What are the possible causes of this error: “Unable to > connect to ssl://smtp.gmail.com:465”?

Question

I'm getting this error on my local machine when sending emails using (gmail's smtp + PHPMailer + CodeIgniter), which I wasn't getting on our previous office (we had to move offices).

Severity: Warning

Message: fsockopen() [function.fsockopen]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Temporary failure in name resolution

Severity: Warning

Message: fsockopen() [function.fsockopen]: unable to connect to ssl://smtp.gmail.com:465 (php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Temporary failure in name resolution)

Additional info:

• I already asked our sysad to open port 465, but I'm still getting the error
• I tested the same app deployed in another server and it is working there
• I didn't change any configurations in my local machine
• I already forwarded the outside interface's port 465 to my machine's IP
• Opened accesses to port 465 to my IP

I was wondering whether this error has something to do with the change in the network setup. What are the possible causes of this error? Also, what are the possible solutions?

Edit:

telnet smtp.gmail.com 465

results to

Trying 74.125.127.109...
Connected to smtp.gmail.com.
Escape character is '^]'.`

Edit

openssl s_client -connect smtp.gmail.com:465

results to

CONNECTED

Edit

nslookup smtp.gmail.com

results to

Server:     171.103.2.3
Address:    171.103.2.3#53

Non-authoritative answer:
smtp.gmail.com  canonical name = gmail-smtp-msa.l.google.com.
Name:   gmail-smtp-msa.l.google.com
Address: 74.125.127.109

Edit From this link (http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=11058) posted by sh1ny, it was mentioned that restarting apache fixes the problem. It worked for me. But I still do not understand why. Got clues?

Answer 1

To try if you have connectivity from you server to gmail's smtp over ssl i would suggest trying :

openssl s_client -connect smtp.gmail.com:465

If this works, the problem is in your php setup.

Forwarding external 465 and 25 to your IP doesn't do you any good, as you are trying to send, not recieve.

Answer 2

Seems like something's firewalling off your connections, and restricting access of the host/app/user to only be able to access certain things.

You need to check from the server whether you can connect, which I doubt you'll be able to.

Speak to your systems admin and ask him to allow OUTBOUND connections for the connection you're trying to make (you've asked him to unblock the port, he may have mistook that for incoming)

Answer 3

Make sure you have openssl enabled as a PHP extension.

Double check your config.php file. It should contain this:

$config['protocol'] = 'smtp';
$config['smtp_host'] = 'ssl://smtp.googlemail.com';
$config['smtp_port'] = 465;
$config['smtp_user'] = 'youremailaddress@gmail.com';
$config['smtp_pass'] = 'yourpassword';

When you initialize the email library make sure you pass the $config array as the second parameter. Also make sure you run the set_newline method as shown below. I don't know why you need to do that, perhaps somebody could elaborate.

$this->load->library('email', $config);
$this->email->set_newline("\r\n");

Answer 4

You need to check that you are actually able to connect over SSL. Does your PHP script handle the SSL handshake? Try using stunnel to tunnel a local port 25 connection to the remote port 465. That may work.

Answer 5

Anyone noticed the error was "php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Temporary failure in name resolution" ?

PHP can't resolve smtp.gmail.com -- Are you sure you have your resolvers (/etc/resolv.conf) setup correctly? Try SSH-ing to the server and running "nslookup smtp.gmail.com"

I think that's your problem, or try connecting to the IP and see what happens.

Answer 6

I'm pretty sure gmail uses 587 as their smtp port...465 should work too but try both.