Specify email server?

[Patty]

Hello,

It seems like I must need to specify my email server somewhere, but even after much searching I can't find where that would be.

Can someone straighten me out? Thanks very much in advance.

Patty

[Steve Machol]

You can't specicy a mail server with vB. vB uses PHP's mail() function. You need to configure PHP to use the correct mail server. Are you on a dedicated server?

[Patty]

You can't specicy a mail server with vB. vB uses PHP's mail() function. You need to configure PHP to use the correct mail server. Are you on a dedicated server?

Oh. OK. No, I'm not, I'm on shared hosting. What do I need to ask/request of the host?

Patty

[Steve Machol]

Oh. OK. No, I'm not, I'm on shared hosting. What do I need to ask/request of the host?

Patty

First of all, what makes you think the email isn't properly configured on this server? Most professional web host servers already have this set up.

[Patty]

First of all, what makes you think the email isn't properly configured on this server? Most professional web host servers already have this set up.

Ok, good question. (1) I assumed it needed to be set up by me because the ASP and ColdFusion boards I've set up required it. As you can see, I am a rank newbie to PHP.

But (2): People who register for the board don't receive the email.

Not sure what I should be checking. Can someone help?

Patty

[Steve Machol]

Upload mailtest.php to your forums directory (it's in the 'extras' folder of the zip file) and run it from your browser. Using your email address as a test, what happens? Any errors? Do you get the email?

If you do not get the email then this is a server and/or mailbox issue. You will need to view the mail logs on the server to see what happened to those emails. Once vB sends it to PHP it's in the hands of the server. Since you are on a shared server you will need to ask your host to look through the logs for you.

For what it's worth I get a lot of bounced emails from people who's mail boxes are full, 'unavailable' or over quota. This is a particular problem with hotmail and yahoo accounts. Unless you are on a dedicated server and can set where these bounce messages go, you will never see them. The mail logs will have a record of these though.

[Patty]

Upload mailtest.php to your forums directory (it's in the 'extras' folder of the zip file) and run it from your browser. Using your email address as a test, what happens? Any errors? Do you get the email?

...

Thanks very much - will do this first thing tomorrow.

Patty

[Patty]

Upload mailtest.php to your forums directory (it's in the 'extras' folder of the zip file) and run it from your browser. Using your email address as a test, what happens? Any errors? Do you get the email?.

Did this. I received no errors, and I did get the email.

I then tried again to register for the forum as a new member, and again the email wasn't received. I've tried this with several of my own email addresses. None are over-quota; they're my everyday email addresses which are working fine.

What should I check next? Many thanks again for your help.

Patty

If you do not get the email then this is a server and/or mailbox issue. You will need to view the mail logs on the server to see what happened to those emails. Once vB sends it to PHP it's in the hands of the server. Since you are on a shared server you will need to ask your host to look through the logs for you.

For what it's worth I get a lot of bounced emails from people who's mail boxes are full, 'unavailable' or over quota. This is a particular problem with hotmail and yahoo accounts. Unless you are on a dedicated server and can set where these bounce messages go, you will never see them. The mail logs will have a record of these though.

[Steve Machol]

It seems you've continued this here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86606