SMF2.0.7 No more email notifications when a new member joins

[margarett]

Easy. Empty the log. Then go to the mail queue and try to resend any pending one. You should get something in the log.

[Kindred]

and, if you are penetrating 879 pages (at 50 per page) of errors in 7 days, then you have some MAJOR code issues that you really do need to clean up.

I don't even generate 10 pages of errors in a MONTH

[SatTrkr]

I have never reset the error log and the forum has been up and running for over a year so that is probably a year's worth of data. I have deleted the log and will try what Margarett suggested later this evening.

The error log also showed a lot of failed passwords as if hackers were trying to gain access. It almost seemed like an automated attack and these happened many, many times. Just today there was about 4 pages of this going on.

[SatTrkr]

Here is the error log after I registered a new user. I did not receive a registration notification email!

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?scheduled=mailq;ts=1431216457

: 0 : php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?scheduled=mailq;ts=1431216330

: 0 : php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?action=register2

Could not connect to SMTP host: 0 : php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?action=register2

2: fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to tls://smpt.gmail.com:465 (php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known)

File: /home/content/07/11576007/html/heavenscape.com/Forums/Sources/Subs-Post.php
Line: 1325

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?action=register2

2: fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known

File: /home/content/07/11576007/html/heavenscape.com/Forums/Sources/Subs-Post.php
Line: 1325

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?action=register2

Could not connect to SMTP host: 0 : php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?action=register2

2: fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to tls://smpt.gmail.com:465 (php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known)

File: /home/content/07/11576007/html/heavenscape.com/Forums/Sources/Subs-Post.php
Line: 1325

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?action=register2

2: fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known

File: /home/content/07/11576007/html/heavenscape.com/Forums/Sources/Subs-Post.php
Line: 1325

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?scheduled=mailq;ts=1431216148

: 0 : php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known

http://www.heavenscape.com/Forums/index.php?scheduled=mailq;ts=1431211939

: 0 : php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known

[margarett]

That is, as we said several times, a server problem.

[SatTrkr]

I am speaking to Godaddy right now.

[SatTrkr]

Godaddy says they use a email relay server that will relay the email from SMF to my email provider, which, for my case, is gmail. They gave me the following SMTP setting:

relay-hosting.secureserver.net
use port 25

I set it up this way (at index.php?action=admin;area=mailqueue;sa=settings), logged out, registered a new user, and wala - I got an email notification of a new user. So now it appears to be working properly and I didn't have to change hosting sites. Let's see how this runs for a few days with any new registrants coming online. I hope this continues to work properly. Only time will tell.

I guess, as we look back at this, the key words that were missing from all responses was "relay server". This could have been explained from the onset but it wasn't. So here is how it works.

The hosting site - Godaddy - is hosting the SMF forum for me. In order to connect the email system to my email provider Godaddy uses a email relay server. This relay server is identified as relay-hosting.secureserver.net on port 25 since I have a Deluxe Web Hosting Linus account which is classified as Web/Classic (Hosting Control Panel) according to Godaddy. The relay server relays the email information out of the SMF Forum at relay-hosting.secureserver.net via port 25, which is set at index.php?action=admin;area=mailqueue;sa=settings, to the email provider - gmail in my case, which is set at index.php?action=admin;area=serversettings;sa=general at the Webmaster Email Address field which, for me, is [email protected].

Now it is very clear to me how all this works. Let's just hope it stays working.

[Steve]

Marking solved then. If things change, by all means mark it unsolved and post your problem.

[SatTrkr]

I thought the originator of the problem gets to mark it solved. All of a sudden you come online and mark it solved. So what's up with that? Are you the "marked solved" police? This problem is not solved until I say it is as I need to be sure that a new member that comes on my forum actually generates the email notification. Until I see that this is NOT solved yet since a prior test by me was successful but a new registrant resulted in NO email notification!

[Steve]

Chill my man. Anyone in support can mark a thread solved. And I have been following the thread so it's not like I just showed up out of nowhere and marked it. And, as I said, if the solution you found doesn't in fact solve your problem, then you can certainly mark it as not solved.

