Is port 465 blocked?

[ipodtouchforum]

I had Gmail working as the SMTP server for my forum, and now it as abruptly stopped wotking without any changes to the ACP or Gmail account. This is the PHP error being reported in the log every time the forum attempts to send a notification email:

Could not connect to smtp host : 110 : Connection timed out

<b>[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice</b>: in file <b>/includes/functions_messenger.php</b> on line <b>846</b>: <b>fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to ssl://smtp.gmail.com:465 (Connection timed out)</b><br />

How do I fix this?

BTW settings in the ACP are: (If I am missing something, Im sorry, but I can't check them as my forum is down at the moment)

Use SMTP instead of local mail?- YES
SMTP server: ssl:smtp.gmail.com
Port: 465
Login Type: LOGIN
Username: xxxxxxx@gmail.com
Password: xxxxxxx

 

[garrettroyce]

fsockopen() is a function that you should not rely on working in this context. It has been disabled before because it is a security risk. If you can use local mail, I would do that instead.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

fsockopen() is a function that you should not rely on working in this context. It has been disabled before because it is a security risk. If you can use local mail, I would do that instead.

Ok, what is local mail? Is it part of PHPBB or x10hosting? And how would I go about setting it up?

And back to my original question, is 465 blocked? Why was it be working fine and then stop? I'm sure it isn't because I am sending too many emails a day, either. Only about 10 or 12 go out a day.

 

[garrettroyce]

fsockopen() was supposed to always be blocked unless you had PHPV3 or paid hosting on X10. I'm guessing when the new system was implemented, this function may have been accidentally unblocked. It's a risky function, because it creates a direct connection to another server, and it can be easily abused.

Local mail means you are using your X10 mail account. I've also noticed you can use fsockopen() on your own local account, as long as the fsockopen() is not trying to open a connection to another server.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

fsockopen() was supposed to always be blocked unless you had PHPV3 or paid hosting on X10. I'm guessing when the new system was implemented, this function may have been accidentally unblocked. It's a risky function, because it creates a direct connection to another server, and it can be easily abused.

Local mail means you are using your X10 mail account. I've also noticed you can use fsockopen() on your own local account, as long as the fsockopen() is not trying to open a connection to another server.

Ok, so I need to configure it to use the local mail. Where can I find the email server information? (I would assume in cPanel, but it isn't loading at the moment) Or is it as simple as choosing NO on "Use SMTP instead of local mail?" ?

 

[garrettroyce]

It is in cpanel

When it's back up, you need to go to mail and then select "configure mail client" next to the email address you want to send it from.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

It is in cpanel

When it's back up, you need to go to mail and then select "configure mail client" next to the email address you want to send it from.

Ok, so the correct settings would be: (?)

Use SMTP server for e-mail:- No
SMTP server: mail.ipodtouchforum.exofire.net
Port: 25
Login Type: PLAIN
Username: staff+ipodtouchforum.exofire.net
Password: The password I set for the mail account

And, as a side question, I have completely changed my email settings in the ACP and purged the cache (twice), but the forum is still trying to us the old settings (Gmail). What do I have to do for it to take note of the new settings?

 

[garrettroyce]

This seems to be an issue while the servers are being transferred. The data is out of synch. When things stabilize, you should be good to go. I don't think there's anything we can do to speed this process up

It'll be worth the wait when it's all done though. We should be back up to ~95% uptime on the free servers from where we are now and have been lately.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

This seems to be an issue while the servers are being transferred. The data is out of synch. When things stabilize, you should be good to go. I don't think there's anything we can do to speed this process up

It'll be worth the wait when it's all done though. We should be back up to ~95% uptime on the free servers from where we are now and have been lately.

Ok. Thanks for the help. I guess I'll reply when the settings take effect and say if it works or not.

BTW I have been noticing better uptime lately with my forum, although it has been running a little slow. Last week it was lightning fast (I had NEVER seen it so fast. It was like browsing Google, haha) but the uptime was still an issue. cPanel seems to be slow and down a lot, though. And FTP is timing out on the welcome message delay.

 

[Smith6612]

Ok. Thanks for the help. I guess I'll reply when the settings take effect and say if it works or not.

