This document gets fairly technical. Check out the main Morehouse Support site for other material that might be helpful in other ways.
Important: Make sure you read the entire section on Account Specifics. It describes the various ways in which your account might stop working!
The faculty/staff mail server's hostname is "facstaff.morehouse.edu". All references to this machine (see the Services section) should be made by that name unless otherwise specified. Other names may work for now, but are not guaranteed to do so forever.
Eudora is our POP3 mail client of choice. Its configuration settings should look something like this for those accessing the faculty/staff mail server:
| Real Name: | Albert Einstein |
| Return Address: | aeinstei@morehouse.edu |
| Mail Server (Incoming): | facstaff.morehouse.edu |
| Login Name: | aeinstei |
| SMTP Server (Outgoing): | smtp.morehouse.edu |
This says that the user's real name is Albert Einstein (substitute your name, of course), that the mail will be checked as "aeinstei@facstaff.morehouse.edu", and that all outgoing mail will be sent to "smtp.morehouse.edu" for processing. Replies to this mail will go to "aeinstei@morehouse.edu". (The return address must be correct or blank, else emails in reply to those sent out will bounce or go to the wrong place.)
The facstaff server supports POP3 connections for all account-holders. This style of connection is the most basic--users connect, grab mail from their primary inbox on the server, save that mail on their own machines, then delete the mail from the server (as long as "leave mail on server" is not checked, and it should not be checked). It is the recommended method for most users with their own computers to check their email.
The facstaff server supports IMAP connections for all account-holders. This method of email-checking leaves the mail on the server unless the user requests that the email be downloaded to a local folder. It's great for users on the road, but is more confusing than POP3. Users checking their email through this method MUST keep an eye on their email and disk quotas since reading mail does NOT automatically reduce the size of the mail stored on the server.
IMAP-over-SSL connections are supported on their own TCP port or via STARTTLS. If your email client supports this, please use it--it's safer. Configuring your particular email client to do this properly is beyond the scope of this document, however, as it varies greatly by email client.
Facstaff email can be checked over the web, too. Hit the top level of the facstaff server via the web to get started with this.
Basically, this is a pretty web interface to the email stored on the server. Mail that is altered through this interface is altered on the server, just as if you'd used an IMAP client. (That is, if you delete something with the web client, you'll never see it in a POP3 client. Ever. Be careful.)
The intended use of the web client is for people who are on the road or who are away from the office for some other reason (home for the weekend?). It is not designed to be the primary mail interface.
Since the web interface leaves mail on the server just like the IMAP interface, users of the web interface MUST keep an eye on their email and disk quotas.
All accounts come with file storage space. Users can log in with a standard SFTP (the SCP-type SFTP) client like WinSCP or Fugu.
Most users have three noteworthy directories in their home:
drwx------ 2 aeinetei staff 4096 May 15 14:03 Maildir drwxr-x--- 2 aeinstei staff 4096 May 15 14:03 private drwxr-x--- 2 aeinstei apache 4096 May 15 14:03 webdocs
The "private" directory is a place to put material which can be accessed only by the user who put it there. The "webdocs" directory is where published web material should go (see the Web Service section for more). The "Maildir" directory should be left alone--fiddling around in there can cause your email to break.
Users should take care not to change the permissions on these directories.
Documents to be published via the web should be stored in the "webdocs" directory in the user's home directory (see the FTP section for more). Anything in that directory is available over the web via a URL like this one:
Users should, of course, substitute their own username for "aeinstei". Mind the tilde (~), located on the back-tick key near the 1 on most keyboards -- it's important.http://facstaff.morehouse.edu/~aeinstei/
Users should change their facstaff passwords right after they first get them and again at least twice a year. This is best done via the facstaff webmail interface, in the Preferences section.
Accounts on the facstaff server do not time themselves out (but see below). There is no need to remind us periodically that you still work here. Accounts of employees who are separated from the college are closed. Users who wish to have their email forwarded to a new account after they leave should contact the HelpDesk before leaving to make arrangements. (Supervisors have veto power on this.)
Sometimes, temporary workers are hired, so their accounts are set up to expire at the end of their temporary employment time. Those users are notified of this when their accounts are created. (Ideally, they'll be notified before the account expires, too, but that feature is not yet in place.)
