Sending emails through SMTP with PHPMailer

Question

Hi, I'm trying to send SMTP e-mails using PHPMailer, but I keep getting this error message, any ideas how to get rid of it?
I'm trying to connect via SSL on port 465.

SMTP -> FROM SERVER: 
SMTP -> FROM SERVER: 
SMTP -> ERROR: EHLO not accepted from server: 

Notice: fputs() [function.fputs]: send of 18 bytes failed with errno=32 Roura přerušena (SIGPIPE) in /home/www/amazonek.cz/subdomains/library/PHPMailer_v5.1/class.smtp.php on line 494
SMTP -> FROM SERVER: 
SMTP -> ERROR: HELO not accepted from server: 

Notice: fputs() [function.fputs]: send of 12 bytes failed with errno=32 Roura přerušena (SIGPIPE) in /home/www/amazonek.cz/subdomains/library/PHPMailer_v5.1/class.smtp.php on line 212
SMTP -> ERROR: AUTH not accepted from server: 
SMTP Error: Could not authenticate.

My code:

  require_once('../library/PHPMailer_v5.1/class.phpmailer.php');

        try{
            $mail = new PHPMailer(true);
            $mail->IsSMTP();
            $mail->SMTPAuth = true;
            $mail->Host = SMTP_SERVER;
            $mail->Port = SMTP_PORT;
            $mail->Username = SMTP_USERNAME;
            $mail->Password = SMTP_PASSWORD;
            $mail->SMTPDebug = 2;
            $mail->SetFrom(MAIL_ORDERS_ADDRESS, MAIL_ORDERS_NAME);
            $mail->Subject = 'AMAZONEK.cz - objednávka číslo '.$_SESSION['orderId'];
            $mail->MsgHTML('<b>Ahoj</b>');
            $mail->AddAddress($_SESSION['user']['email'], $_SESSION['user']['name'].' '.$_SESSION['user']['surname']);
            $mail->AddBCC(MAIL_ORDERS_ADDRESS, MAIL_ORDERS_NAME);

            if(!$mail->Send()) throw new Exception($mail->ErrorInfo);
        }
        catch(Exception $e){
            echo $e->getMessage();
        }

Constants definition:

define('SMTP_SERVER', 'smtp.ebola.cz');
define('SMTP_PORT', 465);
define('SMTP_USERNAME', '[email protected]');
define('SMTP_PASSWORD', '***CENSORED***');

define('MAIL_ORDERS_ADDRESS', '[email protected]');
define('MAIL_ORDERS_NAME', 'My Name');

Any ideas?

Answer 1

As far as I can see everything is right with your code. Your error is:

SMTP Error: Could not authenticate.

Which means that the credentials you've sending are rejected by the SMTP server. Make sure the host, port, username and password are good.

If you want to use TLS, try adding:

$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';

If you want to use SSL, try adding:

$mail->SMTPSecure = 'ssl';

Keep in mind that:

• Some SMTP servers can forbid connections from "outsiders".
• Some SMTP servers don't support SSL (or TLS) connections.

Maybe this example can help (GMail secure SMTP).

Answer 2

Try to send an e-mail through that SMTP server manually/from an interactive mailer (e.g. Mozilla Thunderbird). From the errors, it seems the server won't accept your credentials. Is that SMTP running on the port, or is it SSL+SMTP? You don't seem to be using secure connection in the code you've posted, and I'm not sure if PHPMailer actually supports SSL+SMTP.

(First result of googling your SMTP server's hostname: http://podpora.ebola.cz/idx.php/0/006/article/Strucny-technicky-popis-nastaveni-sluzeb.html seems to say "SMTPs mail sending: secure SSL connection,port: 465" . )

It looks like PHPMailer does support SSL; at least from this. So, you'll need to change this:

define('SMTP_SERVER', 'smtp.ebola.cz');

into this:

define('SMTP_SERVER', 'ssl://smtp.ebola.cz');

Answer 3

This may seem like a shot in the dark but make sure PHP has been complied with OpenSSL if SMTP requires SSL.

To check use phpinfo()

Hope it helps!

Answer 4

From looking at the code i would recommend swiftmailer library, doing things with it looks much easier, elegant and readable compared to the code you have put up. As for the error, i would agree with AlexV notices.