Order shipped email problem

[Mike Hughes]

I've just got my first order on a new site (with a new host) It feels great but I've run into a problem with my 'order shipped' email.

I've looked through the knowledge database and searched the forum but can't find an answer. Can anyone help?.

The message I get when I try to send the email is:

******************************8

Failed to communicate with the SMTP server.

Possible Cause:
Network transmission problems.

Recommendation:
Retry

Resolution:
If retry fails, check your SMTP settings
or contact your ISP.


The error was:
58327Gxxx.Jxxx@btinternet.comError returned from SMTP server (6: 250 <Service@mysite.co.uk> is syntactically correct


Command: send Filename:

*******************************

I've checked and double checked the smtp settings and they look right. (a simple 'mail.mysite.co.uk')

I've tried the network settings test and that sends an email OK.

The smtp settings are also identical to those I'm using in outlook which work fine so I can't understand why the email isn't going.

Any ideas anyone?

PS. I'm using 6.0.2. and it works fine on another site of mine.

[ditch]

You might want to contact your host on this one. Some mail servers require authenification or that you download your e-mail before it will let you send.

I've had terrible problems with e-mail from actinic, particularly as the software doesn't seem to like IP addresses mail servers so best of luck.

[Mike Hughes]

The mail server works fine without authentication turned on in Outlook so I don't think it's that.

Maybe someone from actinic will know what the error message means.

Mike

[ditch]

yeah, send them a message from the support site

[Mike Hughes]

I've sent actinic a message on the support side so we'll see what their answer is.

On my mail server side, I've tested it with groupmail ( a great little bulk email program) and it can send via my mailserver in every different mode I tried. I tested 5 or 6 different settings (Ip/Domain, pop-authentication/no pop authentication, etc ) and they all work fine.

So from what I can see there's no apparent reason why actinic shouldn't be able to send the email.

Mike

[NormanRouxel]

The error was:
58327Gxxx.Jxxx@btinternet.comError returned from SMTP server (6: 250 <Service@mysite.co.uk> is syntactically correct

That's a bit wierd as a 250 response generally means OK and not an error. Error responses start with higher numbers.

Norman

[I-CC]

Have you tried changing the SMTP detail from your mail.xxxxx. to just "localhost" without the quotes.

Seems to work 99/100 times.

[Mike Hughes]

I just tried changing to 'localhost' and get the same problem.

I also see another error message (probably more often than the other one):

**********************************

The error was:
58325xxx.xxxx@btinternet.comError returned from SMTP server (7: 550-Host wh1.korambayil.com (www.mydomain.co.uk) [66.246.37.207] is not permitted

***********************************

I don't know if this helps anyone to figure out what's going on here.

Thanks.

Mike

[I-CC]

Is the error you report from pressing the Test button within the Network Settings or from actually trying to send an email out from the Actinic application?

The test button had some problems in previous versions reporting failed smtp server when infact if you updated the site they worked, but not sure how much this is affecting you at the moment.

[garyhay]

Seen a btinternet address in there and if memory serves me right BT don't have SMTP mail

[Mike Hughes]

The error is from actinic business on my PC trying to send an order shipped email. When I use the 'test' button within Network Settings' I get the test email OK.

The BT address is the destination address, so isn't the problem (and I'm pretty sure my BT account does use smtp).

I got a reply from actinic support saying the problem is mine but not giving me enough of an explanation to help me much. I've asked them for a little clarification.

Mike

[I-CC]

Ok...

Next option to check on might be to see if the servers email settings are setup to send out emails from your IP address and domain name, that being the IP address that your site is on, and not your ISP login IP address.

[MikeW]

Hi,

Not sure if this is a coincidence but after several months without problems I've suddenly seem to have the same problem.

That is emails are no longer being sent and when I try to send a mail within Actinic I get the following error. I've tried using a different smpt server but get exactly the same error. I'm completely baffled!.

Failed to communicate with the SMTP server.

Possible Cause:
Network transmission problems.

Recommendation:
Retry

Resolution:
If retry fails, check your SMTP settings
or contact your ISP.


The error was:
58317mikew@eu-golf.comError returned from SMTP server (3: 530 Authentication required


Command: send Filename:

[NormanRouxel]

Mike,

Your error 530 is that your SMTP server requires you to Authenticate yourself.

Actinic doesn't support Authenticated SMTP (but had better start doing so pretty soon in my opinion as this problem is cropping up more and more ).

If this used to work in the past it's possible that your host has changed from simple SMTP to Authenticated SMTP without telling you. I'd talk to them.

Norman

[MikeW]

Hi Norman,

Yep you are absolutely correct, they have changed to authenticated mail. This is a big problem, luckily I had an account with a host that doesn't authenticate so I'm using them.

Hopefully authenticated mail will be a feature on the next release!

Thanks again for you assistance.

