Email in ECE

Faculty and Staff

All full-time faculty, staff, and research scientists have accounts on the new mail server. The login name is the same as the username for accessing the ECE Unix and Windows AD systems. Thus the official email address is:

username@ece.osu.edu

In addition to the official username, the following two aliases will exist for each person:

lastname@ece.osu.edu
firstname.lastname@ece.osu.edu

Please note that there are users in the Department who share a last name. For those people, the first account created will get the lastname@ece.osu..edu alias.

Faculty, staff and research scientists have a quota of 1.5GB on the mail server. This limit includes the incoming mail spool and any data kept on the IMAP system. This is a hard quota and may not be exceeded. An automatic warning will be issued when 90% of the quota has been consumed, but it should not be relied upon. The SLOX Groupware web interface shows a user's quota on the welcome page just after login. This page should be checked periodically.

Graduate Students

All ECE graduate students have accounts on the new mail server. The login name is the same as the username for accessing the ECE Unix and Windows AD systems. Thus the email address takes the form of:

username@ece.osu..edu

Graduate students have a quota of 200MB on the mail server. This limit includes the incoming mail spool and any data kept on the IMAP system. This is a hard quota and may not be exceeded. An automatic warning will be issued when 90% of the quota has been consumed, but it should not be relied upon. The SLOX Groupware web interface shows a user's quota on the welcome page just after login. This page should be checked periodically.

Undergraduate Students

All Undergradute students with accounts in the ECE student labs will have their email forwarded from username@ece.osu.edu to name.#@osu.edu. This information is derived from the class rosters and that information does sometimes have errors. If your mail is not working, send a note to site.

Special Accounts

Special email accounts may be requested by faculty and staff. Persons who might qualify for special accounts include: visiting scholars, undergraduate students working on a faculty member's research project, and part-time departmental staff. If you wish to request the creation of such an account, please send email to site.

Special accounts will have the same POP3/IMAP/HTTP access as other accounts, but quotas will be set to 100MB. Extensions will be granted only with good cause.

POP3

POP3 is the current version of the "Post Office Protocol" and is used to retrieve email from a mail server. POP3 can be used by Eudora, Outlook, Outlook Express, and Netscape. It cannot be used by Pine and is not applicable to SLOX Groupware.

Site recommends that POP3 be used when the end-user wants to download their email and keep it on a single workstation. In this scenario the mail would be downloaded to the local machine and then deleted on the server. While POP3 can be used from multiple locations, IMAP is better suited for that purpose.

For those users who used POP3 on the old mail server, no modifications are required to their settings to use the new server.

The Electrical & Computer Engineering POP3 server is: pop3.ece.ohio-state.edu

IMAP

IMAP is the "Internet Message Access Protocol" and is used to retrieve email from a mail server. IMAP can be used by Pine, Eudora, Outlook and Outlook Express. It is the underlying technology behind the SLOX Groupware interface. Compatibility with Netscape has not been investigated at this time.

Site recommends that IMAP be used when the end-user wants to access their email from multiple locations or wants the benefits (backups) of having their mail on the central server.

The Electrical & Computer Engineering IMAP server is: imap.ece.ohio-state.edu

The mailbox delimiter has changed between SuSE Email Server 3.1 and SuSE OpenExchange Server 4. What was previously the standard Cyrus ".", is now a "/". This will be a hidden change to most users, but those who use Pine and Eudora may have issues and should see the relevant documentation areas for details.

Converting from EE to ECE with IMAP

It must be noted here that any time you changed the name of your IMAP server, most IMAP clients will loose the information that belonged to the old IMAP server name. Even if, as in this case, the physical server is not changing, the client only sees the name change and will thus toss the relevant information.

This can be a problem for some of the mail clients. Pine has not been shown to have issues. Eudora definately can, depending on how the environment is set up. Outlook is an unknown at this time.

It is the recommendation of the Site Staff that persons making this transition, from ee.eng.ohio-state.edu to imap.ece.ohio-state.edu with their mail readers (other than Pine), allow the Site Staff to assist in the process. For users who have home machines that use this utility, it is recommended that you be present during the migration of your ECE-based system so that you can see the steps involved and discuss potential issues with your home system with the site staff.

