2 Problems installing/using FMLP PRO - Broadcast not working

[leadman]

Dr,

I have a couple problems. I just bought the 5 domain license yesterday.

(1) The software won't install on one domain, I get 'Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1' showing up above the install form.

(2) I am unable to "broadcast" email to subscribers on the 2 domains I have gotten the software admin panel working.

Back to (1) - I get to the end of the install where it checks my tables are "clear" and press the button to complete the install. But then I get a nearly blank page with a similar 'Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1' line on top. I try to login using the admin url to no avail.

Back to (2) - I am going to assume sendmail is unix based, whereas my server and mail is windows based. In that case, I use SMTP, but my host doesn't actually use smtp protocol, but the following: mail.domain.com for the server setting, and user@domain.com for the login setting (global sending options).

I have setup pop accounts in hotmail exactly the same way as I set it up in your program and my hotmail has always pulled pop email through.

The issue is that I create a subscriber, create a message, then "broadcast" the message and I don't get any receipt. No logs show it was sent, and there is still a -0- under the messages sent and messages in progress columns.

I have also tried testing the performance of sending 50 emails. That worked one time on one of the accounts I setup, albeit delayed. Doesn't work anymore.

I'm baffled. I've spent quite a few hours trying to work out these bugs.

Also, do I have to enter account options for each account (or they could be called campaigns). I thought the global settings were enough to provide my send from email address. I did fill out the account options though, but it still didn't work.

Since I bought the 5 domain license, I'd really like to figure this out so I can duplicate it on my other accounts and problem solve when necessary.

Can you help?

Lastly, on a side note, it would be great to customize the control panel colors and also put a header that applies to the website the FMLP is for...if a person has 5 of these running, it can get confusing with only one color scheme.

I just spoke with my host provider. He said the problem (1) may be due to the server having a newer version of perl installed...that he may need to move my site to the other server where the application installed ok.

Also, (2) I built a form and filled it out on my site. The contact info was picked up by FMLP Pro and I received a FUMP registration confirmation - thus making me assume my POP/SMTP email settings are correct. However, the "followup" message to the subscriber that was supposed to happen automatically hasn't happened yet. Then my site became unavailable, I think my host either disconnected the site or the FMLP may have crashed it? I dunno. We'll see. I doubt the FMLP could have done that, as it is independent of my site and site's main database server.

Also, just would like to say I think it's really AWESOME that each additional field of the form can be a personalization to the outgoing autoresponders - WAY COOL!

[drquek]

Please use SENDMAIL instead of SMTP.

It is difficult for me to tell you what exactly went wrong without access to your site.

If you have difficulty, we can install for $25 for a single domain.

Please refer to the Sticky on the info we need.

[leadman]

(1) Host on Linux/Unix Server
(If your site is on a Windows server, just create a free subdomain and put the FMLP on that subdomain which you host on a linux server)
(2) Have the host set the CRON to run the URL "http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/maillist/starter.cgi" every 15 minutes.
(3) If CRON isn't setup, you can still test the ability of FMLP to broadcast messages by putting the url in your browser""http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/maillist/starter.cgi"
(4)SENDMAIL is easier to setup than SMTP and only works on LINUX/UNIX

I hope this helps other people. I spent 2 weeks trying to make this work. My problem is that I originally hosted on windows servers. Windows servers don't work with this program from what I experienced. You cannot set CHMOD values on a Windows Server for the files as described in the manual. When using the windows server, I could install the FMLP, could send a 'test' message to my email address, but broadcast and statistics would not work even with the picture code. There is no CRON in windows server from what I know.

So, when I hit broadcast, since no messages went out, the number in the sent column didn't change from 0 to 1.

I also made the mistake of assuming SMTP setup was incorrect. Note: if you pop your email through hotmail, yahoo, or other services, these SMTP settings will be the same as your POP settings. Don't second guess yourself here. Also, if the 'test' message gets delivered, then your SMTP settings are correct.

SENDMAIL is a linux/unix feature and won't work with Windows servers. Also, sendmail does not require any email account like POP/SMTP does for setup.
What this means is that when you use sendmail for the Linux server, you select sendmail and you are DONE. No acct info is needed for it to send the mail from the server.

My second mistake was to assume that manual 'broadcast' of my own sample messages would send the emails out immediately. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! Manual 'broadcast' of messages only puts messages in que. It does NOT function like the 'test' button.

The URL above must be opened either manually in explorer or using the CRON (automatically every 15 minutes or for whichever interval it is set by you or your host). NOTE: The column showing how many messages were sent will not change just because you press the 'broadcast' button. It will change once the starter code is run above and messages are actually sent.

My third mistake - FMLP allows you to send a 'test' message to the email address you input in that box next to the test button. This will send you a message without going through the CRON or activating above URL. It appeared to only get delivered to the return email address I had input into the system, and no other email addresses I input in the 'test' box.

This led me to believe the broadcast would work the same way, which it is not designed to do. The broadcast only puts messages in que as stated above.

So, to make your life easier - install the FMLP Pro ONLY on a Linux server, set the chmod as per the FMLP manual instructions, and ask your host to setup the CRON to run the url '"http://www.mydomain.com/cgi-bin/maillist/starter.cgi" every 15 minutes.

Then use SENDMAIL and you should have just saved yourself 2 weeks of pain and frustration.

If you're like me and have your sites setup to run on a coldfusion database running on a windows server, then create a subdomain on a linux server to run the FMLP. (i.e. http://www.domain.com versus subdomain http://FMLP.domain.com)

[drquek]

Thanks for the comments.

The cron feature checks to see if there is any messages to be sent out by FMLP. No messages will be sent without cron except test messages.

You can set the cron youself if you are using cPanel by selecting the CRON button. Then choose Standard and enter the one line command as per the readme file.