AWS SES Email Sending error: Could not connect to SMTP host - php

Question

Since my account on AWS is at sandbox so I created two email addresses in aws and verified them. Then I created SMTP credentials. I have used the credentials in my PHP mailer function but it keeps on saying Couldn't connect to the SMTP host. No idea what I am doing wrong here. One thing more here is that If I use Cpanel or any other SMTP settings instead of aws then this script works which means there is nothing wrong with the script.
Phpmailer function
function sendMail($data){
$mail = new PHPMailer(true);
try {
//Server settings
// $mail->SMTPDebug = SMTP::DEBUG_SERVER; // Enable verbose debug output
$mail->isSMTP(); // Send using SMTP
$mail->Host = MAIL_HOST; // Set the SMTP server to send through
$mail->SMTPAuth = true; // Enable SMTP authentication
$mail->Username = MAIL_USERNAME; // SMTP username
$mail->Password = MAIL_PASSWORD; // SMTP password
$mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS;
$mail->Port = 587;
$mail->setFrom(MAIL_FROM, MAIL_NAME);
$mail->addAddress($data['to'],$data['name']);
$mail->addReplyTo(MAIL_REPLYTO);
// $mail->addCC('cc#example.com');
//$mail->addBCC('bcc#example.com');
$mail->isHTML(true);
$mail->Subject = $data['subject'];
$mail->Body = $data['message'];
//$mail->AltBody = 'This is the body in plain text for non-HTML mail clients';
$mail->send();
$array['code'] = 200;
$array['msg'] = "success";
return $array;
} catch (Exception $e) {
$array['code'] = 201;
$array['msg'] = $mail->ErrorInfo;
return $array;
}
}
Error:
We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 220 and/or bulk e-mail.
<br>
2021-02-19 08:55:59 CLIENT -> SERVER: EHLO domain.com
<br>
2021-02-19 08:55:59 SERVER -> CLIENT: 250-ip-172.xx.xx.xxx.sysadmin.info Hello domain.com [172.xx.xx.xxx]250-SIZE 52428800250-8BITMIME250-PIPELINING250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN250-STARTTLS250 HELP
<br>
2021-02-19 08:55:59 CLIENT -> SERVER: STARTTLS
<br>
2021-02-19 08:55:59 SERVER -> CLIENT: 220 TLS go ahead
<br>
SMTP Error: Could not connect to SMTP host.
<br>
2021-02-19 08:55:59 CLIENT -> SERVER: QUIT
<br>
2021-02-19 08:55:59
<br>
2021-02-19 08:55:59
<br>
On the terminal, I did this as well to check if the port is open
Nmap -p587 IP
Result:
Host is up (0.00036s latency).
PORT STATE SERVICE
587/tcp open submission
If I put this command
telnet email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com 587
telnet email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com 25
It says
220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited,
220 and/or bulk e-mail.
No idea why I am not able to send an email from the script to my verified email address. Please help

Answer 1

Here's my settings that work for me:
.......
.......
$port = 587;
.......
.......
$mail = new PHPMailer(true);
try {
// Specify the SMTP settings.
$mail->isSMTP(true);
$mail->setFrom($sender, $senderName);
$mail->Username = $usernameSmtp;
$mail->Password = $passwordSmtp;
$mail->Host = $host;
$mail->Port = $port;
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
//$mail->addCustomHeader('X-SES-CONFIGURATION-SET', $configurationSet);
.......
.......
PS: make sure you have the following things in order:
If you're using port 465, change the value of SMTPSecure to ssl.
Check if your instance is able to send outbound requests through these ports.
The user needs an IAM role to be able to send emails through.