SMTP

SMTP is the "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol" and is used for sending email messages.

Some clients will use their POP3/IMAP connections to send their email messages. Others require that a separate SMTP service be defined.

The Electrical & Computer Engineering SMTP server is: smtp.ece.ohio-state.edu

A note on open relays: by University policy open relays are forbidden. Because of the way that the new mail server handles relaying, it is no longer possible for us to allow hosts outside the ECE domain to use the ECE Mail Server as an SMTP server. This now includes ohio-state.edu and osu.edu addresses. People who are used to using the ECE Mail Server as the SMTP server from within those two domains now have the option of using the smtp.service.ohio-state.edu SMTP server, or tunneling into the ECE network via SSH and then using that tunnel to reach the ECE SMTP server.

LDAP

LDAP is the "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol" and is used to look up information on directory services. Examples of information that such a directory might contain include names, email addresses and phone numbers.

Some mail clients, including Eudora and Outlook, can use LDAP as a mail address book.

The Electrical & Computer Engineering LDAP server is: ldap1.ece.ohio-state.edu

The server runs on port: 389

The Search Base is: dc=eng,dc=ohio-state,dc=edu

Note Bene: Due to various Departmental, University and Federal policies and regulations, the LDAP system is only available from within the ECE network.

Eudora

There are issues with Eudora and the new SLOX server. They are being worked on with Qualcomm and SuSE tech support. As those details are settled, the information will be posted here. For new installations of Eudora, the following instructions are still considered valid.

Eudora is the site recommended PC mail client. As of 10SEP03, Eudora 6.0 is available to OSU affiliates.

If the computer is located inside the ECE network, then the SMTP server should be set to: smtp.ece.ohio-state.edu. If the computer is located outside the ECE network (even if it is inside the OSU network), the SMTP server setting should be set to whatever your local ISP provides.

To read mail, Eudora can be used as a client of the ECE mail server in either POP3 or IMAP modes.

To use the POP3 capabilities of Eudora:

• Login Name: username
• SMTP Server: smtp.ece.ohio-state.edu (or your local ISP's SMTP Server)
• Incoming Mail Server: pop3.ece.ohio-state.edu
• Configuration: POP
• Authentication style: Passwords
• Leave mail on server: Disabled - if you want to leave your mail on the server, you are better selecting IMAP as your Configuration

If you select the POP3 mode of Eudora, all mail will be stored on your local computer. Mailboxes are created and stored locally, and you can only access this mail on the local PC. If your mailboxes are not displayed by default, you can view them by selecting "mailboxes" from the "Tools" pull down menu.

At a minimum you should find three mailboxes:

• In
• Out
• Trash

In represents your incoming mail queue. Out is the default storage location for mail that you send. Trash is the default, temporary, storage location for mail that you delete. Additional mailboxes and folders can be created to help organize your email.

To use the IMAP capabilities of Eudora:

• Login Name: username
• SMTP Server: smtp.ece.ohio-state.edu (assuming you are inside the ECE network)
• Incoming Mail Server: imap.ece.ohio-state.edu
• Configuration: IMAP
• IMAP Mailbox Location Prefix: blank
• Authentication style: Passwords

If you select to use IMAP mode, all mail is stored on the ECE server. In the Mailbox window of Eudora a new folder will appear named for your Eudora "Personality" with the IMAP account. This is generally going to be named "Dominant". Underneath that folder will be at least two folders, one named "Inbox" and one named "users".

The folder named "users" represents a global folder which can be accessed by all users. At this time only the site staff have posting access to this folder, and no specific use for it has been determined. It is only provided as a place holder for future use.

The folder named "Inbox" is the storage location for all of your mail messages saved on the IMAP server.

It should be noted that IMAP based folders can act as both containers of mail messages (like a Eudora-mailbox) and a container of other folders (like a Eudora-folder). This is best demonstrated with the "Inbox" folder that appears in your IMAP segment under "Dominant". If you click on the plus sign to the right of the "Inbox" folder, it will expand to show the other folders that it contains. However if you right-click on the folder and select "Open", the folder will open and show you the mail messages that it contains. If this is confusing, think of an IMAP folder as a Windows-style folder (or a Unix directory). It can contain both files (mail messages) and other folders. The IMAP system works the same way.

