Can't get Net::SMTP to work

kcantrel has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Environment:
O/S: Windows 7 64 bit
Perl: ActivePerl 5.16.3

Problem:
I can't seem to get Net::SMTP to work. It fails to even attempt to connect to the mail server. I confirmed that by using 'wireshark' and noticed that no packets are leaving my computer. Here is the very basic code I am trying to use:

use strict;
use warnings;

use Net::SMTP;
use Net::FTP;

my $server = "cube";

my $smtp = Net::SMTP->new(Host => $server, Debug => 1, Timeout => 60);
#my $smtp = Net::FTP->new($server, Debug => 1);
if(!defined($smtp)) {
  die "Failed to connect to $server\n";
}
print $smtp->domain,"\n";
$smtp->quit;
[download]

In the above code the call to Net::SMTP->New() always returns "undef". You can see where I tried "Net::FTP" and that one works just fine, so the underlying network routines seem to work. I also confirmed I can telnet to port 25 of the mail server, and I get the typical "welcome" response. I've tried various options and ways of calling SMTP->new but they all result in the same problem. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

A slight update, I just added "($!; $@)" to the die line above and it printed:
Failed to connect to cube (No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.; Net::SMTP: connect: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.)
Keep in mind that I saw NO network activity with Wireshark and 'telnet' is able to connect to port 25. Oh, and I have disabled the Windows Firewall. So, in my option the error message is misleading at best.

Comment on Can't get Net::SMTP to work Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Can't get Net::SMTP to work by tobyink (Canon) on May 09, 2013 at 22:18 UTC
Have you tried using the server's IP address rather than host name? `Net::SMTP->new` appears to return undef if it can't lookup the host name. $ perl -MNet::SMTP -MData::Dumper -e'print Dumper(Net::SMTP->new(Host +=> "zzzz.tmpdir.eu", Debug => 1, Timeout => 60))' $VAR1 = undef; $ perl -MNet::SMTP -MData::Dumper -e'print Dumper(Net::SMTP->new(Host +=> "mail.tmpdir.eu", Debug => 1, Timeout => 60))' Net::SMTP>>> Net::SMTP(2.31) Net::SMTP>>> Net::Cmd(2.29) Net::SMTP>>> Exporter(5.66) Net::SMTP>>> IO::Socket::INET(1.33) Net::SMTP>>> IO::Socket(1.34) Net::SMTP>>> IO::Handle(1.33) Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 220 mail.g5n.co.uk ESMTP Postfix (Ubuntu) Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)>>> EHLO localhost.localdomain Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-mail.g5n.co.uk Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-PIPELINING Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-SIZE 10240000 Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-ETRN Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-STARTTLS Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-AUTH=PLAIN LOGIN Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250-8BITMIME Net::SMTP=GLOB(0x9ff45e8)<<< 250 DSN $VAR1 = bless( \*Symbol::GEN0, 'Net::SMTP' ); [download] `package Cow { use Moo; has name => (is => 'lazy', default => sub { 'Mooington' }) } say Cow->new->name`	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Can't get Net::SMTP to work by kcantrel (Initiate) on May 09, 2013 at 22:35 UTC
Yes, actually, I initially had the IP address, but changing to the hostname was one of my attempts to get it to work.	[reply]
Re^2: Can't get Net::SMTP to work by kcantrel (Initiate) on May 09, 2013 at 22:39 UTC
Also, what is odd, even with "Debug => 1" set, I don't get ANY output from the 'new' routine. It is almost like it immediately fails and returns.	[reply]
Re: Can't get Net::SMTP to work by Krambambuli (Curate) on May 10, 2013 at 10:06 UTC
Try the Perl debugger, run your code with $perl -d ... and try to see what's up, step by step. As the error is coming up almost immediately, it shouldn't be too hard to follow the upstream calls into Net::Command or IO::Socket::INET in order to find out what the actual problem would be. Apparently you can't get a local socket - hard to say why.	[reply]
Re^2: Can't get Net::SMTP to work by kcantrel (Initiate) on May 10, 2013 at 23:28 UTC
Okay, so I stepped through the code, and apparently, as expected, it is failing at the: `if (!connect($sock, $addr)) {` [download] statement from connect() subroutine in the IO::Socket.pm file. Well, if anything, after that call, which is a low level call that I can't step into, all the sudden $! is set to the "No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it" error and the logic causes it to return with an error. I mentioned before that I have turned off the Windows firewall, but this is a company issued laptop that has McAfee installed on it. It should only be doing virus scanning, but I can't help but think it is somehow causing the problem. What doesn't make sense though, is that I can 'telnet' to port 25 without a problem. So, unless there is some kind of rule that allows telnet to get to that port and not Perl, I don't understand how that can be the case. I also have Cisco AnyConnect installed, and it implies it does firewalls, but I think only when the VPN is running, and I don't have it working when doing these tests. Anyway, if anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Can't get Net::SMTP to work by Krambambuli (Curate) on May 13, 2013 at 15:41 UTC
In the IO::Socket.pm that I can look into, the code is like `sub connect { @_ == 2 or croak 'usage: $sock->connect(NAME)'; my $sock = shift; my $addr = shift; my $timeout = ${*$sock}{'io_socket_timeout'}; my $err; my $blocking; $blocking = $sock->blocking(0) if $timeout; if (!connect($sock, $addr)) {` [download] so the call to connect should still be traceable a bit by single-stepping...Might help to know if the issue is before or after getting a local socket to use. Not that I think that would help too much, but it still might get you a bit closer to a solution. Any chance to try the code on another machine ? Are you running this with the same privileges as when you do successfully telnet ? Maybe you can check if it behaves the same way when you run it as Administrator?	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Can't get Net::SMTP to work by Anonymous Monk on Feb 24, 2014 at 10:13 UTC
Hello There, did you manage to solve this issue? In my setup: windows 7 x64, strawberry perl 5.18.2 my app also fails here: `Net::SMTPS>>> IO::Socket::INET(1.33) Could not connect to SMTP server` [download] I have tried the involved port with telnet and the firewall lets the communication pass correctly Best regards Nikolas	[reply] [d/l]