SMTP Issues with TLS

[BMWracing]

Website URL
<private>

Chevereto version
3.10.16

Description of the issue
For some reason after recent PHP updates / Chevereto (not sure which version caused this - didn't update for a while) users are not receiving their registration e-mail confirmation.

I checked my SMTP settings (made no changes) and they are still OK.

SMTP, localhost, port 587. This works fine on other websites running on the same host/server and I'm also able to use this port for SMTP through outlook.

The error I receive is:
SMTP Exception>>
SMTP Error: Could not connect to SMTP host.

Under host and username it says:

Invalid SMTP server
Invalid SMTP username

BUT if I change this to non secured port 25 everything works (so the user account is fine). I have also tried changing from localhost to the actual webserver external DNS (which also has a valid certificate)but it still fails.

How to further debug this?

 

[Rodolfo]

Enable debug mode. The script only connects to the SMTP host, it doesn't do anything fancy to be the cause of the issue.

 

[BMWracing]

Thanks Rodolfo - I have enabled debug level 3 and also tried php error log on -> where do I now find this error / further debug info?

I would be happy to provide you with ftp account if needed ( i am unable to send PM to you )

 

[Rodolfo]

The log will be displayed where you enter the email credentials.

Just check if everything is working properly, like open ssl and everything else.

 

[BMWracing]

Thanks again for your help. There is no log unfortunately.. I have tried even with PHP error reporting on and debug level 3.
Any chance I can send you some credentials by PM to verify?

edit: as mentioned above - TLS works fine on this server with other applications / services on port 587. There is also a valid (external) SSL certificate.

 

[Rodolfo]

You can use any email software to test these credentials. Most likely the problem is that your server is refusing to connect to the SMTP server, in which case I need access to the actual server to try to catch any usable log info.

 

[BMWracing]

I think you don't understand me correctly 🙂. The smtp server works fine - I am using it for many other sites, services and even e-mail. So I don't understand what's going on and why it's not working for this specific domain with chevereto.

Also if I turn off TLS it DOES work - so it has something to do with secured access TLS/SSL. But like I said before, TLS and SSL works fine on this server. So i;'m trying to understand which error it's giving.

I can send you the admin and email details by pm or e-mail if u send me an email/pm.

 

[Rodolfo]

SMTP is just a protocol that allows you to connect server A (your website) with server B (SMTP host). Basically, it allows your website to issue instructions to your SMTP host.

If the connection fails then the causes could be:

1. Bad credentials.
2. Server A refuses to connect to B.
3. Server B refuses connections from A.
4. Timeout issues (request takes too long)

And that's all that can go wrong. By default Chevereto will print whatever the SMTP server returns but that doesn't means that it will print absolutely everything. It just prints "level 2" stuff.

app/routes/route.dashboard.php


My guess is that you need more low-level error display. Change this:

$mail->SMTPDebug = 2;

To this:

$mail->SMTPDebug = 3;

Eventually, if it doesn't show you anything usable then change it to this:

$mail->SMTPDebug = 4;

More on this can be found here: https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/SMTP-Debugging

My bet is that you will get OpenSSL related issues or maybe is just a port being blocked.

Happy debugging!

 

[BMWracing]

Changed to level 3 and 4 and still getting:

SMTP Exception>>
SMTP Error: Could not connect to SMTP host.

Any idea's? Is there an e-mail address I can send you the login details to my chevereto and ftp to try to debug?

PS: I have set it to SMTP mode and not PHP mail function in the dashboard. SMTP mode works when using non TLS.

1. Bad credentials.
2. Server A refuses to connect to B.
3. Server B refuses connections from A.
4. Timeout issues (request takes too long)

1) Credentials work when turning off TLS (so these are correct)
2) I tried localhost and the external DNS and the services work fine. I'm not connecting to another server, but the same server as where chevereto is running on
3) I tried localhost and the external DNS and the services work fine. I'm not connecting to another server, but the same server as where chevereto is running on
4) can't debug this

 

[Rodolfo]

If you can't debug it then I can't do it either.

 

[BMWracing]

Any idea's on how I would be able to debug this? There should be more error logging somewhere right?

 

[Rodolfo]

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3477766/phpmailer-smtp-error-could-not-connect-to-smtp-host