The mail messages that you find inside the "Inbox" folder, are the messages in your incoming mail spool. All new mail messages that you receive will be stored here until you move and/or delete them.

If you expand the "Inbox" folder inside the mailboxes window, you will find at least three other folders. They are:

• drafts
• sent-mail
• trash

drafts is where you can save messages that you're working on but not quite ready to send. Note that this is a convention used by other mail systems (like Skyrix Green) to which Eudora does not necessarily subscribe. However using the drafts folder is a good habit to get into, as anything stored there is saved on the server and can be accessed from other IMAP clients. If you just let Eudora save the file in the "Out" mailbox (again, near the top of the mailboxes window), it will only be stored on your current PC.

sent-mail is where you can save messages that you have already sent. By default, Eudora is going to save such files in its local "Out" mailbox. Just as with the drafts folder, it is good to use the sent-mail folder because you can access those messages from any IMAP client. You cannot set Eudora to use this folder as its default location for sent messages so you will have to do this by hand if you want to make use of the central server.

trash is the location where IMAP temporarily saves files that you delete. Don't put anything in here that you'd be afraid to loose... that's the point of the folder. It is a good idea to check this folder once in a while, just to make sure it isn't filling up.

You can create new IMAP folders the same way you would create a Eudora mailbox or Eudora folder. Right click on the "Inbox" folder and select "New". Type in your folder name and hit "OK". Selecting the "Make it a folder" button has no affect, because IMAP folders server the same function as both the Eudora mailbox and the Eudora folder.

You can nest IMAP folders the same way you do Eudora folders, by simply right clicking on any existing folder and following the same instructions as given just above.

Porting your Eudora mailboxes up to the IMAP Server is not difficult, but there are a few quirks. The basic steps:

1. Open a Eudora mailbox.
2. Highlight the messages you wish to move.
3. Open the IMAP folder to which you wish to contain these messages.
4. Drag and drop the messages from the Eudora mailbox to the IMAP folder.

Note 1: You cannot move Eudora folders... only mail messages.

Note 2: This is not a streaming process, and it will take real time if you are transferring MBs of data. Remember, you are not just moving the data. With each individual message that you transfer you are populating a database on the IMAP server and that takes time. It is highly recommended that you clear out all unrequired mail before moving to the IMAP server. This will both save you time in the process, and save space on the server... remember, there are quotas on the server which the space on your local PC could easily exceed.

Note 3: Not every Eudora mail message can be moved onto the IMAP server. For reasons not 100% understood, there is a very small failure rate where individual messages will not transfer. It is generally believed that some Eudora messages have header or body conventions that the IMAP server cannot parse. When the transfer process fails, select the first message remaining on your local Eudora mailbox which was in the range you had previously highlighted. Try moving just this one message. If it fails, move it to some other local Eudora folder for temporary storage and then select the remaining messages. These should transfer correctly. If they do not, or if they stop somewhere later in the process, check the first message in the new range again. Proceed in this fashion until all transferable messages have been moved. Those that remain have to be left on your local Eudora system.

Note 4: When creating IMAP folders through Eudora, you do not want to use special character. Even something as simple a creating a folder named "suse.com" will not do what you expect. The "." gets interpreted as a directory level. In fact if you created folders with the Skyrix Green interface, the "." is how they distinguish the folder level. Stick to alphanumerics with "-" and "_" and " " (blank space characters) being acceptable.

Note 5: If you use Eudora's filtering capabilities, you will need to change each filter to reflect the new location of each relocated mailbox.

To add the ECE LDAP Directory Service to Eudora:

1. From the "Tools" pull down menu, select "Directory Services".
2. In the top, right-hand pane of the window that opens, select the "LDAP" protocol and hit the "New Database" button.
3. In the "Modify Database" window that appears, make the following changes:
   1. Under the "Network" Tab
      • Enter ECE LDAP Service as the name by which you would like to refer to this server.
      • Enter ldap1.ece.ohio-state.edu as the Host Name under Server information.
      • Enter 389 as the Port under Server information.
   2. Under the "Search Options" tab"
      • Enter dc=eng, dc=ohio-state, dc=edu as the Search Base.
4. Leave everything else as is and hit "OK".
5. Eudora is now configured to use the ECE LDAP Service. NOTE BENE: due to the potential legal ramifications of FERPA, this service is only available INSIDE the ECE network. You will not be able to connect to this service outside the ECE firewall.

