Answers.Body: <p>Your cron script may not work as displayed because <code>$PHP</code> is not defined, and because <code>PARAMS= -j -smydomain.org -u mailsender@mydomain.org -p xxxxxxxxxx -e Job -a process_mailing</code> will not define <code>$PARAMS</code> without quotemarks surrounding the variable value (instead you get a *sh error).</p>
  
  <p>I suggest adding a MAILTO line with your email at the top so you receive the error output - this will help you debug if/when it fails.</p>
  
  <pre><code>MAILTO=you@example.com
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I suspect that your website is not hosted at <code>/var/public_html</code> on Bluehost also? Might want to double-check that value, you might mean <code>~/public_html</code></p>
  
  <p>Try this, amending values to suit your email/website?</p>
  
  <pre><code>MAILTO=myself@example.org
  PHP=/usr/php/54/usr/bin/php
  CIVI_ROOT=~/public_html/mydomain/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/
  PARAMS=" -j -smydomain.org -u mailsender@mydomain.org -p xxxxxxxxxx -e Job -a process_mailing"
  */5 * * * * cd $CIVI_ROOT; $PHP bin/cli.php $PARAMS
  </code></pre>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-06-01T05:27:24.170Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-06-01T06:04:14.613Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2015-06-01T06:04:14.613Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Chris Burgess
Answers.Body: <p>The correct solution is to save yourself time by finding a hosting solution which supports CiviCRM's base requirements fully. You can work around these limitations, but <em>it will cost you more in time than you'd spend on hosting it somewhere more suitable</em>.</p>
  
  <p>Bluehost mail hosting lacks VERP. Bluehost standard webhosting has mail delivery limitations, and is a product suitable for lower-end websites than a busy CiviCRM site.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-06-01T05:25:03.547Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-06-01T05:25:03.547Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Chris Burgess
Answers.Body: <p>Regarding test mail not going out - it's not necessarily cron.  Here are three things to check:</p>
  
  <p><strong>SMTP Settings:</strong>  Do you get mail when you send a test SMTP on the screen at <strong>Administer menu > System Settings > Outbound Email</strong>?  If not, your problem is SMTP-related.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Scheduled Jobs screen:</strong>
  Also, make sure you've enabled the job at <strong>Administer menu > System Settings > Scheduled Jobs</strong>.  This is also a good place to see if your job ran.  Also, view the log for the "process_mailing" job for errors.</p>
  
  <p><strong>cron</strong>  If it IS cron-related - I'm not sure why, your command looks good to me.  However, I install wp-cli and use that for cron.  I find it to be a more satisfactory experience, and it won't leave my password in the server logs.</p>
  
  <p>Here's an example of a working cron job with wp-cli I pulled from a site running Wordpress:</p>
  
  <pre><code>0,15,30,45 * * * * /home/members/xxxx/wp-cli/wp-cli --require=/home/members/xxxx/sites/xxxx/wp-cli/civicrm.php --path=/home/members/xxxx/sites/xxxx/web civicrm api --timezone=America/New_York job.execute
  </code></pre>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-06-01T04:51:49.813Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-06-01T04:51:49.813Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Answers.Body: <p>I've used <a href="https://www.civismtp.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CiviSMTP</a>. They provide an excellent service and are focused on CivCRM.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-06-28T04:43:35.930Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-06-28T04:43:35.930Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Vietyank
Answers.Body: <p>If your host provides a catch-all e-mail address, that can be an alternative to subaddressing.  <a href="https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/2322/can-i-use-a-catchall-address-if-my-mail-host-doesnt-support-verp">See here</a>.</p>
  
  <p>The test e-mail question should be a separate question - so I'll answer with a separate answer.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-06-01T04:39:43.493Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-06-01T04:39:43.493Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2017-04-13T12:53:13.167Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Body: <p>I'm following the instructions here:</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/CiviMail+Installation" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/CiviMail+Installation</a></p>
  
  <p>and I've been running into some obstacles. </p>
  
  <p>1) Bluehost does not support sub-addressing and won't let me create a catch-all so I don't know what to do for my return channel. If anyone has been able to set one up successfully on Bluehost please share how you did it. So far I have created an email account called return@mydomain.org and entered it as my bounce processing account under Administer > CiviMail > Mail Accounts.</p>
  
  <p>2) Test emails are not going out so I'm pretty sure my cron job isn't working. Here's the cron entry:</p>
  
  <pre><code>CIVI_ROOT=/var/public_html/mydomain/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/
  
  PARAMS= -j -smydomain.org -u mailsender@mydomain.org -p xxxxxxxxxx -e Job -a process_mailing
  
  */5 * * * *  cd $CIVI_ROOT; $PHP bin/cli.php $PARAMS
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>If you can see what I'm doing wrong please let me know. I've tried via the control panel and also from php-cli.</p>
  
  <p>This is a WordPress site with CiviCRM 4.6.3. </p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-06-01T04:31:05.420Z
Comments.Text: I'd recommend using something like civihosting, which solves most of the above issues. You can continue trying to get this to work with bluehost, but the time and hours spent might not be worth it, IMO
Comments.UserDisplayName: Donald Lobo
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-06-01T05:31:13.150Z
Comments.Text: Your question has multiple questions (how do I use VERP? why doesn't cron work?). Suggest asking these questions separately to get better answers (and to make it easier to answer your question correctly). See http://civicrm.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask
Comments.UserDisplayName: Chris Burgess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-06-01T06:11:16.453Z
Comments.Text: +1 to Donald's comment here, which IMO is the correct **answer**. Bluehost may be fine for some web hosting, but it's not ideal for CiviCRM. You'll expend far more in time and effort working around limitations of cheap hosting than you would spend hosting with a company who supports CiviCRM fully.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Chris Burgess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-07-07T04:45:43.063Z
Comments.Text: I ended up switching hosts. Thanks for the comments.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Laurie
Tags: <civimail><cron-job>
Title: Difficulty setting up CiviMail on Bluehost
ThreadText: # Difficulty setting up CiviMail on Bluehost
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-06-01)
  
  I'm following the instructions here:
  
  <http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/CiviMail+Installation>
  
  and I've been running into some obstacles.
  
