Email Services

Introduction
Supported Email Clients
Webmail
Other Email Clients
Mail Client Configuration Issues

Introduction

Sociology provides its own email services. Receipt of a Linux userid provides access to mail services. One's email address becomes userid@soc.duke.edu, where userid is replaced by your id.

You may elect alternatively to use your Duke NetID for email, in which case your email address becomes netid@duke.edu, where netid is replaced by your NetID. Those using OIT mail services should consult the OIT documentation on configuring secure email setup of various mail clients.

In general, most prefer to use the Sociology mail system. Historically it has been more responsive and reliable than the university system, supports higher quotas on mailbox size and mail folders, and indicates a distinctive affiliation.

Supported Email Clients

Within the department Pegasus Mail and Pine are supported. Both are free, reliable, include only secure features and allow what are termed Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connections.

Pegasus, a Windows only graphical client, is more widely used in the department.

Use of Pine is an acquired taste. It is viewed by most as a primitive client, but is actually quite powerful when properly configured. It is available under Windows and Linux.

Either can be configured for home and laptop use.

Webmail

When needing access to mail in situations where you have neither access to a configured mail client nor access to a Secure Shell program to login and use Linux-Pine, but do have browser access, then webmail provides basic email service. OIT maintains a webmail site with access to several departmental sites, including Sociology. When using this service, select the Sociology mail server from the server drop-down list and then enter your login information. Webmail should not be your primary mail client, because it has limitations. But it does get you to your inbox in a pinch.

Other Email Clients

The Sociology email system can be configured for access with all of the commonly used email clients, including Outlook, Thunderbird and Eudora. You are free to use any client you prefer on your personal desktop or laptop. We do not encourage use of Outlook because it continues to be a source of security exploits. If you choose to use Outlook, you are advised to apply security patches when issued and to invest time in learning how to configure it securely.

Mail Client Configuration Issues

A mail client must be configured to, a) access received mail in your inbox and related folders and, b) send out messages. This is a general discussion of the configuration information required for all email clients. See the Pegasus Mail and Pine sections for the specifics of configuring these clients.

Inbox access is best done by the IMAP protocol method, which is technically superior to POP. IMAP allows you to store your INBOX and folders in a central server location accessible from anywhere. These are subject to inclusion in daily system backups. Furthermore, because IMAP access requires authentication using your userid and password, this must be done securely to ensure that your password is not compromised. We recommend use of a direct SSL connection, which any current mail client will support. The information relevant to configuration is:

• Protocol: IMAP
• Server hostname: mail.soc.duke.edu
• Connection type: SSL
• Port: 993
• Userid: Your UNIX userid
• Password: Your UNIX password

Sending out messages gets a bit more complicated. When you are working in the department, your mail client should always be configured to use the Sociology mail server for sending mail, in which case the settings are simply:

• Protocol: SMTP
• Server hostname: smtp.soc.duke.edu

When at home or on the road though, you are outside the duke.edu domain and so the Sociology mail server does not trust you for the purpose relaying mail. [This is to protect against the server being used to relay spam.] So you typically use the SMTP server of your Internet service provider. For example, if you use Road Runner for your Internet Service Provider, your specification becomes:

• Protocol: SMTP
• Server hostname: smtp-server.nc.rr.com

Setting up this specification is fine for home desktops, but with laptops that roam from network to network, constant SMTP reconfiguration becomes burdensome. Fortunately there is another alternative supported by our mail server called authenticated SMTP that allows you to configure your client to always relay mail through the Sociology server by first authenticating your identity to it for this purpose. Again we must use SSL to encrypt the authentication process, with most or all of the following information being specified in some fashion:

• Protocol: SMTP
• Server hostname: smtp.soc.duke.edu
• Connection type: STARTTLS or TLS
• Port: 25
• Userid: Your UNIX userid
• Password: Your UNIX password

Both Pegasus Mail and Pine support authenticated SMTP. With authenticated SMTP configured (as specified by STARTTLS or TLS), you should be able to relay mail through Sociology from anywhere, unless your Internet service provider specifically requires you to relay through their servers.