[SatTrkr]

That doesn't seem right nor fair. The originator of the problem should have the final say if it is solved or not and the originator gets to mark it solved as a form of satisfaction that a solution has been found based on the amount of effort spent. You marking it solved (and so very quickly after my post indicating that I had a solution to the problem) takes away the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment the originator had in working on this problem.

It is like a runner running a race. The runner is just about to cross the finish line after all that effort he put in during that one mile of the race and someone knocks him out of the way and crosses the finish line - kind of like taking the credit for someone else's work. There was over 5000 views of this problem so, to me, marking it solved is a big thing to me as a sense of accomplishment and winning the battle by getting to the root cause of the problem.

I think this should be looked in to and a change made to who can mark it solved.

I don't mean to make a big deal over this but I hope you can see my reasoning and, yes, it did piss me off seeing you blow in here and marking it solved in such a hurry not even giving me a chance to do that nor allowing me the courtesy of doing that, if it was the appropriate time to do so.

[Steve]

1. As I said, I didn't just 'blow in here' and mark it solved. I've been following the thread closely.

2. It only happened as fast as it did because I just happened to be here.

3. If we left it to the original posters to mark their threads solved, 99% would never be marked. Most get their solution and are never seen again.

4. Marking threads solved helps the support team know which threads need immediate attention and which don't.

And seriously, I find it odd that this is such a big deal but to each their own.

You can rant on some more if you wish but I won't be responding to it. I've told what happened and why things are the way they are. Accept it or don't.

[SatTrkr]

I am not one of the 99% that does not finish what is started. I am very aware of what is supposed to be done once a problem is resolved. So please don't classify me as one of those slackers. I'm not.

I have already made my point and that is all I am going to say on this subject.

[margarett]

@SatTrkr, I edited your post to remove your email address, unless you have a deep spam desire
Thank you for letting us know the supposed solution to the problem. I have to admit, it's a *really* nonsense configuration if you ask me (which you didn't ) but anyway, I'll keep this topic for future reference on this problem.

[SatTrkr]

margarett - Thanks for doing that for me with regard to the email address. I guess I was too consumed with the solution that corrected the problem. So far I have not had any new registrants yet. They usually come along every few days or so. I will stay on top of this though and thank you for helping me out with this. As soon as a new registrant comes in and I get an email notification as such I will then mark this solved.

[SatTrkr]

I got two new registrants overnight and I did NOT get the new registrant email notification. The error log is empty. I checked my Google spam folder and there were no emails from the SMF forum. Looks like I am going to have to dig deeper into this. Right now I am moving and won't be back online until Wednesday.

What is the significance of the email queue (index.php?action=admin;area=mailqueue;sa=settings) and what is the recommended setup for it? I have it enabled and set both available fields to 5. Is this okay?

[Steve]

http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Mail

[margarett]

Yes, these values are OK for the queue. Do you have the same errors in your log (about emails, that is) as before?

About the mail queue:
http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Mail
It's basically a mechanism built in SMF that prevents all your emails to be sent at once, because this can (and will!) cause your server to be blacklisted as a spam source.
What it does is to send just some emails in certain intervals:
* Max "xx" mails per minute (as you configure it, so that you don't send too many emails in a certain time interval)
* Max "yy" mails per page load (so that you do don't send many mails at once)

Are these mails "stuck" in the queue? Can you find them there?

[SatTrkr]

Thank you for the information on the mail queue.

There are no errors reported. The count of All Errors is at zero.

The mail queue is empty.

The gmail spam folder is empty of any SMF type emails.

The task log does show Approval Notifications at about the same time as was the registration.

[margarett]

So as far as SMF is concerned, all emails are sent

We need to try another thing.
Tell me something: do you have your own emails? Eg: if your forum is www.forum.com, can you create emails [email protected]? And if so, are these emails configurable through your GD's control panel?

I'm sorry but I'll stick with the conviction that GD is the problem (and that "mail relay" thing). So we'll try the PHP mail route.