This seems to be another result of my "upgrade". When students try to send a feedback message to the instructor, they receive the error message:
Failed to open the mailer: connect() failed: Connection timed out
I thought that I had set up the global.conf file properly to allow mail to the instructor.
As a note of clarification, the mailer itself is apparently ok since the instructor can mail messages to students. Is there something else that I need to set up? I do not recall having this kind of problem on other installations.
Thanks.
Richard Bayne
Hi Richard,
The two main things to configure are in the global.conf file:
# Mail sent by the PG system and the mail merge and feedback modules will be
# sent via this SMTP server.
$mail{smtpServer} = 'mail.yourschool.edu';
# When connecting to the above server, WeBWorK will send this address in the
# MAIL FROM command. This has nothing to do with the "From" address on the mail
# message. It can really be anything, but some mail servers require it contain
# a valid mail domain, or at least be well-formed.
$mail{smtpSender} = 'webwork@yourserver.yourschool.edu';
Hopefully you saved a copy of your old global.conf file. I would compare the old one to the new one.
Arnie
Arnie,
Thanks for the response. I am pretty sure that I have the proper information in those two spots. I do see that lighttpd is running. Is it possible that something in the lighttpd conf file might be throwing something off? Is there a simple way to stop lighttpd from running and still have the server serving?
Bayne
Hi Richard,
# /etc/init.d/lighttpd stop (or $ sudo ...) should stop lighttpd.
However, there is no way lighttpd should be interfering with email. I would check the email setting under Course Configuration to make sure you (or someone else) hasn't done something strange.
Arnie
Does this error imply a different clue toward the problem?
Failed to open the mailer: Server error: 530 5.7.1 Client was not authenticated
Thanks, Richard
Hi Richard,
I assume you are using an smpt (email) server set up somewhere at Morgan. I would show the message and what you are doing to whoever administers the server.
Arnie