
{
	echo "<h1>Form Submitted.</h1>\n\n";
	echo "<p>\nThanks for your comments.</p>\n\n";
	echo "<p style=\"font-weight:bold\">\nThe following info was submitted:</p>\n\n";
	echo "<p style=\"color:navy; background:#eee; padding:1em; 
font:normal normal normal small/1.5 Georgia,serif\">\n";
	echo "$name <br />\n";
	echo "$email <br />\n";
	echo "blah blah blah</p>";
} else {
	echo "<h1 style=\"color:red\">Error.</h1>\n\n";
	echo "\n<p>\nThere was a problem sending the mail. 
Please check that you filled in the form correctly.</p>";
}

echo "\n\n\n</body></html>";[/COLOR]

thorpe

have you got an SMTP server setup in you php.ini file?

zearin_galaurum

Oops, forgot to anticipate that.

Yes, the SMTP server is set up in php.ini. One question about php.ini, though--there are some options for Windows only and some for UNIX only. If the php.ini is on a Windows machine (along with the website), but the e-mail server is UNIX, which am I supposed to use?

thorpe

you need to use the setting associated with the server the application is on. in this case windows. just set the SMTP server to point to your unix mail server.

zearin_galaurum

Thanks, that was really starting to confuse me.

Well, there's a different problem than I thought. I must have been playing with settings and forgot to put some things back the way I left them. There were settings for both UNIX and Windows. When I commented out the UNIX and set only the Windows, mail no longer gives a "Message Sent" response.

Instead, I get the following error:

Warning: mail() [function.mail]: Failed to connect to mailserver at "health.umd.edu" port 25, verify your "SMTP" and "smtp_port" setting in php.ini or use ini_set() in f:\Inetpub\wwwroot\new\docs\submittest.php on line 40

As far as I know, the SMTP and port settings are correct.

PS (edited in):
I am taking the SMTP and port settings from my e-mail account settings in Thunderbird, in case there are any differences to take into account when dealing with servers...

PPS (edited in):
Does PHP need to provide a username/password to the e-mail server in order to access it? If so, how?

zearin_galaurum

I've been trying to research this problem in the meantime, and I haven't found a solution, but I learned that our UNIX mail server is Postfix. I read that this possibly requires an alteration of settings. But I can't find a clear-cut answer to what I'm supposed to change.

What I keep seeing in my searches is that sendmail_path needs something special for Postfix. But you said that I can ignore the UNIX variables in php.ini, and sendmail_path is a UNIX variable. Does Postfix change the rules here?

Help! 🙁***

zearin_galaurum

little help? 🙂