Bizarre SMTP problem

[mycarmats]

Hi All

I host a number of sites on a single hosting account with UK2. Sites are hosted in individual subdirectories on the server. I understand this type of hosting is becoming more common.

Basically the hosting package has a main domain (automatedblog.co.uk) and several sites within in separate folders, added to the hosting as add-on domains. The main domain is a dead site. The site in question (add-on domain) is www.fordcarmats.com

Hope that bit makes sense!

For some reason, when I set up an email address it works just fine in Outlook, but it wont work in Actinic. Username, password and SMTP server address are 100% correct.

I've spoken with UK2, but they have pointed towards an Actinic problem. I'm inclined to believe them, as the standard of their technical support is usually first class in my opinion.

Bizarrely, when I input the same email settings as on another Actinic site I run (not hosted with UK2), they dont work, even though they work fine on the other site.

Because of the way the server is set up for multiple sites on one account, the domain used under FTP Details is different to that under Server Details and Email Settings. The site uploads and downloads orders fine, its just the email that doesnt work. The error I receive is:

The 'SMTP server' address entered in the 'Web | Network Setup' is incorrect, or not a valid SMTP server.
Possible Solutions:
1) Try "localhost" as the "SMTP Server"
2) Check the "SMTP Server" host name, user name and password with your server host, then correct the details in 'Web | Network Setup'
3) Check your firewall settings

Network settings are as follows:

HTTPPROXYMODE 0
HTTPPROXYADDRESS
HTTPPROXYPORT 80
HTTPPROXYUSER
HTTPPROXYPASSWORD
FTPPROXYMODE 0
FTPPROXYADDRESS
FTPPROXYPORT 21
FTPPROXYUSER
FTPPROXYPASSWORD
SCRIPTID 1
SCRIPTEXT .pl
SMTPHOST mail.uk2.net
WEBSITEURL http://www.fordcarmats.com/
IGNOREPASSIVEERRORS true
USERELATIVECGIURLS false
PATHTOPERL /usr/bin/perl
USEENHANCEFTP true
FTPCLIENTTIMEOUT 15000
FTPRETRYDELAY 3000
FTPKEEPALIVEINTERVAL 30000
FTPSILENT false
FTPMAXRETRIES 3
FTPCONNECTTIMEOUT 25000
SMTPAUTHREQUIRED true
SMTPUSERNAME sales@fordcarmats.com
SMTPPASSWORD ********
COMPRESSIONPACKETSIZE 1024
COMPRESSEDUPLOAD true
CATALOGURL http://www.fordcarmats.com/ford-car-mats/
ONLINESTOREFOLDERNAME ford-car-mats
CGIBINURL http://www.fordcarmats.com/cgi-bin/
PATHFROMCGITOCATALOG ../ford-car-mats/
CODEBASE ./
FTPHOST ftp.automatedblog.co.uk
FTPUSERNAME ford@automatedblog.co.uk
FTPPASSWORD ********
PATHTOCGIBIN /cgi-bin/
USEPASSIVEFTP false
FTPPATHFROMCGITOCATALOG

[mycarmats]

Quick update on the above:

I have a working site in the same copy of Actinic multisite v10. Everything works fine on that site within network settings.

I imported those settings (all of them, not just SMTP settings) into the offending site and that returned the same error messages too.

I KNOW those settings are correct because I use that other site day in, day out.

Any ideas much appreciated!

[Mike Hughes]

Does email work on the mycarmats.co.uk site? I've tried looking in the error log there and couldn't see any smtp errors.

Mike

[Duncan Rounding]

Is this the only site that has the acatalog folder name changed?

[mycarmats]

Hi there

All works perfectly on the mycarmats.co.uk site. Then I import the exact same settings into fordcarmats.com and it doesnt work.

I'm having the same problem on a few sites, all of which have had the acatalog folder renamed to something else. Wouldnt have thought that would be the cause?

[mycarmats]

Just momentarily changed the acatalog folder back to the default name, but it didnt make a difference

[Duncan Rounding]

Where does the FTP account give access to? Is it the main root of your main domain server webspace or is it to a folder used as the root of your fordcarmats domain?
Do you have a shared cgi-bin directory or do you have one per site within each domain root folder.

The structure I have with 1and1 with multiple domains is as follows:

Webspace
-domain1.co.uk (Root access for domain1 FTP)
--cgi-bin
--acatalog
-domain2.co.uk (Root access for domain2 FTP)
--cgi-bin
--acatalog
-domain3.co.uk (Root access for domain3 FTP)
--cgi-bin
--acatalog
etc...

Is this what you have set up?

[mycarmats]

The structure is exactly the same as you've detailed. Each site is contained within a separate folder, within which is a separate cgi-bin folder which is unique to that particular site.

The ftp account gives access to that particular sites folder only, same as yours

[Mike Hughes]

Is the email address that's set within actinic 'on domain' for each of the sites. i.e. for the fordcarmats site does Actinic have a something@fordcarmats email address set within business settings?

Mike

[mycarmats]

The email address was different. I've just changed it so within business settings its the same sales@fordcarmats.com address, but it hasnt made a difference

[Mike Hughes]

Did you update the website after making the change? I'm sure you did but it's been known to happen in the past.

Mike

PS. And what happens with a network test after making the change?

[mycarmats]

certainly did, refreshed the website immediately after

network test shows the usual:

The 'SMTP server' address entered in the 'Web | Network Setup' is incorrect, or not a valid SMTP server.
Possible Solutions:
1) Try "localhost" as the "SMTP Server"
2) Check the "SMTP Server" host name, user name and password with your server host, then correct the details in 'Web | Network Setup'
3) Check your firewall settings

followed by:

Actinic Mail Test completed successfully
server: passed
connection: failed
sockets: passed
communications: failed
authorisation: failed
message: Connection refused

[mycarmats]

Update:

Now, when I import the network settings from mycarmats.co.uk (the site that works perfectly) into fordcarmats.com (the one with the SMTP problem), it works fine.

The email address and SMTP details can stay the same for both sites if needed, but when I change the ftp details, site urls etc, to point at the correct site (fordcarmats.com) it throws up the SMTP error again.

The settings work perfectly on mycarmats.co.uk. It just doesnt like the ftp and other data being changed. The info I'm adding for fordcarmats.com is correct, as it enables a trouble free upload. Perhaps its causing a conflict somewhere?

[mycarmats]

Oh, and when I change the SMTP server from mail.uk2.net to localhost, the results of the test still fail, but are slightly different

Actinic Mail Test completed successfully
server: passed
connection: passed
sockets: passed
communications: failed
authorisation: failed
message: 435 Unable to authenticate at present

Connection is now passed instead of failed, and the message has changed from the previous "connection refused"

Dont know if it means anything..........

[Mike Hughes]

Now, when I import the network settings from mycarmats.co.uk (the site that works perfectly) into fordcarmats.com (the one with the SMTP problem), it works fine.

If I understand this, you're saying that uploading the fordcarmats.com website into the mycarmats.co.uk webspace (i.e. using that's site networks settings) that it works OK.

What this suggests is that:

a) The Actinic scripts for the fordcarmats.com website aren't corrupted.
b) The problem is either in the fordcarmats.com settings or the fordcarmats.com webspace / the way it works.

I'm just wondering if the uk2 mail servers are accepting the smtp authentication for the subdirectory sites. The easiest way to do this might be to try changing your email settings in outlook and see if you can send emails using the forcarparts email username and password.

Mike