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What are my options regarding sending SMTP email

durangod
  • Edited

Hi, for many years i have used phpMailer for my SMTP mails.  But  i am looking to make a change, i have already uninstalled phpMailer from the server.  I was not happy after reading the security history and discovering that many of my older versions had security flaws. On top of that i was not convinced that it is any better now because of some of the issues that exist, and what seems to be a constant change in main developers. 

I may be overreacting, as is my nature.  But am convinced i need to make a change and i dont want to go back to just using risky php mail function for everything.  

I checked out mailgun and smtp2go but i am not wanting a marketing mail software, that is way overboard and i am not interested in any of those.  I dont need fancy reports or the ability to use long mail listings, i dont send out marketing emails at all and probably never will.    

All i want is to send an email via SMTP from my server to a personal email or from a domain  on my server to a domain email address on my server.   

In other words i have a booking form that customers fill out to schedule a service. I am formatting that email in the cpanel server under php and html.  Then i want the server to send that email to me via SMTP when the customer has submitted the form.   I have everything built up to this point and its all working, i just need to get the email via SMTP.  I also do not want to run my own SMTP server, its too high maintenance.

What are my options with cpanel WHM?

Is there anyone at cpanel that is building such a thing as a side project, im interested?

Does it make a difference if its my domain to my domain email do i need SMTP for that?

Am i locked into using a third party service?  If so any recommendations?

Does google have anything to offer for this?

I dont care if its something i have to download and install or if its just an API key setup, whatever works, i can do either.  

Thanks :)

Update:  I get a gut feeling im going to feel pretty dumb pretty soon LOL   I feel like i am wayyyyy overthinking this. Since the person that is getting the email (my relative) does not have access to my web mail but i am hosting her domain. I am thinking that all i really have to do is just create a domain webmail address in cpanel  (example  booking@example.com) and then forward it to their gmail account they use for business. Exim does all the rest and it will be sent SMTP from the server to their email.

Is that correct?

If so i wonder why i was ever using phpMAILER in the first place.  

Wait, that cant be right, she needs to do the handshake with google on her end so that cant be right, she would have to add a new account to google gmail client for the domain email  and use the SMTP settings from cpanel then it would pull the email from her end.  So i wonder why the video i just watched suggested also forwarding the domain email to her google account as well.   hmmmm 

Comments

2 comments

Date Votes
  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Hey hey!  What about the details here to ensure the message is authenticated properly? https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/articles/360051197793-Using-the-PHPMailer-library-to-send-messages-via-SMTP

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  • durangod
    • Edited

    Yes i agree it needs to be done.  So yes you answered my original question is that we are limited to either using php mail function, or phpMailer (or some other third party mail software).

    I think its important to note that the link you gave covers phpMailer 6.1 and the current version is 6.10.0 and anything less than 6.4.1 has serious security flaws according to 

    https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/security

    Also i think its important to note that the lastest version just came out in april of this year 2025 (about 60 days ago) and already it has issues.  Issues happen to all software, even mine, but if i had 42 issues in 60 days on my projects, i would be totally embarrassed as a programmer.   But that also depends on the size of the project.  Something like cPanel or Plesk maybe 42 issues is less than .05 percent of the whole package considering everything it does and maybe that is acceptable.  But when your talking about a small project (complex but small) like phpMailer i believe that is excess, and worrisome. 

    I understand we are limited in options here and i also understand that beggers cant be choosers especially for free, im just saying that i dont feel as warm and fuzzy about phpMailer as i used to.

    It may work perfectly for my limited use and some of those issues may be directly related to features that i may never use, i dont know.  I just wish we had more options, even something paid if it was affordable, well known and trusted. 

    Also i am surprised that with the competion in the world of hosting panels and the long lasting need for this feature that cPanel has not taken on the task and provided it as part of the package or even as a extra paid option, to the extent that phpMailer functions.   Maybe ill toss in a feature request, maybe there is already one out there.  :)   

    Anyway, sorry so long winded here, it is what it is ya know....  ill suck it up and deal with it :)  At least i know now what my options are which is the main thing.  :)

    PS  i know that anyone that installs phpMailer is most likely going to install the latest version, but just in case someone grabs the 6.4.1 or earlier, i think the security link i posted above should be added to that topic you shared as a precaution should that same person read that article.  :) 

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