To add the OSU LDAP Directory Service to Eudora:

1. From the "Tools" pull down menu, select "Directory Services".
2. In the top, right-hand pane of the window that opens, select the "LDAP" protocol and hit the "New Database" button.
3. In the "Modify Database" window that appears, make the following changes:
   1. Under the "Network" Tab
      • Enter OSU LDAP Service as the name by which you would like to refer to this server.
      • Enter directory.service.ohio-state.edu as the Host Name under Server information.
      • Enter 389 as the Port under Server information.
   2. Under the "Search Options" tab"
      • Enter ou=people, dc=osu, dc=edu as the Search Base.
4. Leave everything else as is and hit "OK".
5. Eudora is now configured to use the OSU LDAP Service.

To Use Eudora Directory Services:

1. Enter desired databases as described above.
2. In the "Databases" pane (bottom right) select the boxes next to the directories you wish to search.
3. In the top left pane, labeled "Query", put in the data you wish to search for. Your own last name would be an example.
4. Hit "Start".
5. Your results will be posted in the left hand, middle, panes, with details of the highlighted items in the bottom left hand pane.

Pine

Do not use the SuSE documentation to configure Pine for IMAP! There are inaccuracies in their documentations.

Edit your ~/.pinerc file as follows. Be very careful to include brackets and parenthesis exactly as show. Note: while your browser may show line-breaks, especially in the "Examples" column, there should be none in your configuration file.

If after making the changes you still have problems, please try initializing your .pinerc file by:

1. Quitting any open pine processes
2. Moving your .pinerc to .pinerc.old
3. Restarting pine

This process will create a new .pinerc file. Make the above modifications to this new file and see if that now works. If you still have problems, contact site.

After you have pine correctly configured to use IMAP, you will find that it prompts you for your password each time you invoke it. This is your mail system password and is required for SMTP and IMAP access. There is no known way to save your password in pine.

You will also find that some of your mail has been relocated. If you configured your pinerc as directed above, you will find the mail that resides in ~/Mail on your HP account under the "Home Directory" listing of your Folder list.

Explore the "ECE Global IMAP Folders" and the "ECE Personal IMAP Folders" as you will. Right now there is not much there, but as the ECE system evolves, and as you populate your IMAP folders, more choices will become available.

SLOX Groupware

SuSE OpenExchange Server (aka: SLOX) has a groupware package available by the web. The URL is:

http://slox.ece.ohio-state.edu/

SLOX Groupware is the primary user interface into the back-end of the mail server. It is through this utility that passwords are changed, mail is forwarded, and so on. Please log in and use it for these capabilities.

It must be noted here that there are a limited number of concurrent connections allowed to the server. For this reason, it is requested that all persons log out of SLOX Groupware when not actively using it. 60 minutes of inactivity automatically log a user out, but this is 60 minutes of time that another user could be putting to good use. An alternate Web-Mail system is being implemented. When completed, details will be posted to this site. That new system will not have the time restrictions of the SLOX Groupware. It will also only be an email interface, and will not have access to the other systems. But it will serve as a fully functional web mail interface.

SLOX Mailbox "Subscriptions"

SLOX Groupware has the ability to display only a certain number of mailboxes. This is a feature intended to make the web mail experience better, by allowing the user to hide unused data. Keeping the accessible mailboxes to a minimum can enhance the performance of the system.

This concept is called a "subscription" list. To [un]subscribe to a specific mailbox, open the SLOX Groupware interface. Select "Setup" and then the "Folder" icon. One of the tabs now visible is "Subscribe". Select this, and you will find two lists of folders. Those on the left are "unsubscribed" and not visible to SLOX. Those on the right are "subscribed" and are visible. To move a mailbox from one column to the other, just highlight it and select the appropriate arrow key from between the two columns. After you have the mailboxes where you want them, you must hit the "Save" button. This is on the far right hand side of the web page and is often off the side of the browsers. Just side scroll all the way to the right, and select "save" to activate your changes.

