SMTP Mail refused by SMTP server

[rbsmith]

Using FMSP's SMTP mail feature isn't working--the mail server rejects the attempt (connection refused by SMTP server). This is true with FMSP and with "SMTP Send Mail Interrogation". HOWEVER, when I use "SMTP Send Mail", the test email is received, as it is when I use "Send Mail" from FM's menu. I am using identical settings in all cases. I have tried it with two different accounts I administer with the same mail server provider (MacHighway). Does this scenario suggest what is happening here? Is there a way to analyze in more detail why the server has refused the connection? I am actually using Donations 2.1, where it also fails to work.

[Jonathan Hogle]

rbsmith,

 

Here are your options

 

1) Work with you Email Server Administrator to fix the issue.   If this person is cooperative (they might or might now be...), then you need to get the SMTP settings.   You need to make sure that the email server you are talking to has inbound SMTP turned "ON".   Some administrators turn this feature OFF.  If they have it OFF... then you will never get it to work.  We have seen this specifically with Microsoft Outlook Servers.

 

(2) You can hire an outside consultant to help you untangle this.  It can be frustrating.   The good news is that in general, once it is working... it stays working.

 

(3) If your IT administrator is uncooperative...you can also contract (for a monthly fee) with an outside company (like www.bluehost.com) to host SMTP email server for you to sent emails to.   These outside vendors will be happy to give you the settings you need to make your SMTP email work.

 

(4) If you are an IT Pro, try the attached FileMaker file... to test and find... the settings that will work with your server.  This FileMaker file was created by another FileMaker consultant.... but it works fairly well... so feel free to use it...to determine the setting that you need to use in your own database.... then write down the settings!!!

 

Best Regards,

 

RCC Customer Service

[email protected]

www.rcconsulting.com

[Fitch]

I don't have FMSP in front of me, but I'm wondering if it's using Perform Script on Server (PSoS) for those scripts. If so, your FileMaker server would need to allow connections to the SMTP server (or vice-versa).

I guess I should ask first if your FileMaker file is hosted on a server?

(Our IT dept. does the opposite, we have port 25 blocked on the desktop, so no app other than Outlook can send mail; whereas our FileMaker server is permitted to use port 25.)

I think the file Jonathan referenced is this one:

http://www.savvydata.com/blog/2009/11/fixing-smtp-send-mail-error-1506/

[Don Bahash]

I'm a newbie to FileMaker and FMSP, so I'll just say that up front.  I am tailoring FMSP for a real estate application and having same issue with sending email portion of Contacts table.  If I use the File - Send - Mail and enter my SMTP settings from my email provider which includes port 465 and SSL for security, I get the email sent properly.  I haven't ever gotten it to work from the Contacts layout.  In preferences I have the same values as I used from the menu bar send File - Send - Mail.  However, in exploring the script that is executed 0783 Send Email by Parameter, it showed the security hardcoded as "Use TLS".  TLS does not work for my email system.  I modified the setting in the Script Workspace by bringing up the dialog and changing the value to "SSL".  Still the send does not work.  I do get a message with error code "0" in it on screen.  

I am struggling with the id_constant concept, but all the script fields have that appended to the "T05n_contacts_PREFERENCES||id_constant|::Outgoing_SMTP_Server" as an example.  I have only a single user environment with FileMaker Pro v14 running on laptop with Windows 7.  Could this id_constant field be messing up the access to the data in the PREFERENCES table?

 

[rbsmith]

Thanks for the suggestions. I did contact the mail provider, who provided the same settings and assured that SMTP is not turned off (of course, I was able to use it with "SMTP Send Mail"). My FileMaker file lives solely on my computer, and the email provider is a shared hosting service, not in-house. There is no FM Server involved. I had previously used the savvy data script and that is where I got the error information (connection refused by server). The mail provider said they do not "support" filemaker and can't help further. (They referred me back to RC Consulting.) They also showed me how to "unblock" my own IP number if I had flooded it with too many emails but it wasn't blocked. I assume Bluehost wouldn't be much different than the shared hosting provider I presently use.

I looked at the Donations script and it looks like it checks for the Mail-it plugin, which I don't have, and lacking that defaults to using my personal email client. I couldn't find anything like that in the FMSP script, but I am just getting to know the scripting thing.

I also had tried the route Don Bahash used to change the TLS to SSL, and it also didn't help. I think I've read subsequently that the two are interchangeable, at least at my host.

I did try to register for a buik mail service provider, thinking my shared hosting provider's email wasn't up to it, but that sign-up process has hit a snag and I haven't followed through to untangle it.

So I'm moving on for now, and am using my personal email when needed. I'm not really in a position to hire an outside consultant. Unfortunately, using my personal email exposed another problem, namely that the subject line of the email was correct on the first one in the group, but the subject line on all the subsequent ones in the group changed to the subject of the first email in the list of templates (in this case "Company Update"), which was a bit awkward (this was using Donations 2.1, not FMSP).

[Don Bahash]

OMG ... I just got it to work!  So, for me, the solution was to remove all the references to field "id_constant" in the SMTP dialog box in script "0783 Send Email by Parameter".  if you click on the script statement "Send Mail [Send via SMTP Server" around line 29 or 30, you will see a dialog box pop-up that is the same used for File - Send - Mail.  Click on SMTP in the Send via drop-down, then click on the "Specify..." button to open the dialog.  You will notice most fields are coded as "T05n_contacts_PREFERENCES||id_constant|::SMTP_Name"   

Instead of using the T05n_contacts_PREFERENCES" relationship, I changed to just provide the field values I would have typed into the File - Send - Mail dialog.  The result is then hardcoded with my SMTP Server information in those fields which is fine because I am a single user application.  Once you hardcode the SMTP values in and hit OK, you are back to the "Send Mail" Options dialog.  Then those fields which are from the T05_CONTACTS table should be fine.

I hope that works for you.  Once again, that "id_constant" field is for multi-user access to the application, but in my case it didn't matter.

[thebridge]

It is curious to me that this is the only thread on this topic. it too had me scratching my head until Don Bahash wrote:

"OMG ... I just got it to work!  So, for me, the solution was to remove all the references to field "id_constant" in the SMTP dialog box in script "0783 Send Email by Parameter"."

I hard coded each of the smtp fields that referenced the prefs table and it solved the problem. I then went back in and undid each change one at a time and tested. I saved the password field for last because I suspected that was the problem child.

Bingo..,. that is the culprit...

after careful review of the displayed fields on the email tab in Preferences, I realized that the password field was really the password display field. once I changed that and entered in the password into the correct field... problem solved!

hope this helps others!

Robert Bloomfield