Question: When I try to send mail using a PHP script in Cpanel, it automatically switches the SMTP hostname to localhost, even if I use a remote relay like sparkpost or mailgun. How to fix this?
Solution:
The reason behind the behavior is, by default Cpanel doesn’t let your customers use remote SMTP using PHP. This is controlled using a feature called ‘SMTP Restriction’. Go to WHM, log in using root, from Security Center select “SMTP Restrictions” and now, disable this. Your script shall now be able to send mail using remote SMTP like sparkpost/mailgun/pepipost.