Mike

[garyhay]

just testing a site a with a catch all domain e.g. anything@anywhere.com but get the same message as you if I use a bumuser@anywhere.com address

[NormanRouxel]

Nice of them not to tell you.

More and more providers are locking down their SMTP servers to try and stop all these denial of service 'bots and Klez virus types. I get about a dozen Klez a day arriving. They're a real pain but occassionally some fun as Klez also attaches a randome fil from the infected senders system. I've had really interesting documents arriving here that the infected sender has no knowledge of them going.

I have a patch that uses the servers sendmail or other default mailer instead of doing the very low-level SMTP that Actinic uses. Your server, however, has to support the Perl module Mail::Mailer and have sendmail or equivalent. If they have these then you could try my patch.

Try the "localhost" server setting as mentioned above first, though.

Norman

[Mike Hughes]

Thanks Norman, I may need that.

As people are saying, hosts are locking down their servers to prevent third party spam mail.

I'm working with my host to try and find exactly what bit is causing the problem but Actinic don't seem very co-operative in telling us how they're using smtp so we can test the mail server settings.

I've asked about the Perl module Mail::Mailer and sendmail so we can fallback to your workaround if necessary.

I'm beginning to suspect that the problem is the anti-spam measures that some hosts are using that tries to detect 'fake' headers and that Actinic are somehow triggering it.

Still, I'm sure we'll find out the actual cause soon. I'll report back as soon as I know.

Mike

[NormanRouxel]

You have the source code of all the perl scripts. If anyone at your server end wants a peek. Look in Site1 for Actinic.pm and inside that the routine sub SendRichMail that does all the actual work. It's horribly low-level. Banging everything out through Socket calls.

I can see why they wrote it that way (quite a few years ago) as the lowest level is always there. However things have moved on and Authenticated SMTP is now a fact of life. The other problem with Authenticated SMTP is that there are lots of different ways of authenticating so it may be quite a job to deal with them all. It's all in RFC2554 if anyone wants to boil their brain a bit. RFC2554 started in March 1999 so it's not exactly brand new.

Norman

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Norman,

Could you direct me to your patch please. I think my ISP would rather I patch actinic than bash their brain around this one any more.

Sendmail is already installed. Is mail::mailer needed as well?

I really appreciate your help. Thanks.

Mike

[NormanRouxel]

Yes. They must have Perl module Mail::Mailer. You should check this in advance as the script that gets patched would fail to work if you don't have it and (sod's law) that script is needed to upload your site.

Norman

p.s. Who is your service provider?

[Mike Hughes]

For my new site I'm using a small web hosting company called webhozt. I know the owner and decided to give them a try based on personal trust and closer service. They're not large and not so professional as a larger company might be but they try hard and offer extremely good value.

I also have another sebsite hosted with newnet that works fine but costs me more money for less features.

I'll make sure mail::mailer is installed.

Mike

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Norman,

Mail::Mailer is now installed.

I've looked on your web site buy couldn't see the patch you referred to. Could you let me know how I can get hold of a copy, I've tried everything else I can think of.

Thanks

Mike

[NormanRouxel]

Instructions attached. Use at your own risk. Remember that if you update Actinic the updater will overwrite patched scripts with new version and you'll have to redo the patch.

Norman

[Mike Hughes]

Thanks Norman,

Mike

[Mike Hughes]

Norman,

The patch works great thanks. It only took a couple of minutes to make the changes and install.

One thing that looks a bit odd is the layout of the order email (but then it's always looked a bit odd to me).

Whereas the original actinic email has a strange mixture of tabs and spaces (that doesn't really work very well) the version using mail::mailer seems to replace each tab with 8 spaces.

Does anyone know of a way to edit the layour of these emails. I know you can easily edit what elements are/aren't included, but is there a way to edit the layout of the individual elements?

Mike

[jebsond]

I am also suffering a similar problem... I get


--------

Failed to communicate with the SMTP server.

Possible Cause:
Network transmission problems.

Recommendation:
Retry

Resolution:
If retry fails, check your SMTP settings
or contact your ISP.


The error was:
58323j******@globalnet.co.ukError returned from SMTP server (4: 553 sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts (#5.7.1)


Command: send Filename:

--------

This happens for any mail I try to send from Actinic Catalog (ie. Order confirmation, Payment confirmation etc.).


Any ideas would be welcome


Regards

Dave

[Mike Hughes]

This is very similar to the problem I had.

from the error reply you get I'd say your SMTP server is rejecting the mail because it hasn't been set up to accept mail from your domain.

You could try your ISP and see if it's something they can setup for you, but failing this you could do worse than try Norman's patch above. It's very simple to install, but doesn't seem to faithfully preserve the exact format of the emails sent.

Mike

[jebsond]

Many thanks...

I eventually got it working using the "localhost" setting as mentioned earlier.

Thanks

Dave