Email configuration in CakePHP - php

Question

I'm trying to send mails through CakePHP, but I always got a 'Connection timed out' message. I've used two different configurations: gmail and 1and1, but result is the same.
This is my email.php file:
public $oneandone = array(
'host' => 'ssl://smtp.1and1.es',
'port' => 465,
'username' => 'my-address#my-domain.com',
'password' => '*****',
'transport' => 'Smtp',
'timeout' => 1);
public $gmail = array(
'host' => 'smtp.gmail.com',
'port' => 587,
'username' => 'my-address#gmail.com',
'password' => '****',
'timeout' => 1,
'tls' => true,
'transport' => 'Smtp');
And this is my remind function inside the UsersController.php file:
public function remind() {
App::uses('CakeEmail', 'Network/Email');
$this->set('url', $this->referer());
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$Email = new CakeEmail('gmail');
$Email->from(array('my-address#my-domain.com' => 'Staff'));
$Email->to('destiny#hotmail.com');
$Email->subject('Password reminder');
$Email->send('Here is your current password: xxxxxx');
return $this->redirect(array('action' => 'login'));
}
}
The error I got is
if (!$this->_socket->connect()) {
throw new SocketException(__d('cake_dev', 'Unable to connect to SMTP server.'));
so I don't know why I'm not being able to connect. I've modified some params like tls, ssl but no results.
Within the same server (1and1) I can send emails with the standard mail() function, so I don't think it is a problem of PHP configuration. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Some ideas would be appreciated!

Answer 1

the following, worked me correctly. on Cakephp 2
public $gmail = array(
'host' => 'ssl://smtp.gmail.com',
'port' => 465,
'username' => 'myEmail#gmail.com',
'password' => 'AwesomePass',
'transport' => 'Smtp'
);
Note that gmail uses port 465.
It is possible that gmail does not work if your site does not have ssl certification.
in this case you must use a smtp configuration
public $smtp = array(
'transport' => 'Smtp',
'from' => array('site#localhost' => 'My Site'),
'host' => 'localhost',
'port' => 25,
'timeout' => 30,
'username' => 'user',
'password' => 'secret',
'client' => null,
'log' => false,
//'charset' => 'utf-8',
//'headerCharset' => 'utf-8',
);
with the following function
public function sendMail() {
App::uses('CakeEmail', 'Network/Email');
$templateVar = array(); //array variable to use in the template
$Email = new CakeEmail();
$Email->template('template_name', 'default') //View/Emails/html/template_name.ctp
->config('gmail')//gmail or smtp
->emailFormat('html')
->subject('Awesome subject')
->to('toUser#email.com')
->from(array('myEmail#gmail.com'=>'My name'))
->viewVars($templateVar)
->send();
}