system configuration mail() function

Nicolas_T

Hi, may i know how to do the system configuration for mail () function?

i am trying to configure using the lines below:
[mail function]
;For Win32 only.
SMTP = localhost
smtp port = 25

;For Win32 only.
sendmail_form = me@localhost.com

;For Unix only. You may supply arguments as well (default: "sendmail -t -i").
;sendmail_path =

If we are using windows, we only have to change the first 3 lines only is it? Like below:
SMTP = localhost
sendmail_from = me@localhost.com
smtp port = 25
We must have a SMTP server is it? We can not use localhost only right?
If we need a SMTP server, where we can get a free one?
May i know a few example to configure the line above?

Thanks 🙂

rincewind456

Nicolas T wrote:
We must have a SMTP server is it? We can not use localhost only right?

If we need a SMTP server, where we can get a free one?

Thanks 🙂

Yes.
Ever heard of Google " 5,920,000 for free smtp server."

Roger_Ramjet

My guess is that you are already using an SMTP server to relay your emails from Outlook or whatever email client you use on your desktop.

from the maual :

"Note: The Windows implementation of mail() differs in many ways from the Unix implementation. First, it doesn't use a local binary for composing messages but only operates on direct sockets which means a MTA is needed listening on a network socket (which can either on the localhost or a remote machine)."

An MTA is a message transfer agent, your SMTP server, and plays no part in the actual composition of an email message, it only relays an already formatted email message.

So find out what the DNS name of your smtp server is, it is almost certain to be using port 25, and may be configured to only relay for your domain name so give it a valid email address in the from parameter.

rincewind456

Roger Ramjet wrote:
My guess is that you are already using an SMTP server to relay your emails from Outlook or whatever email client you use on your desktop.

Unlikely every Windows machine I've had from 3.1 to XP has connected to my ISP's SMTP server to send email, there is no SMTP server included in Windows distro's.

If you have something like Microsoft exchange installed then I believe that you could send email from your local machine.

Roger_Ramjet

rincewind456 wrote:
Unlikely every Windows machine I've had from 3.1 to XP has connected to my ISP's SMTP server to send email, there is no SMTP server included in Windows distro's.

If you have something like Microsoft exchange installed then I believe that you could send email from your local machine.

That is exactly what I meant, you do not need to be running an smtp server on the same host, or even on the same LAN. Your ISPs smtp server will do just fine, unless I can't read the manual notes properly that is. You do not need to send login to use an smtp relay server, that's how the spammers can exploit them. The only way to prevent spammers exploiting one is to limit the domains that it will relay for.

Now, Nicolas, if you don't understand what I'm saying, then give a little more deatial about your organisation's IT infrastructure, how you send and receive emails and about where this will be hosted, and I will be able to give much more specific help.

Nicolas_T

Thanks rincewind456 and Roger. Actually i am thinking whether we can create a script which can send mail to yahoo, hotmail or gmail. Then we can get the mail in yahoo,hotmail or gmail.

There are few question i am not sure :
1. What is 5,920,000 for free smtp server?

If we want to use an SMTP server, we have to use outlook or other email client? I mean we can't get a free stmp server from website? like yahoo, hotmail or other, they have SMTP server for us to use or not? I mean use their SMTP server to send using the php script, then use their account to check mail like usually what we do. or they will think we are spamming?
So, there are few ways to send mail from localhost to email account which are - have some software like outlook and exchange?
May i know some example to fill in the statement below?
SMTP = localhost (if we use outlook, this statement have to change?)
sendmail_from = me@localhost.com (if we use outlook, we have to fill in the account that we use in outlook right? then if we want to check the mail that we send, we have to check in other account right? because the statement is send mail from not send mail to)
smtp port = 25

haha..hope u all understand what i am talking. Anyone also can give their opinion here too. Thanks. 🙂

desmortes

hi everyone..sorry for my question..im a novice so plz help me out..actually i've my php code,tomcat5 and i implement my sendmail php program from tomcat localhost server..everything is fine...but i couldnt send my mail..is that i need to do any mail configuration..plz tell me clearly..since i couldn't understand "[mail function]" which is mentioned above..tell me how these works..actually i need to know how to send mails to my friend's ID using php program and tomcat server local(for verification also)..hanging for ur valuable replies

Nicolas_T

Hi, you mean where to modify the mail function setting, is it? You need to open your php.ini and search for the line like below :

[mail function]
;For Win32 only.
SMTP = localhost
smtp port = 25

;For Win32 only.
sendmail_form = me@localhost.com

;For Unix only. You may supply arguments as well (default: "sendmail -t -i").
;sendmail_path =

i think you need a SMTP server to let you send mail, like my friends mentioned above.

i am not very sure how to modify these lines too, perhaps you can get the info from the php manual from official site.

Anyone who know the answer also can post here. Thanks 🙂

Dada78

Nicolas T wrote:
There are few question i am not sure :
1. What is 5,920,000 for free smtp server?

5,920,000 is the result the google returns when you do a search for "free smtp server". Which is a hint to search google for a free smtp server. 🙂

Nicolas_T

o..thx..means search online ? then anyone got any suggestion on which free SMTP server is better? thx for answering some of my questions. 🙂

Roger_Ramjet

Have you contacted your ISP to find out the name of their smtp server. They will have one and you will be using it if you can send any emails from any email program on your desktop.

SMTP = simple mail transfer protocol. It is the way that emails are sent from your machine to the resipients' POP mailbox. Your ISP's smtp server relays (passes on, forwards, actually handles the transmission across the internet) your email from your machine to other smtp servers in the smtp 'cloud', these in turn relay your email untill it arrives at the destination pop server.

SMTP servers have nothing to do with the creation of emails, they only handle the transmission, think of them like email routers. Now, even if you have your own smtp server it is still going to need to connect to others to forward the email, most probably at your isp.