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The ECF provides email services for core members of EMSEI. Other users will probably want to forward their essc.psu.edu email to their outside primary email address that they read more frequently.
All email from the Cray and SP will be forwarded to your Sun account. If you do not have a Sun account, the email will automatically be forwarded to the address that you specified on your account application form.
If you are logged into the Suns frequently, you may have asked to have your mail delivered locally when you applied for your account. This is controlled by the presence of a ".forward" file in your home directory. Whether you forward your email to another location or read it while you're logged in to the Suns, please make sure it goes somewhere that you check regularly (at least once per week) so that we can contact you if there's a problem with your account.
If you're not forwarding your email to another location, you'll need to read it from the Suns. This can be accomplished by one of three methods (in rough order of preference):
We also have a set of frequently asked questions and answers regarding reading your email on the Suns.
A "console-based" or "text-based" program is one that doesn't use graphics; it can be run from inside an xterm or ssh session.
The Suns have several popular console-based email clients, of which "mutt" is the most recommended. Console email programs can be more convenient since they tend to be faster, consume less resources, and you'll be able to check your email using the same interface from virtually anywhere; if you're at home or away from campus, you can ssh to one of the Suns and start mutt to read your email.
Console-based clients also have the advantage that they read your email in place; they won't remove any mail from the server until you delete the message yourself. Since the email never moves from its original location, it's much less likely to get misplaced.
You don't usually need to configure anything to start using one of the console-based email programs -- they're already set up.
A close second preference to console-based email is to use encrypted IMAP, especially if you prefer a graphical email client over a text-based email client.
SSL/IMAP will allow you to read your email remotely over an encrypted channel, so that your password isn't sent in the clear. Your email will also always be left on the server until you delete it. Since the IMAP protocol only retrieves messages as you need/read them rather than all at once, it tends to be much faster than POP3 over modems.
Netscape is the most common way to read your email using SSL/IMAP, although some people have reported success using Outlook and Outlook Express. Make sure the box to use encrypted IMAP is checked -- we do not support regular, unencrypted IMAP.
The IMAP server is imap.essc.psu.edu. The SMTP server is smtp.essc.psu.edu.
If none of the above methods will work for you, POP3 is also available. Its use is discouraged, since it is slow, is prone to confusion since by default it downloads all your email to the local machine and deletes it from the server, and insecure, since it sends your login password in the clear across the network where it can easily be read.
Many POP3 clients are widely available, including the popular Eudora email client. The POP3 server is pop3server.essc.psu.edu. The SMTP server is smtp.essc.psu.edu.
Many people like to keep the email that they receive for future reference. At the same time, it's important to keep your inbox small. Large inboxes take a long time to download and modify, they can be easily corrupted by poorly-written mail clients, and they put a tremendous strain on the mail server, potentially preventing other people from receiving their email. Make sure you don't keep more than 5 MB in your inbox.
As such, the best policy is usually to keep your inbox empty, and to save read messages to another folder. If you're using a POP3 client, and you don't have the "keep mail on server" option checked, then you're already doing this. If you've already accumulated a large amount of email, and would like to move everything off the server, here's how you can do so:
If you receive your email on a windows machine using POP3 you can move your mail off the server by unchecking the "keep mail on server" checkbox in your server options, and then checking your email. After your inbox has been downloaded, your client will tell the server it can now remove your inbox, and you'll have all of your mail on your local machine. You can now move it to another folder if need be.
If you usually use the Sun workstations, you can manually move your mail file. It's
named "/var/mail/
% mv /var/mail/woods /granite/s0/woods/old_mail/may_2001
That's it. My inbox will now be empty, and I can read the old mail by opening the
destination file in my mail client.