Unlike accounts, passwords ARE set up to expire after a while. Each user's password expires 180 days after it was changed last. (Changing your password resets this value.)
When a password expires, the user cannot log in anymore. Ideally, a user whose password has expired can change his or her own password, but that feature is not yet in place. Contact the HelpDesk if you think your password has expired.
Users who do not use their accounts for 45 days after their passwords expire will have their accounts locked. Locked accounts are subject to deletion at any time. No effort will be made to see if users whose accounts are deleted in this manner are still employed by the college.
Any mail that sits on the server for more than two months (59 days, actually) is subject to being deleted. Users are responsible for checking their mail and keeping local copies of it on their systems if they want to archive it. IMAP and Webmail users should be particularly cautious about this!
This limit will affect the utility of Leave Mail On Server in POP3 clients. It also affects the webmail and IMAP interfaces.
Because some users may use the webmail and IMAP interfaces more extensively than others, server-side mail folders other than the Inbox are not subject to this rule. If you use webmail or IMAP and want to keep a couple pieces of mail around for longer than the normal limit, move them to a new mailbox. (Note that they will be inaccessible to Eudora and other POP3 clients unless they are moved back into the Inbox at some point.)
The mail expiration system is entirely separate from the mail quota system, but it does affect it.
Each user may store a maximum of about 150 megabytes or 5000 messages on the server. IMAP and the webmail client leave messages on the server by default, so those who use those interfaces must pay particular attention to this. POP3 users who check Leave Mail On Server also face problems from this facility.
The easiest way to check your mail quota is to log into the webmail interface. A note about your quota standing will appear at the top of the screen after you log in. The Facstaff Info Digger can reveal this information, also. If you have lots of mail on the server but don't know why, check your "leave mail on server" settings.
Once your mail quota is reached, you will not be able to store more mail on the server. As a result, mail sent to you will bounce back to the sender! The mail server will generate a somewhat cryptic message back to everyone who sends email to you telling them something about "Insufficient permission; mail quota exceeded".
Users will receive email alerts that their quotas are nearing capacity. It's up to the user to clear the mail out.
This mail quota has nothing at all to do with the amount of mail you see in your mailboxes when running Eudora. Contact the HelpDesk if you'd like clarification on this matter.
In addition to the email quotas, each user has a maximum amount of raw file storage space on the facstaff server. This limit is 175 megabytes or 15000 files. Users who reach this limit (probably by storing lots of web material on the server) will not be allowed to store any more data of any kind, plain file or email! This has the same effects as exceeding your mail quota.
There's a web interface that'll let you check this: it's linked off the main support website.
Exceptions are be made to the main disk quota on a per-user basis, particularly for users who are publishing lots of course material via the web. In general, those who ask for space get it: this quota is meant to prevent runaway file uploads, not to restrict how much our professors can post (if we have to buy new disks to host your stuff, so be it!). Contact the HelpDesk with requests of this type.
Eudora and other POP3 email clients have an option called "Leave Mail On Server". Normally, POP3 mail clients read mail from the server, write it to your local disks, then delete it from the server. That is as it should be.
When "Leave Mail On Server" is checked, however, they do not delete the mail: they let it sit out there on the server. Most users never have cause to deal with that email again, so it just sits there taking up space. Since we have implemented email quotas, the effect of this buildup is that the user stops receiving email.
Do not use "Leave Mail On Server".
That said, there are a very few specific instances in which it's appropriate to use this feature. If you're checking email at more than one spot with a POP3 mail client, it's sensible to use "Leave Mail On Server" in combination with the "Only for 3 Days" and "Delete from server when emptied from trash" features. This way, mail comes to both (all) POP3 systems AND it is removed after three days, which should be long enough for all the systems to get the messages.
There's a better way, though: use the webmail interface. If you'd like to check email over the weekend, make sure your system at Morehouse is NOT checking email (turn your computer off when you leave), then just use the webmail interface from home. If you'd like to check your mail from across campus (your other office?), set your main system to leave mail on the server for one day, then use the webmail interface from across campus.
The IMAP interface can provide similar functionality, though setting it up is a bit more problematic than setting up the webmail interface (which is already set up for you!) and is not officially supported by the HelpDesk and Desktop Support crews.