Email changes

Please address questions to If you are doing something unusual, like tunnelling your mail connections through SSH, please contact us.

What is this DON'T DELETE THIS MESSAGE -- FOLDER INTERNAL DATA message at the start of my mail folder?
It is a housekeeping record left by the old mail handling software. You may delete it if you wish, as it is no longer used.

Due to changes mandated by compliance with the Minimum Security Standards for Networked Devices, the Econometrics Laboratory and the Department of Economics have made the following alterations to the department email service.

1. Receiving mail must be done using SSL encryption. The department recommends the use of IMAP over POP as the protocol. IMAP leaves mail on the server unless explicitly moved or deleted. This is the best choice if you read mail from more than one machine. POP downloads all mail to the receiving machine.
2. Sending mail
   1. If you are on the department network i.e. a department office Ethernet but not AirBears, you should also make these changes.
   2. Dial-up to the department modem pool is the same as Ethernet.
   3. On-campus connections from outside the department - other departments, AirBears, campus modem pools, residence halls, UC Village, etc. - must use CalMail as the SMTP server. This connection requires SSL and authentication.
   4. Off-campus connections - SBC, Comcast, Earthlink, Yahoo, etc. - should use the SMTP mail server provided by the company. It is also possible to use CalMail as above. Advanced users can use SSH to tunnel SMTP traffic.
3. The use of SSH to run a mail client on an Emily is unaffected. If you use SSH to tunnel your mail connections at present, this should also continue to function with minor modifications. See the Mail Configuration links section below.
4. The webmail facility, Squirrel Mail, is unaffected.

Most of the following descriptions apply to using IMAP. If you wish to use POP3/SSL, the port number is 995 and the server name is the same as for IMAP. Most email clients will not permit you to change an existing account setting from one protocol to the other. In these cases you need to create a new account entry with the protocol of your choice, and then remove the old one after testing.

We are developing an SSL and authenticated SMTP (sending) service which will provide secure worldwide connections to the EML for outgoing mail.

Mail configuration links

• Economics/EML Thunderbird configuration (Last modified: Saturday, 19-Jan-2008 14:11:49 PST)
• Economics/EML Eudora configuration (Last modified: Monday, 04-Feb-2008 12:33:22 PST)
• Economics/EML Outlook Express configuration (Last modified: Saturday, 19-Jan-2008 19:17:28 PST)
• If you tunnel your mail connections over SSH, you will still have to set your mail clients to use SSL and adjust the folders settings. You should also change the tunnelled port from 143 (unencrypted IMAP) to 993 (IMAP/SSL). Your SMTP settings remain unchanged. We have some notes on tunnelling SMTP via SSH which may help.
• CalMail items
  • CalMail account creation
  • Why can't I send mail after setting up my email program to connect securely to CalMail?
  • How do I change my email settings to connect securely to CalMail?

PC-Pine users

• The current version of PC-Pine is 4.64, available from PC-Pine download page. Use the Win32 Setup version, or the plain Win32 Zip if you just want to update the files.
• In your pinerc file (PC-Pine program directory), make your incoming server line read like this:

  {econ.berkeley.edu/notls/ssl}[]

  
  You can do this through Setup, Config, which may be simpler. You may also need to do this for lines referencing files on the Unix server. Do not do this for the mail sending line.
• These settings can be done from Setup, Config, under the Folders section, as well as in the pinerc file.

  # List of features; see Pine's Setup/options menu for the current set.
  # e.g. feature-list= select-without-confirm, signature-at-bottom
  # Default condition for all of the features is no-.
  feature-list=combined-folder-display,
  	no-enable-incoming-folders
  

• This section configures the program to find mail folders on the Unix system. It can be set by using Setup, collection Lists, Add, and entering econ.berkeley.edu/notls/ssl for the Server.

  # List of directories where saved-message folders may be. First one is
  # the default for Saves. Example: Main {host1}mail/[], Desktop mail\[]
  # Syntax: optnl-label {optnl-imap-hostname}optnl-directory-path[]
  folder-collections=Unix {econ.berkeley.edu/notls/ssl}[],
  	mail\[]
  

• If you are outside the department, you can configure PC-Pine to send mail via Calmail. Go to the PC-Pine main menu, Setup, Config, and change the SMTP server entry to calmail.berkeley.edu/ssl/user=mycalmailusername. You must have a CalMail account to use in place of 'mycalmailusername'. Expect to supply your CalMail password when you send your first message.