Send mail without using mail()

[redrage]

you could always use imap_mail() too

there are many options 🙂

If the web/mail server is down the last thing i would be worried about is if my mail script still functions lol.

[sneakyimp]

i had my sysadmin watching mail logs yesterday as i tested mail vs. phpmailer. apparently the particular server i was developing on didn't have reverse DNS. A number of domains were rejecting mail because they could verify the server was what it claimed to be.

I think this would still be a problem with imap_mail.

[redrage]

nope, no PTR recrod and most places will not accept your mail regardless how it is sent

[sneakyimp]

well the phpmailer mail was getting through because it was routed through the legit mail server (with proper reverse DNS). In fact, it went straight to the inbox without being filtered into the junk mail folder!

That said, i hear rumors that it can be used as an open relay somehow.

[bradgrafelman]

sneakyimp wrote:

That said, i hear rumors that it can be used as an open relay somehow.

Well that depends - how are you sending mail? Are you allowing direct input from the user, or are you just generating an e-mail and sending it to a specified address?

[sneakyimp]

all emails have essentially fixed content related to account information on my site. the phpmailer classes are out of the public web root and get included by the code for my site.

[bradgrafelman]

Then based on that setup, I don't see how it would be used as an open relay.

However, it may be open to abuse by spammers, in which case you might look at two things:

1. Limiting the number of e-mails that can be generated by a single IP address in a certain time period.
2. Using a CAPTCHA image to validate form submission

[webstyler]

redrage wrote:

I don't use mail() either. ever since the start of php 4 i've had many issues (some of which are just me being stupid) but in all cases this worked for me and its stupid simple.

function send_mail($server,$mailto,$mailfrom,$mailfromname,$subject,$message) {
  $sh = fsockopen($server, 25, $errno,$errstr,15);

  if (!$sh) {
    echo "Failed to connect to $server". $errno . " | " . $errstr;
   } else {
     $verify = fgets($sh, 128);
     if (!eregi("220",$verify)) {
       echo "Verify Error, No connect string recieved | $verify";
     } else {
      fwrite($sh,"HELO $server\r\n");
      fwrite($sh,"MAIL FROM: $mailfrom\r\n");
      fwrite($sh,"RCPT TO: $mailto\r\n");
      fwrite($sh,"DATA\n");
      fwrite($sh,"Subject: $subject\r\n");
      fwrite($sh,"From: $mailfromname <$mailfrom>\r\n\r\n");
      fwrite($sh,"$message\r\n");
      fwrite($sh,".\r\n");
      $verify = fgets($sh,128);
       if (!eregi("250",$verify)) {
        echo "Error: ". $verify;
        } else {
        echo "<div class=\"boxes\">Message Sent!</div>";
        }
      fwrite($sh,"quit\r\n");

  }
   }
  fclose($sh);
}

🙂

I get this
"Error: 220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited,"

Think because my smtp need auth.. can you help me to how add this ?

tx

[webstyler]

MarkR wrote:

The above is daft. Don't write your own SMTP implementation (PHP has one built in!), and don't use SMTP if there is a local MTA available (e.g. if sendmail is working).

A local MTA is pretty much essential, as this is the only way which mail will get queued correctly if the upstream server (smart host or whatever) is down for any reason.

Think mail() is really good function but limited to send not mailing..

SMTP is too fast
SMTP permit to manage more smtp server for send mailing with more server
SMTP return realime error (correct??) about basic email (bad address,...)

Neither PHP's SMTP implementation, nor the above piece of code, have any provision for queueing and retrying in the event of a server failure.
Mark

uhm... you write that trought smtp there isn't queue and with mail() yes, correct ?

think that for mailing is better to manage retry directly throught script..

x example if we send 30.000 emails x hour and the 5% have an error we have more than 1500 emails for any hour that add to queue.. dangerous for server and for blacklist..

🙂

[bradgrafelman]

No, PHP's mail() does not support SMTP authentication, which it sounds like you need.

You'll have to look for some SMTP/mailing classes that do support authentication - PHPMailer comes to mind.

[webstyler]

bradgrafelman wrote:

No, PHP's mail() does not support SMTP authentication, which it sounds like you need.

You'll have to look for some SMTP/mailing classes that do support authentication - PHPMailer comes to mind.

Hi, I use smtp 😐

[Lang]

I found that the PHPMailer class was too difficult to use.

I could get it so send mail from an ordinary mail server. I could not get it to send mail from a mail server that required SSL authetication (ie: port 465)

I need a function that could send newsletters to the people on my website. So I made a system where the newsletter was created and every hour 50 of the emails would be sent.

And I used the mail() function for this. It works fine.