  1) Bluehost does not support sub-addressing and won't let me create a catch-all so I don't know what to do for my return channel. If anyone has been able to set one up successfully on Bluehost please share how you did it. So far I have created an email account called return@mydomain.org and entered it as my bounce processing account under Administer > CiviMail > Mail Accounts.
  
  2) Test emails are not going out so I'm pretty sure my cron job isn't working. Here's the cron entry:
  
  ```
  CIVI_ROOT=/var/public_html/mydomain/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/
  
  PARAMS= -j -smydomain.org -u mailsender@mydomain.org -p xxxxxxxxxx -e Job -a process_mailing
  
  */5 * * * *  cd $CIVI_ROOT; $PHP bin/cli.php $PARAMS
  
  ```
  
  If you can see what I'm doing wrong please let me know. I've tried via the control panel and also from php-cli.
  
  This is a WordPress site with CiviCRM 4.6.3.
  
  **Tags:** civimail, cron-job
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I'd recommend using something like civihosting, which solves most of the above issues. You can continue trying to get this to work with bluehost, but the time and hours spent might not be worth it, IMO  
  > **username_2**: Your question has multiple questions (how do I use VERP? why doesn't cron work?). Suggest asking these questions separately to get better answers (and to make it easier to answer your question correctly). See http://civicrm.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask  
  > **username_2**: +1 to username_1's comment here, which IMO is the correct **answer**. Bluehost may be fine for some web hosting, but it's not ideal for CiviCRM. You'll expend far more in time and effort working around limitations of cheap hosting than you would spend hosting with a company who supports CiviCRM fully.  
  > **username_0**: I ended up switching hosts. Thanks for the comments.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 5 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2015-06-01. Score: 3
  
  Your cron script may not work as displayed because `$PHP` is not defined, and because `PARAMS= -j -smydomain.org -u mailsender@mydomain.org -p xxxxxxxxxx -e Job -a process_mailing` will not define `$PARAMS` without quotemarks surrounding the variable value (instead you get a \*sh error).
  
  I suggest adding a MAILTO line with your email at the top so you receive the error output - this will help you debug if/when it fails.
  
  ```
  MAILTO=you@example.com
  
  ```
  
  I suspect that your website is not hosted at `/var/public_html` on Bluehost also? Might want to double-check that value, you might mean `~/public_html`
  
  Try this, amending values to suit your email/website?
  
  ```
  MAILTO=myself@example.org
  PHP=/usr/php/54/usr/bin/php
  CIVI_ROOT=~/public_html/mydomain/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/
  PARAMS=" -j -smydomain.org -u mailsender@mydomain.org -p xxxxxxxxxx -e Job -a process_mailing"
  */5 * * * * cd $CIVI_ROOT; $PHP bin/cli.php $PARAMS
  
  ```
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2015-06-01. Score: 2
  
  The correct solution is to save yourself time by finding a hosting solution which supports CiviCRM's base requirements fully. You can work around these limitations, but *it will cost you more in time than you'd spend on hosting it somewhere more suitable*.
  
  Bluehost mail hosting lacks VERP. Bluehost standard webhosting has mail delivery limitations, and is a product suitable for lower-end websites than a busy CiviCRM site.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2015-06-01. Score: 2
  
  Regarding test mail not going out - it's not necessarily cron. Here are three things to check:
  
  **SMTP Settings:** Do you get mail when you send a test SMTP on the screen at **Administer menu > System Settings > Outbound Email**? If not, your problem is SMTP-related.
  
  **Scheduled Jobs screen:**
  Also, make sure you've enabled the job at **Administer menu > System Settings > Scheduled Jobs**. This is also a good place to see if your job ran. Also, view the log for the "process\_mailing" job for errors.
  
  **cron** If it IS cron-related - I'm not sure why, your command looks good to me. However, I install wp-cli and use that for cron. I find it to be a more satisfactory experience, and it won't leave my password in the server logs.
  
  Here's an example of a working cron job with wp-cli I pulled from a site running Wordpress:
  
  ```
  0,15,30,45 * * * * /home/members/xxxx/wp-cli/wp-cli --require=/home/members/xxxx/sites/xxxx/wp-cli/civicrm.php --path=/home/members/xxxx/sites/xxxx/web civicrm api --timezone=America/New_York job.execute
  
  ```
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2019-06-28. Score: 0
  
  I've used [CiviSMTP](https://www.civismtp.com). They provide an excellent service and are focused on CivCRM.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2015-06-01. Score: 0
  
  If your host provides a catch-all e-mail address, that can be an alternative to subaddressing. [See here](https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/2322/can-i-use-a-catchall-address-if-my-mail-host-doesnt-support-verp).
  
  The test e-mail question should be a separate question - so I'll answer with a separate answer.
  
  
  ---
  
  