Using/Configuring IRIS E-Mail 7 October 2004 Overview The IRIS mail server provides a facility for account holders to send and receive mail both from within IRIS offices and from remote locations. This document is intended to assist with access to those facilities. Background The IRIS e-mail facility is made up of hardware and software that implements what is popularly termed a “mail server.” Specifically, it is comprised of an SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) server and transport agent, an IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol) server, a webmail facility, and supporting software, e.g. spam and virus filters. Users employ “mailers” to access the mail server. Almost any mailer can interact with the mail server to receive and send mail. Each mailer has its own configuration capabilities and the mailer's documentation should be consulted on how to apply the configuration parameters detailed herein. Webmail access The IRIS webmail facility is a specialized mailer, designed to be operated from a web browser. Most users will find it unsuitable for use as their primary mailer. However, it can be very useful for ad hoc access. The IRIS webmail is at the URL <https://mail.iris.edu/>, your login is your email name (i.e. the portion of your e-mail address to the left of the “@” sign) and your e-mail password. Your inbox under webmail is the same as your inbox in your other mailers, and you will also have the same “server-side” folders. However, webmail will not be able to access any “local folders” you may have created. Note that the IRIS webmail facility is protected by a secure web page using certificates signed by the IRIS Certification Authority (CA). By default, most browsers are not configured to trust the IRIS CA. This means that, until they are taught to do so, you will get a pop-up window about an “unknown certificate” whenever the page is accessed. If this is inconvenient, please contact IRIS network support <mailto:[email protected]> for assistance. Stand-alone mailer configuration How this configuration is performed is specific to each mailer, the mailer's documentation should provide instructions for how to configure these items. It is usually under “new e-mail account” or “add an e-mail account” headings. SMTP server (outgoing): mail.iris.edu, port 25 Notes: authenticated SMTP (using your e-mail user name and password) must be used unless on the IRIS HQ LAN. Please use “secure password authentication” if possible. TLS/SSL “secure connection” is supported as an option. IMAP server (incoming): mail.iris.edu, port 143 Notes: Please use “secure password authentication” if possible. TLS/SSL “secure connection” is supported as an option in which case port should be set to 993. Supported mailers Most modern mailers will work with the IRIS e-mail facility. The mailers used by IRIS staff are categorized below based on features, Internet standards compliance, and supportability. Recommended/Fully supported: Mozilla Thunderbird (Windows/Mac/Linux/Unix) OSX 10.3 (Panther) and 10.4 (Tiger) Mac Mail Netscape Communicator (Windows/Mac/Linux/Unix) KDE KMail (Linux/Unix) nail (Linux/Unix command line) Opera M2 (Windows/Mac/Linux/Unix) Acceptable/Best effort support: OSX 10.2 (Jaguar) Mac Mail Eudora 6.1 or later (Windows/Mac) Mulberry (Mac) Ximian Evolution (Windows/Mac/Linux) MS Outlook Express Discouraged/Unsupported: Mac Mail (before OSX 10.2) Eudora (before version 6.1) MS Entourage (Mac) MS Outlook (Windows) binmail AKA mail AKA mailx (Linux/Unix) Please contact IRIS technical support on mailers that are not listed above. Miscellaneous technical details Use of the POP protocol to fetch mail (rather than IMAP) is not forbidden but it is discouraged. In particular, use of POP on a stand- alone mailer while also using webmail (or any other IMAP mailer) is strongly discouraged. Loss of data, including individual messages or the entire message store is a possible consequence. Quotas are not enforced at this time. However, disk space may limit the amount of mail each user is allowed to store on the server in the future. There is a 50MB maximum size restriction on any mail message sent through mail.iris.edu, either sending or receiving. User's can change their e-mail passwords through the webmail facility. They will need their current password to login. IRIS technical support should be contacted if a password is forgotten..