Sunday VERY PM update

Greetings all,
I have a few updates, mostly pertaining to Mac users.  I’ll start with the general things.

Outlook and Outlook Web Access:  Both are working as expected.  You may be getting security prompts and certificate errors.  These are temporary and unavoidable during the transition.

Smartphones using ActiveSync or Exchange accounts (Androids, iPones, and iPads):

I put out two different sets of settings: current and future.  THE FUTURE SETTINGS WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU RIGHT NOW.  In time you will need to change to the future settings.  I will do my best to notify you when the change will take place. 

Here they are again: 

Current settings (NOT PERMANENT):

Exchange server: elros.vcom.vt.edu
Domain: vcom
SSL/Secure connection: yes

You will get a certificate error.

Future settings (not currently active but will be as the transition moves ahead):

Exchange server: mail.vcom.edu
Domain: vcom
SSL/Secure connection: yes

 

Mac Mail Clients:

There are two types of accounts that SHOULD currently work: IMAP and POP3.  There are some major differences between the two.  There are a couple of things to keep in mind here before I go into the differences.  I do not have a Mac to test with so I can’t verify any of the following settings.  I’m getting mixed messages from different people on what works and what doesn’t even to the point that the same settings don’t work on different setups.  THESE SETTINGS MAY BE TEMPORARY.  As the migration goes on these settings may change.  I will do my best to update here or by other means when they do.

Now, to the differences.  POP accounts are one way.  Your computer pulls or copies the email from the server but never reports back to it the status of your email.  Status meaning replied to or read etc.  The default behavior for POP accounts is to pull the email off the server.  In our environment this has some ups and downs.  It empties your inbox so you don’t have to worry about your size quota.  It also means that any emails received will only exist on your computer and can be subject to loss from a hard drive failure.  You also cannot access emails already pulled by a POP account on the Web Outlook interface from another computer.  All mail clients have a setting that says something along the lines of “leave a copy of this message on the server.”  If checked the email will exist, as unread, on the server and count against your quota.

IMAP accounts are two way communications.  This means that what you see in your client will be exactly what is on the server.  This is very similar to exchange/activesync accounts but not as robust.  In the Outlook world there are provisions for archiving and pulling mail out of the IMAP accounts while preserving them on the computer.  Since I don’t have a Mac I can’t tell you what those are.  I’m sure they exist.  Deleting an email removes it from your quota as long as it is removed from your deleted items folder as well.

Further reading:

http://email.cityu.edu.hk/faq/popimap.htm

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/getting-gmail-anywhere-imap-versus-pop.html

http://www1.umn.edu/adcs/guides/email/imapvspop.html

POP Settings (TEMPORARY):

THESE SETTINGS HAVE WORKED FOR WINDOWS LIVE MAIL, GMAIL, AND ATLEAST ONE MAC CLIENT.  I do not have a Mac to test with or I would be working on it to verify.  I have always struggled with the mac clients (Mail.app, and ThunderBird specifically).  They have always been inconsistent in how they behave on different Macs.  My hunch is that there are certificate issues with the names of the servers and rather than prompting users to ignore them the Mac just pushes on, never gives the option, and never tells you why it isn’t working.  Or that the cert block happens at the OS level not the app level so the apps never get a chance to report a problem. 

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Incoming Mail Server: elros.vcom.vt.edu

Username:  everything prior to the @ symbol in your email address with no VCOM\

Authentication: Clear Text

Port: 110

SSL: off

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.vcom.vt.edu

Use same credentials for authentication as incoming server

Port: 25

SSL: off

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From a user:  I've been messing around with the gmail settings and wanted to let you know what my current setup is. With this setup I at least have a secure connection with outgoing e-mail. I hope this helps as well.

POP3:

POP server: elros.vcom.edu

Port: 110

SSL: Off

Outgoing:

SMTP Server: mail.vcom.edu

Port 587

TLS: On

Credit goes to Edi B

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I apologize that this is the best I can give those that choose to access via POP on a Mac.  Maybe a user would be interested in loaning me theirs for a day so I can look at the issue first hand.  Wednesday, unfortunately my Tuesday is booked up from last week. 

IMAP Accounts:

Once again varying reports on success here. 

"I set up Mac Mail using the "Exchange IMAP" option and the settings you gave in the Saturday PM Update for "Smart Phone Access" and it's working beautifully.  I believe I'm both sending and receiving securely.  Just wanted to pass this on for Mac users."

Credit goes to Matt H.

Those settings are: 

Current settings (NOT PERMANENT):

Exchange server: elros.vcom.vt.edu
Domain: vcom
SSL/Secure connection: yes

You will get a certificate error.

Future settings (not currently active but will be as the transition moves ahead):

Exchange server: mail.vcom.edu
Domain: vcom
SSL/Secure connection: yes

General Mac quirkiness:  It has been my experience, at least with Mail.app, that changes made in the program to servers do not take effect until the program is QUIT and restarted.  So file then quit then test the new settings.  When you close a program on a Mac it doesn’t actually stop the program running.  If you look down on your dock you will see the program icon with a little blue arrow (sometimes different color depending on OSX version) this means the program is still running and taking up memory and resources.  If you still see that arrow after you exit the program then the program is not fully QUIT.

I truly wish that I had more information to give to the Mac users.  You chose a quirky device (I should know I have fixed thousands of them, their innards are like something out of an Escher painting).  I’ll do my best to make it play well but ultimately I will need some time and a Mac to do so.  You can access via Web Outlook.  The fact that you can get to your email their means you have email access no matter the state of the mail client you use.  Not having an operating mail client does not mean you don’t have access as long as you can access via the web interface.