Arg E-mail has betrayed me!

[Mr_Bob]

Problem in short: Vbulletin is not sending out any E-mails which include activation E-mails. In other words, no mail is being sent for some reason.


Heh, I knew that would get attention . Anyway, over the past few weeks for some reson VB has not been sending out any E-mails. Nothing, not even activation E-mails. This is of course a big problem. Over the past few days I have tried talking with my host who suggested that I install formail (ok...that would help how) and stated they do not support third party software. So, it has to be something on the server side that is causing VB's PHP mail function to not send mail. This is of course unless there is something wrong with the software.


This is what I have done:
Registered a test acount and waited for mail....none
Did the E-mail diognostics.... still no E-mail
Tried mass mailing...no mail sent

If anyone can help me out that would be great . Sorry for the spelling, I am typing in frustration

[Steve Machol]

First try this:

Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Server Settings and Optimization Options -> Enable "-f" Parameter -> Yes

Then try the vB email functions. If it still doesn't work, then try the email diagnostics in the Admin CP and report back the results:

Admin CP -> Imports & Maintenance -> Diagnostics -> Email

If after all this you still don't 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. If you are on a shared server you may need to ask your host to look through the logs for you.

[Mr_Bob]

Ok, I turned on the -f function only to get this error
"The mailing function retuned an error
Check your mail server to ensure it is configured correctly to allow PHP to send mail from it. You should also check your mail server's error log for more diagnostic information."

These are the settings shown with and without this setting on (both are the same).
SMTP:localhost
sendmail_from:None
sendmail_path:/usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i"

I will contact my host again. Is there anything specific I should tell them to look for or function to enable?

[Steve Machol]

Give them that error and tell them that vB uses PHP's mail() function for all its email and uses the SMTP server specified in php.ini. If PHP and the mail server are configured correctly then email will work.

[Mr_Bob]

Ok, this is the response I recieved from my host
"Hello,

There are more than 100 virtual accounts on the server and most of them are using php mail() function to sendout e-mail throuhg the server without any problem, So it's obvious to us that there is nothing wrong with the server, Please provide us with the exact URL that you have problem with and we will check it.
Please notice that , normally ***** doesn't provide software developing and could not help its customers in their third party codes."

What link, or something can I give my host so they can inspect to see what is wrong?
Thanks

[Steve Machol]

I hate getting involved in these kind of disputes. Whether your host wants to believe it or not, the bottom line is that vB uses PHP's mail() function for all its email and uses the SMTP server specified in php.ini. If PHP and the mail server are configured correctly then email will work.

Unfortunately this puts you in the middle. If the host wants to provide us with root access to this server then we may be able to troubleshoot this problem for them. However if they don't want to do this, then there is nothing more we can do. They will have to be the ones to fix this.

By the way, who is your host?

[walg]

My email is also not functioning to external domains; only to domains that the mail server it's connecting to is authoritative.

SMTP:192.168.11.4
sendmail_from:[email protected]
sendmail_path:None

Server is IIS 6, php version is 4.3.5.
I can successfully forward emails from a mailbox to my target test account, though.

[Steve Machol]

Walg, please start your own thread with all the relevant details. Thanks.