Not getting email notifications: WebFaction host

csf

I've searched the boards for a similar topic and didn't find it...

I have all three of these checked in settings:

Someone replies to one of my posts
Someone mentions me in a post
Someone posts in a discussion I'm following

Yet I don't get any notifications. Nothing in the junk or trash folders either after some direct tests.

Did I miss something during installation?

jordanjay29

csf Did you set up SMTP? You can use the SMTP UI extension for now, the new UI comes integrated in Beta 6.

csf

Ah... that's what all the SMTP threads are about. Is there an official doc or best thread to read on that?

jordanjay29

csf The official docs (all the way at the bottom) just describe editing your mysql database. Which is why I was suggesting the use of the SMTP UI extension.

As for adding in the values, it sort of depends on the SMTP service you use, and what options they provide. There's some posts in that linked thread that discuss it, but if you have any issues please post here and we'll try to resolve them.

csf

jordanjay29 The official docs (all the way at the bottom) just describe editing your mysql database.

The "official doc" says I'll see the following records in the settings table:

mail_driver: smtp
mail_host: ...
mail_from: ...
mail_port: ...
mail_ username: ...
mail_password: ...
mail_encryption: ...

But in fact I only have two "mail" records in my table:

mail_driver
mail_from

Am I supposed to add the others?

I was going to do this manually, but maybe I must use the extension approach? (Guessing this is a beta6 change).

Wait, couldn't be a beta6 change in this case because I haven't updated anything. ?

csf

Sorry, I quickly glanced and missed the mention of the extension.

Seems this will be easier addressed in beta 6? If beta 6 is not far off, I can wait. If it's all summer (in my region), however, I'll have to forge on the old way.

jordanjay29

csf Beta 6 should be here soon, but it's up to you. The included UI will do basically what the extension does, just edit values in the database. They should be the same whether you use the extension now or wait for the included UI later.

csf

Okay. Thanks!

csf

@jordanjay29 (or anyone), one more Q...

Should the email credentials that are added in the settings table be for an admin account? Does it matter?
And does setting this up make it possible for other members' email notifications to work too?

jordanjay29

csf The email does not necessarily have to match the admin account's email, if that's what you're asking. If that's not what you're asking, could you clarify?

csf

Sure... the reasons I think I need to do this are:

I'm not getting email notifications of discussion board activity I follow, and
I don't think any of my beta testers are either.

So I'm wondering if by setting this SMTP email up, it will solve both issues, and whether it matters or not if I use a personal email from the web host or if I should create a new one specifically for this purpose.

For example if the notifications communicate something to boards users that shows email identity, then it should be an admin's identity, not my personal identity. But if there's no revealing of email identity from the SMTP account, then maybe the specific email identity doesn't matter. You see?

I guess I'm unclear on what the purpose of setting up SMTP is.

jordanjay29

It shouldn't matter which account you use. It's basically going to act as the FROM field (and the delivery method) for emails from Flarum. Any emails sent TO that address won't interfere with Flarum's email delivery, so if the email is a personal one, you should be able to use it like normal and have Flarum use it as well.

And yes, you certainly could set up a separate email account for this. If you're doing this on your server, I would actually set up a forwarder or bridge accounts so that you can receive and reply to mail from your personal inbox as the admin account. That's my personal way to do it, you can do what you like.

As far as setting up SMTP, the benefits are exactly what you listed off as 1 and 2. Getting email notifications, both for registration and for things like Replies and posts in Followed discussions.

csf

Perfect. Thanks.

Glombersik

csf im using this work perfect ? https://discuss.flarum.org/d/3191-sending-emails-from-vps/7

csf

Glombersik I shouldn't need to mess with the command-line and sudo if I just need to add a few table records.

@jordanjay29 I just found this from @Toby, https://discuss.flarum.org/d/620-smtp-setup/7. But, with all due respect, it does not say in the docs that one must "add" those missing records. As someone who writes and uses tech docs a lot, I can tell you that it's the little details like that which make a HUGE difference in user understanding, especially across tech backgrounds and native languages (i.e. English as a second, third..). I don't know who is in charge of docs, but there would probably be a lot less support questions if they were improved a bit.

/heads off to add the missing records/

Why not make user docs a GitHub wiki so people could contribute to them easily.

jordanjay29

csf Feel free to submit a PR to the main Flarum site repo.

Toby

csf Why not make user docs a GitHub wiki so people could contribute to them easily.

As jordanjay29 has pointed out, they are ?

SMTP settings will be configurable in the admin UI in beta 6.

csf

Toby Yes, I've picked up on that. But what nobody is actually saying is when beta6 is coming out, which would help folks in my shoes decide whether to wait or not. Because if beta6 is going to be another 6 months (and that's an exaggeration, even 1 month would be too long), then I'm not waiting, I'll try to figure it out the grunt way.

Speaking of the grunt way... after adding my records, I get 500 errors when trying to post in the boards for a test. They all seem to be tied to the /vendor directory, as example...

"code": 500,
"title": "Internal server error",
"detail": "Swift_TransportException: Connection could not be established with host smtp.webfaction.com [ #0] in /home/XXXX/webapps/XXXX/vendor/swiftmailer/swiftmailer/lib/classes/Swift/Transport/StreamBuffer.php:269\nStack trace:\n#0

They go on like that for quite a ways for many vendors.

csf

Regarding the mail_host record, my web host has both of these:

Incoming server: mail.webfaction.com
Outgoing server: smtp.webfaction.com

I'm guessing it should be the latter? I've tried it, but still get 500 errors as described above, but that could mean one of the other fields is wrong...

My Mail client is setup to use WebFaction mail using port "587" and "SSL" security, and that works in Mail, so I'm assuming those are right for mail_port and mail_encryption, respectively.

My password is exactly right, so no mistake there for mail_password. And instructions say (at least) mail_driver should be "smtp", so okay there too.

What should be the mail_from, the actual email address? If so, that field is correct.

That leaves mail_username. The way WebFaction sets mail up is to create a "Mailbox" in relation to each email address, which is not the same thing as what prefixes the email address. It's the mailbox name that is required for username when configuring Apple's Mail client, for example, so that's what I'm using here too.

With all of these scenarios, I still get a 500 error when posting in the boards. When I close the error, delete the draft post, and refresh the page, the post is actually made anyway but without any email notification. Strange behavior all around.