The division has a new Email server which is discussed below. The Email
machines: 'mail.phy.anl.gov' as well as 'theory.phy.anl.gov' will still
continue to function. The new server offers IMAP access to your mail,
so it is convenient for e.g., windows users. However, if you prefer to
continue reading your mail using 'mail.phy.anl.gov' or
'theory.phy.anl.gov' -- you need not make any changes.
Physics Division Email Server
To obtain an email account on the Physics Division email server, contact
a member of the Computer Support Group.
Tips on configuring and using mail client
software
The only requirement is that your mail client program be capable of establishing
a secure sockets layer (SSL) connection to the email server. Most
popular mail clients are capable of this. The following links provide
some tips on configuring and using mail clients.
Some notes on your email account
-
Your email address is [email protected]. You should
avoid using the actual name of the mail server. In fact, it is likely
that mail will bounce if you do. The idea that your email address
is [email protected] is a bad idea. It must
be eradicated!
-
You cannot log in interactively to your email account. However,
you can ssh to your account where you will be presented with a menu of
items. Among these are the ability to change your password, to change
your finger information, and to set and clear your forwarding address.
-
There is a quota restriction on the amount of email you can store on the
system. To conserve space, it is recommended that you do not enable
auto-save of messages that you send. Instead, you should carbon-copy
(cc) yourself on important messages.
-
There is no quota restriction on your Inbox. However, you should
not archive mail here. There are 2 important side effects that will
happen if you ignore this warning: First, if the Inbox area fills up, it
will crash the mail server which affects everybody. Second, it will
slow down the mail system when you open your Inbox as your mail program
will have to retrieve a large number of messages. You should save
your mail into folders and delete them from your Inbox.
Local or remote folders
The mail server supports archiving your mail on the server itself.
That is, you can create mail folders on the server in which you can save
your mail messages. The advantage is that you will be able to access
your archived mail from anywhere.
A note for Pine users: The typical Pine user logs into his/her
Unix account to read mail. Here, the advantage of storing your mail
on the server is less obvious. As long as you can log into your account
via ssh, you will have access to your Inbox and to your archived mail which
is stored locally on the Unix machine. There is one situation where
storing your mail on the server has an advantage and that is, when you
cannot log into your account via ssh. If you are on travel and have
access only to a mail client like Outlook or Netscape Messenger, then you
will not have access to your archived mail stored in local folders.
Sending mail from offsite
You can access the division email server from anywhere in the world to
read your mail. However, you cannot send mail via the division mail
server from everywhere in the world. The division mail server only
relays mail originating from machines in the division and from machines
connected to the laboratory's FOCAL service. These machines
are considered "onsite". All others are "offsite". The following
instructions provide solutions
to sending mail from offsite.
Last revised: 26 Jan 2001