Options Manager -- Configuration of Discus to work with SMTP mail server

Technical configuration of SMTP mailing tutorial

In this tutorial, you will configure your Discus board to send e-mail notification messages via an SMTP server. This mail sending method is similar to what you likely use if you use a POP3 mail client. When sending mail, the mail client connects to the SMTP service on the appropriate server. The SMTP server receives the incoming e-mail message and sends it to its ultimate recipient. To use this method of mail sending, you need to have an SMTP server that will relay the mail from your server. There are actually two components to this requirement.

First, you need to know the IP address for an available SMTP server. If you don't know the IP address of the mail server, there is a tip below to try out. If that does not work, you can always ask your web host.

Second, when you have found your SMTP server, it must be set up to relay mail from your web server to the rest of the internet. So-called "open relays" that relay mail from any machine at all are frequently exploited by spammers, so server administrators take steps to ensure that the mail sending functions of your server are used only by authorized individuals. Your web server must be authorized to use the SMTP service in order to be able to send messages through Discus.

Follow through this tutorial to set up Discus to send its e-mail messages through the SMTP service on an available mail server.

1. If you have not already done so, navigate to Options Manager ® E-mail and clicked the "Configure E-mail Notification" button. Clicking that button should have popped open a new window entitled "Technical Configuration of Mail Program." (If not, go back to the previous page and read the red paragraph marked "Important" at the top of that page.)

2. In the "Choose Mailing Method" box, check the radio button next to "Socket Module." If this option does not show up, use "Net::SMTP" or "Mail::Sendmail" in that order. If none of these show up, your Perl distribution is not configured with any of the modules necessary to send messages directly to an SMTP server, and you will not be able to complete the remaining steps of this tutorial.

3. In the text box next to the module you've just selected, enter the numeric IP address of your mail server. The mail server may have a different IP address than your web server.

   • If you know the IP address of your mail server, enter it now.

   • If you do not know the IP address of a mail server, you can check to see if the web server itself is also running a mail server. To do this, enter the IP address 127.0.0.1 in the box (this IP address always resolves to "localhost" which means the same machine from which the command is being executed). Follow through the rest of this tutorial and if it works, you're good to go!

   • If the above tip doesn't work, you will need to ask your web host for the numeric IP address of your mail server.

4. Skip the "Command Line Mailer" section. These settings are not used when mailing via a SMTP server, so they can be ignored.

5. Under "Test and Save Settings," enter your own e-mail address and click the "Test" button. Wait a few moments and then check your e-mail.

6. When you have successfully received the e-mail message, click the "Save Settings Now" button on the resulting screen. Then click the "Close" button to close the pop-up window. Congratulations on setting up e-mail notification on this server. Assuming your web host does not make any major server configuration changes, you will never have to do this again!

Potential Error Messages

The following are potential error messages that could be returned by the Socket module as you seek to set up e-mail notification.

• IP.ADDRESS send error (rcpt to youremail@yourdomain.com) (perhaps relaying denied?): The mail server you attempted to use is not configured to relay mail from your web server. Recall that a requirement to use this mailing method is that you have an available SMTP server that will relay mail. If your web host runs this mail server, ask them to configure it so that will relay mail from the web server.

• Connect Failed to IP.ADDRESS port 25: Connection refused: You entered the IP address of a valid computer, but that computer is not running an SMTP mail server.

• Connect Failed to IP.ADDRESS port 25: No route to host: You have entered an invalid IP address for the mail server. It could also be that the server is down and not responding.

• Connect Failed to IP.ADDRESS port 25: Invalid argument: You have entered an invalid IP address for the mail server. The IP address itself is not valid (it must be in the format ###.###.###.### where the four groups of numbers are each between 0 and 255, inclusive.

• SMTP server is invalid: You did not enter a numeric IP address for the SMTP server. Perhaps you entered the server's name or you had spaces in or around the IP address you typed. To use the socket module, you must enter the numeric IP address for the mail server.

• Nothing happens after a very long time: While we cannot be certain what went wrong, generally this would indicate that your web server is having difficulty connecting to the mail server. Confirm that you are using a valid IP address and that that computer actually has an SMTP mail server running on it.

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