Email Options using Google Apps

faeronsayn

Well-known member
Hey guys,

Sorry for the bother again, but I have yet another question that might need some answering.

The problem is... I use google apps for my email needs, instead of the default cpanel email, so my mx records and all that are with Google.

So now in email options I have set my default email as : admin@mydomainname.com (this is a real email address, as in the one that I am using currently)

and I have left the email sending as default.

What this does is that it sends the email as admin@mydomainname.com but it says "via" gator1579.hostgator.com (this is my host) ....

So now what I am assuming is that, xenForo is trying to contact cpanel, and since it realizes that there is no actual email address as admin@mydomainname.com (although there is, but its just attached with google apps) .... it sends the email through my host's mail server I think... which is this : gator1579.hostgator.com ....

So then I tried SMTP...and since I use google apps, I followed this instruction here...

https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=13287

I took smtp.gmail.com

and put it as the host, and left everything blank, and I didn't get any emails...

Then I tried it with authentication, using my email address admin@mydomainname.com and my password...

I didn't get an email.. so I am now not sure how this works, or how to get rid of my host's name.

Since I use SPF record and DKIM key, i'd rather have my domain name appear there and say sighed by my domain name instead of my hosters name and all.
 
If you are using Google Apps for SMTP, you need to set the authentication (username & password) and the port for TLS to 587.

Did you set the TLS with the specific port required by Google Apps as well?

(Attached image is a working configuration of XenForo and Google Apps SMTP services.)
 

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If you are using Google Apps for SMTP, you need to set the authentication (username & password) and the port for TLS to 587.

Did you set the TLS with the specific port required by Google Apps as well?

(Attached image is a working configuration of XenForo and Google Apps SMTP services.)

sadly I have tried that. I was not able to get the email, or maybe I did not wait long enough? Is there some type of delay?
 
There's no delay that I am aware of. Sending to a gmail address is nearly instant and other email services get mail within a very short time period.

Here's another way to check...

Using the email account you are using for your forum emails, log in to the mail interface via the web browser. Check the "Sent Items" folder. If nothing is in that folder, then your server isn't making the connection to Google's SMTP server. If you server is connecting properly to the SMTP service, then all outgoing mails would appear in your 'Sent Items' folder in the web interface for that same email account.
 
Okay I am just going to use my real domain name here...

so I use admin@shadygamer.com as an email for all out going / notifications for xenForo.

so here is what I have in my fields...

Default Email Address: admin@shadygamer.com


Bounced Email Address: blank​


Default Email Sender Name: ShadyGamer​

Email Transport Method​

  • Default
      • Set return path with -f parameter (recommended, but does not work on all servers)
  • SMTP
      • Host: smtp.google.com : port: 587
      • Authentication:
      • Encryption:
        • None
        • TLS - I selected this.
        • SSL
 
Just wondering if everything was done right ?


There's no delay that I am aware of. Sending to a gmail address is nearly instant and other email services get mail within a very short time period.

Here's another way to check...

Using the email account you are using for your forum emails, log in to the mail interface via the web browser. Check the "Sent Items" folder. If nothing is in that folder, then your server isn't making the connection to Google's SMTP server. If you server is connecting properly to the SMTP service, then all outgoing mails would appear in your 'Sent Items' folder in the web interface for that same email account.
 
Okay I am just going to use my real domain name here...

so I use admin@shadygamer.com as an email for all out going / notifications for xenForo.

so here is what I have in my fields...

Default Email Address: admin@shadygamer.com

Bounced Email Address: blank​

Default Email Sender Name: ShadyGamer​

Email Transport Method​

  • Default
      • Set return path with -f parameter (recommended, but does not work on all servers)
  • SMTP
      • Host: smtp.google.com : port: 587
      • Authentication:
      • Encryption:
        • None
        • TLS - I selected this.
        • SSL

Host Name Setting: It should be smtp.gmail.com, not smtp.google.com.

Everything else should be correct as far as I can see.
 
Host Name Setting: It should be smtp.gmail.com, not smtp.google.com.

Everything else should be correct as far as I can see.
opps lol it is actualy smtp.gmail.com

I just typed google here lol.

but everything else i have is the same.

So putting admin@shadygamer.com as a default address is okay ?

and for the smtp authentication username would be : admin@shadygamer.com and password would be the password that you use to login to your email account ? if so all of that is done properly. Not really sure why it isn't working.
 
opps lol it is actualy smtp.gmail.com

I just typed google here lol.

but everything else i have is the same.

So putting admin@shadygamer.com as a default address is okay ?

and for the smtp authentication username would be : admin@shadygamer.com and password would be the password that you use to login to your email account ? if so all of that is done properly. Not really sure why it isn't working.

Yes, using the same login (admin@shadygamer.com) and password that you would use for the mail portal, should work.

The only other things that would prevent this from working would be your PHP not having ssl (open_ssl) enabled or your host blocking the port (587). I don't recall if XenForo throws an error if either of these are mis-configured. Did you happen to try the other optional port for TLS? (465)

In looking at the account I use for forum emails, the only thing I have configured beyond the default settings is the enabled POP mail. (That doesn't make a difference when using SMTP services)

Sorry you are having these problems... I'm giving you all of the ideas that would possibly block your emails from sending via Google Apps.
 
Yes, using the same login (admin@shadygamer.com) and password that you would use for the mail portal, should work.

The only other things that would prevent this from working would be your PHP not having ssl (open_ssl) enabled or your host blocking the port (587). I don't recall if XenForo throws an error if either of these are mis-configured. Did you happen to try the other optional port for TLS? (465)

In looking at the account I use for forum emails, the only thing I have configured beyond the default settings is the enabled POP mail. (That doesn't make a difference when using SMTP services)

Sorry you are having these problems... I'm giving you all of the ideas that would possibly block your emails from sending via Google Apps.

I did this but used the port 465 with TLS, and no emails were coming and I couldn't use the contact form. Then for some reason I just tried SSL, maybe because of the reply below, and everything is working now o.O ? Not sure why I don't have SSL on my domain but I guess its working so not sure whats happening there.

Just another question, whenever someone uses the Contact Form on my site, it says its sent by "admin@shadygamer.com" instead of their own email? Is that suppose to happen ?

I use ssl and port 465 and don't have any issues.

Russ

Thanks this is for some reason working for me, although I don't have SSl on my domain o.o/
 
The email address shown on the contact us form is that of the logged in member - i.e. you.

I understand that, but what I mean is this... This is a message I got when I was testing..

he following message has been sent via the contact form at ShadyGamer.

Message:
Just another test...​
Everything here looks good, but it says its sent from admin@shadygamer.com to admin@shadygamer.com
I waas thinking it would be sent from "shadygamer@gmail.com" to "admin@shadygamer.com" ... so thats why I was asking if thats what is suppose to happen?​
 
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