By battochir on
I have recently been assigned a project at school using different cms's. I have chosen to use Drupal 4.4.0 because it is stable, which is what I need to use. Also, I am using windowsXP, apache 2.0, all with mysq 4.0. Installation was very easy but I do not understand how Drupal sends mail to it's new users. This is the email that we all recieved with our password. Do I need sendmail? Can I just use the php mail function? Can someone please explain this process? I have looked through the forums and found very little documentation on this. I think this is simple, but I do not know the answer. Thanks!
Groets,
Wim
Comments
Drupal does *not* send mail i
Drupal does *not* send mail itself. You *should* have a working mail transport agent (MTA) that Drupal will be addressing to do this. I do not use Windows, so I could not help you more directly, but I think that sendmail is available also for Windows.
Good luck!
On Windows...
On Windows, you need to install a mail server. Google around a bit, you might find some GPL solutions.
Or free trials like this one:
http://www.indigostar.com/sendmail.htm
SMTP server
On Windows you can specify the address of an SMTP server for PHP to use in php.ini.
That's very interesting
Could you please explain this further? Do you mean, for example, using your ISP's server to handle the mail or just using the php mail function? Are you saying that I DO NOT need to install a mail server and can just use the php mail function via, for example "Apache", instead? Thanks for the idea.
Groets,
Wim
Do you mean, for example, u
Do you mean, for example, using your ISP's server to handle the mail or just using the php mail function?
Yes, if the setup of your ISP SMTP server permits this (ask)!
Look in php.ini for more details how to set up this function.
Cheers!
sounds like an easier way...
Thanks very much for the follow-up. This sounds like a much easier way to deal with mail. The downside is...your mail lives and is controlled on someone else's server. This suggestion sounds very good if I cannot deal with, for some reason, a mail server myself. Can I ask what you (or anyone else reading this post!) do while using Drupal? Do you use your ISP and the php mail function or do you have your own mail server set-up? Thanks again!
Groets,
Wim
For me it was no problem to s
For me it was no problem to start the mailserver on my Linux box, but I wanted to avoid that since my PC is only a workstation on a LAN. I wanted to use the "central" SMTP sever for emailing (I have an account there), and so I used the phpmailer library (look at my posts for more details & further links).
All the best;)
thanks i100yanov...
You have helped me a grate deal. I will look at your posts and see what I can put together. Linux is much easier for such things. This is why we have a windows setup, to test the compatibility and quality of open source software on windows platforms. The biggest issue so far has been the mailserver. From what I have up to now seen, XMail is the only good open source alternative if you must have your own mail server. Otherwise, your suggestions seem the best route. I will post what I find here to see what others think. Thanks again for your help.
Groets,
Wim
You're welcome;) Cheers!
You're welcome;)
Cheers!
Mercury
If you settle for freeware instead of open source, Mercury/32 is an alternative choice for windows, easy to setup and configure.
http://www.pmail.com/overviews/ovw_mercwin.htm
Another choice would be to something like this:
http://blat.sourceforge.net/
haven't tried it myself.
Thanks pz...
Thank you for the additional suggestions. All suggestions are appreciated! I was unaware of both Mercury/32 and blat. I will look into both. Thanks again!
Groets,
Wim
Not open source, but there is
Not open source, but there is a very good free version available that is in many ways very much easier to use then Mercury is MailEnable. http://www.mailenable.com/
blat is a command line send utility. If you just need a was to send out smtp mail, then setting up the IIS SMTP part on the XP system is the easiest. The only catch is that you can only do this with Windows XP Pro, not home.
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide
not really
"The downside is...your mail lives and is controlled on someone else's server."
Oh not true, young Jedi! There are definate advantages to 'outsourcing' things like mail.
Email is something we all depend on. In some isntances, it is what 'runs' the business. As a developer, or system admin, do you want the added responsibility of a mail server? Not if you can outsource it for next to nothing.
If you have the knowledge, time and equipment to run everything in house, by all means, do it.
But if not, using an outside source is not a bad thing. I think this is what seperates the 'good' admins/developers from the 'great' admins/developers: The ability to make the best business decisions for the tasks at hand.
Annie
tell me more obi wan!
Do you mean simply hiring someone else to deal with the mail? Another firm which then routes the mail to me from their servers?
"The downside is...your mail lives and is controlled on someone else's server."
I understand the concept, it's done in software production all the time. But, is my statement above still not true? Yes, they may be handling my mail for me, but does the mail still not live on their servers? Is the mail still not controlled by others? Thank you for your response. I never thought of it that way.
Groets,
Wim
Two choices
When it comes to email, really, what do you need control over? You would need the ability to add more email addresses, delete addresses, the ability to send email via web forms and the ability to send and recieve email.
Does it really matter where the mail lives? Your computer doesn't care where the mail is, as long as it can find it. Your users won't care where the mail is, as long as they can get it. Drupal doesn't care where the mail server is, as long as it can access it to send messages.
The way I see it, you have two choices:
1. Download and install your own mail server. Learn how to use it. Configure it, maintain it, secure it and keep it running 24 x 7. If it breaks, YOU must fix it--even if it's at 3 a.m. You must also do things like set up spam filters, backup the server, keep the server safe by instituting firewalls, antivirus programs and UPS. or.......
2. Call your local ISP and pay them a small fee to set up X amount of email addresses for you. If you host your domain with them, most hosting packages come with several email addresses at no extra charge.
Chose the option that will work best for you. Yes, your email is on someone elses' machine. Is this a downside? I don't think so. Maintaining a site and users is a big responsibility--reduce your load where you can :-)
Annie
very well said
Thank you again for your response. Well, when you put it the way you just did it's hard to do otherwise. Your reasoning is to the point. In both scenarios, you get the same functionality. Only in scenario two, you are not breaking your back to do it. If this is the case, why do so many people run their own mail servers? What would the benefits be against what you just said? Thanks again for being so clear and to the point!
Groets,
Wim
If this is the case, why do s
If this is the case, why do so many people run their own mail servers? What would the benefits be against what you just said?
Running your own mail server is obviously cheaper, if you already have the equipment, software and knowledge/experience. If you don't have the equipment, software, knowledge or experience, use a third party provider until you gain the equipment, software, knowledge and experience.
Sort of like being a mechanic. You don't run out and buy ten thousand dollars worth of tools when you first start out. You start out small, and use other people's tools first. :-) Best of luck to you !!
Annie
PHP.ini edited but still no mail
Dear friend.
i just edited my \windows\php.in with the next lines
[mail function]
; For Win32 only.
SMTP = 213.172.47.20 // this is the test ISP mail server IP
smtp_port = 25
; For Win32 only.
sendmail_from = 'carlos.alonso@techex.es' //this is my mail acount so i supose i need to use a valid mail acount.
When i create a user drupal say: created user, no mail sent
could you help me???
Please start a new thread
Please start a new thread specific to your situation rather then revive a thread from two years ago. Your configruation doesn't look correct as is.
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide
Thanks for the responses
I appreciate the suggestions very much. They have helped put me in the right direction and I am very thankful. I am currently looking at XMail. Does anyone have experience with XMail? It looks like many Drupal users are non-windows users, but I think there must be some people out there who have dealt with this. What do windows users do? Not all windows users use IIS. At least I hope not!
Groets,
Wim
I had great difficulty gettin
I had great difficulty getting a test version of XMail to work on a windows platform. I finally did it, but switched to the free version of MailEnable for the client that wanted to host their own email.
Why not use IIS? Contrary to the rumor mill, IIS is a very capable and securable solution? It does need a Windows OS license though.
The advantages of Apache are native mod_rewrite.
-sp
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide