Setting Up Email Functionality on Nginx Web Server: A Guide with PHP Verification

First, you will need to download the SMTP PEAR module files required. Refer to this page for instructions on setting it up on your NginX AWS Lightsail web server.

Creating a database and table for page likes using MySQL Workbench:

1. Create a Database:

Manually:

• Open MySQL Workbench and connect to your MySQL server.
• In the navigator panel, right-click the "schemas" tab.
• Select "Create Schema."
• Provide a schema name (e.g., "csx2") and click "Apply" to create the new database.

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Using Commands:

CREATE DATABASE csx2;

2. Create a Table:

Manually:

• Under the appropriate database in the left navigation pane, right-click "Tables" and select "Create Table..."
• Enter the table name (e.g., "email").
• Add columns: "id", "email" and "verified" with their respective data types and any other necessary details.
• Click "Apply" to create the table.

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Using Commands:

  
CREATE TABLE `csx2`.`likes` (
  `pageName` VARCHAR(50) NULL,
  `count` BIGINT NOT NULL
);

// Show value command in MySQL Workspace
USE csx2; SELECT count FROM likes WHERE pageName = 'page1';

Extending Email Subscription Code from section 2, we can enhance our email subscription functionality. Here’s how it works:

1. User Submission: When a user submits their email, we store it in our database for email subscriptions.
2. Verification Process: Each entry in the database is assigned a verification value (a boolean, either 0 or 1). Initially, this value is set to 0.
3. User Verification: When the user clicks the verification link in their email inbox, they are directed to the verify.php page.
4. Comparison: Our PHP code on the verify.php page compares the MD5 hash of the user’s email with the stored hash.
5. Update: Update: If the hashes match, we change the verification value for that email to 1.

This approach ensures secure and verified email subscriptions.

    
<?php

require_once "Mail.php";

$servername = "{ENDPOINT-TO-MYSQL-DATABASE}";
$username = "{USERNAME-FOR-DATABASE}";
$password = "{PASSWORD-FOR-DATABASE}";
$dbname = "{DATABASE-NAME}";

$vemail = $_POST['email'];

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
  die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
echo "Connected successfully";

$sql = "INSERT INTO subs (email)
VALUES ('{$vemail}')";

if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
  echo "New record created successfully";

      // Send verification email
      $verificationCode = md5($vemail);
      $verificationLink = "https://computersciencex.com/verify.php?code=$verificationCode";
      $subject = "Verify Your Email Address";
      $message = "Click the link below to verify your email address:\n$verificationLink";


} else {
  echo "Error: " . $sql . "
" . $conn->error;
}

$from = "admin@computersciencex.com";
$to = $vemail;

$host = "ssl://smtp.zoho.eu";
$port = "465";
$username = 'admin@computersciencex.com';
$password = '{PASSWORD}';

$body = $message;

$headers = array ('From' => $from, 'To' => $to,'Subject' => $subject);
$smtp = Mail::factory('smtp',
  array ('host' => $host,
    'port' => $port,
    'auth' => true,
    'username' => $username,
    'password' => $password));

$mail = $smtp->send($to, $headers, $body);

if (PEAR::isError($mail)) {
  echo($mail->getMessage());
} else {
  echo("Message successfully sent!\n");
}

header("Location: https://computersciencex.com/indexSuccess.html", true, 301);  

$conn->close();

?>
  

Now create a php file called verify.php and add the following code(ensuring that you change the variable values to your own):

    
<?php

$servername = "{ENDPOINT-TO-MYSQL-DATABASE}";
$username = "{USERNAME-FOR-DATABASE}";
$password = "{PASSWORD-FOR-DATABASE}";
$dbname = "{DATABASE-NAME}";

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
  die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
echo "Connected successfully";

if (isset($_GET['code'])) {
    $code = $_GET['code'];
    
    // Update user status to verified
    $sql = "UPDATE subs SET verified = 1 WHERE MD5(email) = '$code'";

    
    if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
        header("Location: https://computersciencex.com/indexVerify.html", true, 301);  

    } else {
        echo "Error verifying email: " . $conn->error;
    }
}


$conn->close();

?>