[SOLVED] No order confirmation mail

[kimberly_netherlands]

Hello everybody,

I'm new to the forum. I'm having a lot of trouble on with my shop. Me and a programmer I know are trying to fix this but I'd like some input from VM experts.
The site is at http://www.vandaalenmode.nl

I'm using VM 2.6.0 'FlyingBrant'

Joomla! 2.5.23

PHP gebouwd op    Linux web03 3.13.0-35-generic #62~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 18 14:52:04 UTC 2014 x86_64
Database versie    5.1.73-0ubuntu0.10.04.1-log
Database collatie    utf8_general_ci
PHP versie    5.3.10-1ubuntu3.14
Webserver    Apache
WebServer naar PHP interface    apache2handler
Joomla! versie    Joomla! 2.5.23 Stable [ Ember ] 24-July-2014 14:00 GMT
Joomla! Platform versie    Joomla Platform 11.4.0 Stable [ Brian Kernighan ] 03-Jan-2012 00:00 GMT
Gebruikersagent    Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:32.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/32.0

So the problem is that the site does not send confirmation e-mails to both client and shopowner. I already checked all the usual things:
- box checked in VM to make sure shopowner receives admin mail
- email itself is correct

My programmer, I can't speak entirely for him, but he went trough all the functions that VM calls for e-mails upon order confirmation and he could not find a problem.

We think something went wrong at some point with updating VM.

Look, it's not the end of the world if the products have to be reloaded, they are all in CSV on my computer. VM just has to be 'whole' again.

What is the best way to fix a broken VM install?

I appreciate all your help. Thank you so much.

Kimberly

[jenkinhill]

First see http://virtuemart.net/news/latest-news/462-security-release-of-vm2-6-10-and-vm2-9-9b  and your Joomla version also is known to be insecure. J2.5.27 with the latest security updates should be available in a few hours time.  Your PHP version is also old, and just at the minimum limit for use with VirtueMart.

To update just install the two VM components using Joomla's extensions manager. http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=123808

Chech the Default Order Status to send email  settings in Configuration/Checkout

[kimberly_netherlands]

Thank you. We will give these options a try. I will let you know if we are succesfull.

What effect does my older PHP have on VirtueMart's functions? Can you say?
Your help is much appreciated!

[jenkinhill]

The older PHP versions can have security implications and is also slower. Joomla recommend to use PHP5.4+ with J2.5.26 although it will still work with PHP5.3.10

[kimberly_netherlands]

Hello everybody,

Thanks for replying so far. It seems like I need just a bit more input 

The problems are solved on Virtuemart level, now the website works perfectly on a testserver, but it's not working on the live server. The specs for both are below. Can you tell me if VM calls for any of the functions that my hosting co. has disabled? Or wich functions it calls for before sending the confirmation e-mail?

That would be SO appreciated 

Info on the servers (I hope it's sufficient) :

LIVE

Safe Mode    Off
Open basedir    None
Display Errors    Off
Short Open Tags    On
File Uploads    On
Magic Quotes    Off
Register Globals    Off
Output Buffering    On
Session Save Path    /var/lib/php5
Session Auto Start    0
XML Enabled    Yes
Zlib Enabled    Yes
Native ZIP Enabled    Yes
Disabled Functions    pcntl_alarm,pcntl_fork,pcntl_waitpid,pcntl_wait,pcntl_wifexited,pcntl_wifstopped,pcntl_wifsignaled,pcntl_wexitstatus,pcntl_wtermsig,pcntl_wstopsig,
pcntl_signal,pcntl_signal_dispatch,pcntl_get_last_error,pcntl_strerror,pcntl_sigprocmask,pcntl_sigwaitinfo,pcntl_sigtimedwait,pcntl_exec,pcntl_getpriority,pcntl_setpriority,
And probably more that Joomla doesn't have room for to show.
Mbstring Enabled    Yes
Iconv Available    Yes

PHP Built On    Linux web02 3.13.0-35-generic #62~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 18 14:52:04 UTC 2014 x86_64
Database Version    5.1.73-0ubuntu0.10.04.1-log
Database Collation    utf8_general_ci
PHP Version    5.3.10-1ubuntu3.14
Web Server    Apache
WebServer to PHP Interface    apache2handler
Joomla! Version    Joomla! 2.5.23 Stable [ Ember ] 24-July-2014 14:00 GMT
Joomla! Platform Version    Joomla Platform 11.4.0 Stable [ Brian Kernighan ] 03-Jan-2012 00:00 GMT
User Agent    Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:32.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/32.0

TEST

Safe Mode    Off
Open basedir    None
Display Errors    Off
Short Open Tags    On
File Uploads    On
Magic Quotes    Off
Register Globals    Off
Output Buffering    Off
Session Save Path    /tmp
Session Auto Start    0
XML Enabled    Yes
Zlib Enabled    Yes
Native ZIP Enabled    Yes
Disabled Functions    dl
Mbstring Enabled    Yes
Iconv Available    Yes

PHP Built On    Linux interwebshop.interwebshop.com 2.6.18-348.3.1.el5 #1 SMP Mon Mar 11 19:40:14 EDT 2013 i686
Database Version    5.5.37-cll
Database Collation    utf8_general_ci
PHP Version    5.4.25
Web Server    Apache/2.2.26 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.26 OpenSSL/0.9.8m DAV/2 mod_bwlimited/1.4
WebServer to PHP Interface    cgi-fcgi
Joomla! Version    Joomla! 2.5.23 Stable [ Ember ] 24-July-2014 14:00 GMT
Joomla! Platform Version    Joomla Platform 11.4.0 Stable [ Brian Kernighan ] 03-Jan-2012 00:00 GMT
User Agent    Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:32.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/32.0

[kimberly_netherlands]

Hello,

My hosting company also asked me to try with SMTP mail. Are there any other adjustment needen in VM if I try that?

[jenkinhill]

Using SMTP is a Joomla setting that needs configuring, no issues or changes needed with VM. You do seem to have identified that this is a host problem, maybe some anti-spam setting.  I have solved such mail problems before simply by moving sites to a different host, one where I know VM mail works.

[kimberly_netherlands]

Hey Kelvyn,

Thanks for your reply. I would really like it to get to work on this platform, but you're right, if it won't work I'm gonna have to take other steps, changing the hosting platform.

EDIT
Is Joomla and/or Virtuemart capable of handling PHP 5.5, or are there any known limitations?

[kimberly_netherlands]

I created a testmail php file to test if the server is even able to send any mail.

Code Select Expand

<?php

$to = "myemail@gmail.com";
if( mail( $to , 'This is a test message.' , 'Is this working?' ) ) {
    echo 'Email sent.';
} else {
    echo 'Email failed to send.';
}

?>

Is this a sufficient test for Joomla mail?
is VM  using mail() directly or maybe using something else like JUtility::sendMail()?

[mbarry]

I had similar issues on our host site where some emails were being sent to the vendor but never to the customer. Status update emails were never received by the customer.

I tested this issue for sendmail, PHP Mail and SMTP.

The only one that worked successfully was SMTP.

Needs to be configured in the BE, Site->Global Configuration->Server

Easy to test, by changing the status on an existing order in the BE, if working properly status emails should be sent to the customer (usually the most troublesome).

Our configuration is
Virtuemart 2.6.6
Joomla 2.5.19
PHP 5.4.x FastCGI

Before site goes live it will be updated to address the latest security issues.

[kimberly_netherlands]

We kept testing and testing, and yesterday we changed all mail code with code for Core PHP Mailer and now it's working.