SLOX WebMail: Deleting Email

By default, the SLOX WebMail tool does not necessarily know where to send mail when the "Delete" button is hit. This option may need to be set by hand.

To set the SLOX Groupware options that specifically apply to the WebMail mail reader, open the WebMail tool. In the top left pane, select "Options". A new window will open.

In this options window, select "Folder". It is here that you can set the "Default folder for deleted messages" and other common tasks such as sent-mail and draft messages. Just select your folder and hit "Apply".

Squirrel Mail

A second web-based mail client has been added to the ECE systems. Please look to:

webmail.ece.ohio-state.edu

This interface is completely separate from the SLOX Groupware client. In some respects it is not as fully featured, but in general it has been found to be more stable. That said, this is still considered the secondary web interface and is not intended to be a user's primary mail client.

Outlook

Eudora is the officially supported PC-based mail reader within the Department. As a result, these instructions for Outlook are provided with minimal testing. If you find anything wrong with them, please send a note to "site" and we will seek to correct the documentation.

This documents is written using Outlook 2000. Other versions may behave differently.

To use the POP3 capabilities of Outlook:

1. Select the "Accounts" option on the "Tools" pull-down menu.
2. On the "Internet Accounts" menu that appears, select the "Mail" tab.
3. Select the "Add" button and then select "Mail". This causes the Internet Connection Wizard to start. Enter the data as follows:
   1. Your Name: Enter your name in the "Display name:" box. This is going to be what your name looks like on outbound email messages. For users of the ECE Department, this should be your real, full, name.
   2. Internet E-mail Address: Enter your mail address in the "E-mail address" box. This is in-effect your Reply-To address, so set it to wherever you want people sending your mail.
   3. Email Server Names:
      1. My incoming mail server is a POP3 server.
      2. Incoming mail server: pop3.ece.ohio-state.edu
      3. Outgoing mail server: smtp.ece.ohio-state.edu
   4. Internet Mail Logon
      1. Account name: your ee username
      2. Password: your ee mail password
      3. Remember password: it is highly recommended that you leave this Off
      4. Log on using SPA: No
   5. Which method do you want to use to connect to the Internet? Connect using my local area network (LAN)

Your system is now configured to use Outlook as a POP3 mail client.

To use the IMAP capabilities of Outlook:

1. Select the "Accounts" option on the "Tools" pull-down menu.
2. On the "Internet Accounts" menu that appears, select the "Mail" tab.
3. Select the "Add" button and then select "Mail". This causes the Internet Connection Wizard to start. Enter the data as follows:
   1. Your Name: Enter your name in the "Display name:" box. This is going to be what your name looks like on outbound email messages. For users of the ECE Department, this should be your real, full, name.
   2. Internet E-mail Address: Enter your mail address in the "E-mail address" box. This is in-effect your Reply-To address, so set it to wherever you want people sending your mail.
   3. Email Server Names:
      1. My incoming mail server is a IMAP server.
      2. Incoming mail server: imap.ece.ohio-state.edu
      3. Outgoing mail server: smtp.ece.ohio-state.edu
   4. Internet Mail Logon
      1. Account name: your ee username
      2. Password: your ee mail password
      3. Remember password: it is highly recommended that you leave this Off
      4. Log on using SPA: No
   5. Which method do you want to use to connect to the Internet? Connect using my local area network (LAN)

Outlook Options:

From the "Tools" pull-down menu, select "Options". A window will pop up with 6 tabs and many subsystem tools. The following are the recommended/required settings for the ECE Department:

From the Outlook primary window, there are other options that should be set. The following are the recommended/required settings for the ECE Department:

Your system is now configured to use Outlook as an IMAP mail client.

Outlook Express

Eudora is the officially supported PC-based mail reader within the Department. As a result, these instructions for Outlook Express are provided with minimal testing. If you find anything wrong with them, please send a note to "site" and we will seek to correct the documentation.

This documents is written using Outlook Express 6. Other versions may behave differently.