BTW I have been noticing better uptime lately with my forum, although it has been running a little slow. Last week it was lightning fast (I had NEVER seen it so fast. It was like browsing Google, haha) but the uptime was still an issue. cPanel seems to be slow and down a lot, though. And FTP is timing out on the welcome message delay.

The slowness is just due to the two servers that are being used having 4 servers worth of people on it and using it due to an uptime test Corey is running. I'm sure that Corey will get more servers and even out the load once his stability test is done. Just take a look at cPanel's server status page at http://*yoursite*:2082/frontend/x3/status.html and look at the CPU load (measured in Linux's version of CPU load vs running processes) if the site feels sluggish. Right now Lotus's CPU is moving all over the place in load and is in the red.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

Ok tried it with the settings I mentioned above, and I get the same error, but with the new server instead of Gmail:

Could not connect to smtp host : 110 : Connection timed out

<b>[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice</b>: in file <b>/includes/functions_messenger.php</b> on line <b>846</b>: <b>fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to mail.ipodtouchforum.exofire.net:25 (Connection timed out)</b><br />

 

[garrettroyce]

I'm not sure if fsockopen() will work even locally, but it did for me on my old free account using SMF. Did you try using the local mail option?

This problem may also be resolved when the PHP version system is re-implemented. Everyone's on "v2" but I wonder if fsockopen() is still disabled.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

I'm not sure if fsockopen() will work even locally, but it did for me on my old free account using SMF. Did you try using the local mail option?

This problem may also be resolved when the PHP version system is re-implemented. Everyone's on "v2" but I wonder if fsockopen() is still disabled.

I don't think I understand what the local mail function is still. WOuld you please explain what it is, and how to set it up? Thanks. (And I am using PHPBB v3, not v2)

 

[garrettroyce]

PHP V2 is a reference to X10's PHP system, not PHPBB. I forgot they used the same name

The local mail I was talking about is in reference to your first post:

Use SMTP instead of local mail?- YES
SMTP server: ssl:smtp.gmail.com
Port: 465
Login Type: LOGIN
Username: xxxxxxx@gmail.com
Password: xxxxxxx

I haven't used PHPBB very extensively, but I think if you change the first setting to NO, it may work.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

I swear; I erased all the settings and changed the first option to NO, and now it's sending notifications from Gmail again. Guess I'll have to wait a few hours again.

 

[garrettroyce]

It looks like Corey is pretty close to done with the transfers. I'd just let him finish if you can wait. It'll probably save you a lot of headaches

 

[ipodtouchforum]

It looks like Corey is pretty close to done with the transfers. I'd just let him finish if you can wait. It'll probably save you a lot of headaches

That would probably be a good idea. But, it seems as though the settings have taken effect now. I am not getting any notification emails, and there are no errors in the log saying that a send failed. So I have a feeling either I need to change NO back to YES, or leave it at NO and fill in the email settings for x10.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

That would probably be a good idea. But, it seems as though the settings have taken effect now. I am not getting any notification emails, and there are no errors in the log saying that a send failed. So I have a feeling either I need to change NO back to YES, or leave it at NO and fill in the email settings for x10.

Ok, server is fine now, load is normal. Tried NO with correct settings and YES with correct settings. Neither produced and errors or results. Not sure what's going on here.

 

[garrettroyce]

The server transfers aren't completely done. Only absolut and stoli. If you are on either of those, you can now submit a ticket. Otherwise, you'll still have to wait. Corey said the transfers will be done tomorrow.

 

[ipodtouchforum]

The server transfers aren't completely done. Only absolut and stoli. If you are on either of those, you can now submit a ticket. Otherwise, you'll still have to wait. Corey said the transfers will be done tomorrow.

Here we go, actually got an error this time, and it's useful:

Could not connect to smtp host : 949314688 : Unable to find the socket transport "http" - did you forget to enable it when you configured PHP?

<b>[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice</b>: in file <b>/includes/functions_messenger.php</b> on line <b>846</b>: <b>fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to http://mail.ipodtouchforum.exofire.net:25 (Unable to find the socket transport &quot;http&quot; - did you forget to enable it when you configured PHP?)</b><br />

Am I supposed to use http://mail.ipodtouchforum.exofire.net as the SMTP server, or ssl://mail.ipodtouchforum.exofire.net?