PHP Mail Help

[Moshambi]

I'm trying to learn how to send email using PHP. Here is the code:

<?php

if(isset($_GET["sub"]))
{
	
$to = "blaaaah@gmail.com";
$subject = "Hi!";
$body = "Hi,\n\nHow are you?";
$headers = "From: sender@example.com\r\n" .
    "X-Mailer: php";
if (mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers)){
  echo("<p>Message successfully sent!</p>");
 } else {
  echo("<p>Message delivery failed...</p>");
 }

}

?>

Here are the settings I have in my php.ini :

; For Win32 only.
SMTP = localhost
smtp_port = 25

; For Win32 only.
;sendmail_from = me@example.com

; For Unix only.  You may supply arguments as well (default: "sendmail -t -i").
sendmail_path = "D:\XAMPP\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe -t"

; Force the addition of the specified parameters to be passed as extra parameters
; to the sendmail binary. These parameters will always replace the value of
; the 5th parameter to mail(), even in safe mode.
;mail.force_extra_parameters =

And finally here is the error I'm getting:

Warning: mail() [function.mail]: Failed to connect to mailserver at "localhost" port 25, verify your "SMTP" and "smtp_port" setting in php.ini or use ini_set() in D:\XAMPP\xampp\htdocs\practice\test.php on line 13

I don't understand how all this stuff works or what I need to do to fix it. Help is appreciated, thanks!

[rangana]

I'm experiencing the same thing here at the company.

The best thing for you is to ask what's your SMTP server, and replace highlighted:

ini_set('SMTP','SMTP.MYSITE.COM');

...add this code on the first line of your PHP code.

[Moshambi]

Thank you for the reply rangana. I'm trying to do this locally though, so do I need to have my own mail server set up or something?

[prasanthmj]

Yes you will need a mail server.

The easiest way to get a complete server up and running is to set up a virtual server (see vmware.com) You can download a complete web server with email/apache/php from http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/370 (look around the virtual appliance market place for more)
Using Vmware server or vmware player you can run these virtual machines.