To use the POP3 capabilities of Outlook Express:

1. Select the "Accounts" option on the "Tools" pull-down menu.
2. On the "Internet Accounts" menu that appears, select "Mail".
3. Select the "Add" button and then select "Mail". This causes the Internet Connection Wizard to start. Enter the data as follows:
   1. Your Name: Enter your name in the "Display name:" box. This is going to be what your name looks like on outbound email messages. For users of the ECE Department, this should be your real, full, name.
   2. Internet E-mail Address: Enter your mail address in the "E-mail address" box. This is in-effect your Reply-To address, so set it to wherever you want people sending your mail.
   3. Email Server Names:
      1. My incoming mail server is a POP3 server.
      2. Incoming mail server: pop3.ece.ohio-state.edu
      3. Outgoing mail server: smtp.ece.ohio-state.edu
   4. Internet Mail Logon
      1. Account name: your ee username
      2. Password: your ee mail password
      3. Remember password: it is highly recommended that you leave this Off
      4. Log on using SPA: No

Your system is now configured to use Outlook Express as a POP3 mail client.

To use the IMAP capabilities of Outlook Express:

1. Select the "Accounts" option on the "Tools" pull-down menu.
2. On the "Internet Accounts" menu that appears, select "Mail".
3. Select the "Add" button and then select "Mail". This causes the Internet Connection Wizard to start. Enter the data as follows:
   1. Your Name: Enter your name in the "Display name:" box. This is going to be what your name looks like on outbound email messages. For users of the ECE Department, this should be your real, full, name.
   2. Internet E-mail Address: Enter your mail address in the "E-mail address" box. This is in-effect your Reply-To address, so set it to wherever you want people sending your mail.
   3. Email Server Names:
      1. My incoming mail server is a IMAP server.
      2. Incoming mail server: imap.ece.ohio-state.edu
      3. Outgoing mail server: smtp.ece.ohio-state.edu
   4. Internet Mail Logon
      1. Account name: your ee username
      2. Password: your ee mail password
      3. Remember password: it is highly recommended that you leave this Off
      4. Log on using SPA: No
4. In the Internet Accounts window, highlight the entry for imap.ece.ohio-state.edu and select Properties. Then under the IMAP tab, change the following values:
   1. Sent Items path: sent-mail
   2. Drafts path: drafts

Your system is now configured to use Outlook Express as an IMAP mail client.

Outlook Express Options:

From the "Tools" pull-down menu, select "Options". A window will open with 10 tabs. The following are recommended (or as noted, "required") optional settings:

Netscape

Netscape instructions may be posted eventually, but it is not a site supported mail reader and the instructions will be posted with limited testing. They should be used with caution.

NFS Readers (elm, mail, mailx, dtmail, emacs, etc...)

As of July 2002, NFS based mail readers are no longer supported on the ECE/ER4 HP systems. For those who use these systems, it is recommended that a move be made to either Pine (Unix), Eudora (PC and MAC) or SLOX Groupware (any platform).

Aliases and Lists

Mail aliases will be created at the request of faculty and staff. Such aliases should be small lists of users whose membership will not change often.

A mailman list server has been installed to handle the needs of large mail lists or lists that have regular changes to membership. Such lists will be placed under the control of a faculty member or full time, non-site, staff member. Under rare instances, students may be granted control of a list. That person will be completely responsible for that list.

Email Passwords

Passwords to the email server are, unfortunately, distinct to the mail server. They do not tie back to the NIS, SMB or Win2K systems. Initially all user passwords are set to the standard system default.

To change your password:

1. Log into the SLOX Groupware web interface.
2. Select the "Setup" link.
3. Select the "Password" tab.
4. Put your current password in the "old password" field.
5. Put your new password in the "new password" field.
6. Again, put your new password in the "confirm new password" field.
7. Under "Mechanism" leave the setting as "Crypt" unless you know what you are doing.
8. Hit the "Update" button.

You have now changed your password.

Forward and Vacation

Mail forwarding and the vacation style auto-responder are set as part of the configuration of the mail server via the SLOX Groupware interface.

To forward your email:

1. Log into the SLOX Groupware web interface.
2. Select the "setup" link.
3. Select the "Mail Filter" option.
4. Under "Manage mail filters", select the "Vacation notice" tab.
5. Select "Create" to create a new filter rule.
6. At the bottom of the page, under "Forward all mails to a specific destination", put in the address to which you wish to forward your mail.
7. Select "Keep no local copy" unless you intend to read your email in two locations. DO NOT leave this unchecked and allow your mail to pile up on the ECE server needlessly.
8. Hit "Save Changes".

Your mail begins forwarding immediately.

To setup the vacation facility:

1. Log into the SLOX Groupware web interface.
2. Select the "setup" link.
3. Select the "Mail Filter" option.
4. Under "Manage mail filters", select the "Vacation notice" tab.
5. Select "Create" to create a new filter rule.
6. Under the "Subject" line, enter the Subject you want persons who send you email to receive as part of your vacation notice.
7. In the "Text" box, enter any message you want them to receive.
8. Select the "Only active during the time period" button, to restrict the period in which the vacation program will be active. This is a very nice feature for those who might otherwise forget to turn the vacation program off upon their return. Not selecting this button will leave the feature active until removed.
9. Select the dates for the vacation program to be active, if appropriate.
10. Set Repeat after to no value less than 7 days. The system will keep track of who sends you email and who is sent a notice that you are on vacation. Should that person send you another email, they will not get a repeat message unless these number of days have elapsed. Less than 7 could be considered rude.
11. The "Addresses" field should show all addresses to which vacation responses should be given. You may wish to add to this if you have an email address forwarding to your ECE mail account (like say your name.number@osu.edu) account. Otherwise mail addressed to that account will not have a vacation message sent to the originating sender. NEVER put a mail list here. The people on a mail list do not need to know that an individual member of that list is away from their mail.
12. Hit "Save changes" at the bottom of the screen and you are all ready to go.

Quotas

Every user has a quota on the mail server. Faculty, staff and research scientist quotas are set to 1.5GB. Graduate student quotas are set to 200MB. "Special" account quotas are set to 100MB unless otherwise negotiated.

Checking quotas is a simple matter. Log into the SLOX Groupware web interface. Do so by pointing your web browser to:

http://slox.ece.ohio-state.edu/

Enter your email username and password.

Quota are printed across the bottom of the setup page and the Web Mail page..

SPAM Filtering

SpamAssassin has been turned on. SpamAssassin adds headers to every mail message that is delivered locally on the ECE mail server. These headers rate each messages' SPAM quotient and assigns it a value. These values can be used by local mail readers with filtering capabilities (such as, but not limited to Eudora and Outlook) to sort email into a "Junk" or "spam" folder for later review, or even into the "Trash".

While such capabilities are possible with mail readers, it is the preferred (and supported) method of the ECE site, that such filtration be performed on the server. This makes spam filtering independent of a user's mail client, and gives a single point of support for the staff. It is also significantly easier for the end user to implement.

To use server-side filtering, log into the SLOX Groupware. Select "Setup". From the categories along the top of the window, select "Mail Filters". Of the new tabs, select "SPAM" (depending on the number of mailboxes that you have, this may take a moment to open... please be patient).

You are now faced with three options:

1. You can "File [SPAM] into the folder..." that you then designate. We highly recommend creating a folder named INBOX/Junk (for Eudora users) or INBOX/spam (for everyone else) and using that designation. This is only for the sake of the site staff as we may have to debug your filters, and you do have the option of putting the mail wherever you please.
2. You can "Discard it". This will simply make the email go away... not into your "Trash" but completely and irretrievably away. Select this option, and the site staff cannot get any such discarded message back for you. Before you select this option please read "A word of caution" below about false-positives.
3. You can do "Nothing" which will leave mail tagged as spam alone, to pass into your Inbox. This is certainly a viable option if you do not want to use this service, or if you do not read your email locally.

A word of caution about automatically deleting email tagged as SPAM: SpamAssassin, and in fact all anti-spam software applies a set of metrics to gauge the likelihood that a message is spam. It is entirely possible, and even somewhat common, to get false positives. It is best practice to filter the email into a folder for later visual scanning to make sure that you get all of the email that you should get. As a corollary, it is also a fact that some spam will fit under the threshold of SpamAssassin and be delivered to your Inbox. SpamAssassin is not expected to stop all spam... just to take a significant edge off.