DD/US/6
Mail Guide
Version
4.0
February 1994
The
CERN
Electronic
Mail User Guide
Maria
Dimou-Zacharova
Maria.Dimou
@cern
.ch
Abstract
This guide is intended for newcomers in electronic mail and for those unfamiliar with the address syntax to send
mail to users on different computers on and off the CERN site. Some advice is also provided to outsiders wishing
to send mail to CERN. Familiarity with basic computer
access
is assumed, but you
need
no previous knowledge
of
electronic mail systems. This guide
is
not
intended for
users interested in the more advanced features, but
some
references to more detailed information
are
included.
To
get
a
copy of
this
Mail guide
type
XFIND
MAILGUIDE
on CERNVM
or
pick one
up from the
self-service section
of the
User
Consultancy
Office
(UCO), reference no. DD/US/6. This guide is also available on WWW with URL
(Uniform Resource Location)
ftp://dxcoms.cern.ch/pub/htc-mail/cernmailg.psfor a PostScript
version
or
ftp://dxcoms.cern.ch/pub/htc-mail/cernmailg.txt for plain text.
The location of the
HTML
version will be published in the Computer Newsletter (CNL) and in the newsgroup
cern.mail. If
you don’t want
to type
the URL you can gel to the
document from the
CERN home
page
by following
the path via computing, then documentation and newsletter index. WWW users can
see
in the same way all the
helpfiles
that can be found with the
XFIND
command on CERNVM.
I
2
Table
of
Contents
1
Selecting and Getting Started with
a
Mail System at CERN
1
1.1 Which mail system to use .................................................................................................................
1
1.1.1 Background ........................................................................................................................... 1
1.1.2 Why use one of
the recommended mail systems? ...............................................................
1
1.1.3
How to get
help with problems
...............................................................................................
1
1.2 How to get started with VMS Mail .....................................................................................................
2
1.2.1
Getting Started ....................................................................................................................... 2
1
.2.2 Quoting your address to colleagues ..................................................................................... 2
1
.2.3 How to get help with
problems .............................................................................................. 2
1.3 How to get started with
mail on a Unix
system ..................................................................................
3
1.3.1 Getting Started with mail .....................................................................................................
3
1.3.2 Getting started with mailx ....................................................................................................
3
1.3.3 Useful facilities .................................................................................................................... 4
1.3.4
Tli
e
elm mail system .............................................................................................................. 5
1.3.5 The
pine mail system ...........................................................................................................
5
1.3.6 How to get
help with
problems .............................................................................................. 5
1
.4 How to get started with
MAIL on VM/CMS .....................................................................................
6
1.4.1 Getting started .......................................................................................................................
6
1.4.2 Useful Facilities ....................................................................................................................
6
1
.4.3
How to get
help with
problems ..............................................................................................
6
1.5 How to get started with QuickMail on a
Macintosh ......................................................................... 7
1.5.1 Getting started ....................................................................................................................... 7
1
.5
.2 How to get
help with
problems ..............................................................................................
7
1.6 How to get started with Microsoft
Mail on a PC ...............................................................................
8
1.6.1
Who can use
MS mail ...........................................................................................................
8
1.6.2
About
MS
mail applications .................................................................................................
8
1.6.3
First things to do ....................................................................................................................
8
1.6.4 Using MS Mail ....................................................................................................................
9
1
.6.5 How to get
help with problems ..............................................................................................
10
1
.7 Document
Interchange.
Possibilities via
Email .................................................................................. 11
1.8 Using Email to send faxes ................................................................................................................. 12
1.8.1 How to get
help with
problems .............................................................................................. 12
2
How to formulate
or
find Email addresses
1
3
2.1
User friendly addresses for CERN users ...........................................................................................
13
2.1.1 Syntactic rules and semantics .............................................................................................. 13
2.2 Addressing mail from within
CERN ................................................................................................. 14
2.2.1 Sending mail to users on the same computer ......................................................................... 14
2.2.2 Sending mail to other
computers at CERN ............................................................................ 14
2.2.3 Sending mail to users outside
CERN ..................................................................................... 14
2.2.4 PSI Mail (psi%digits::user) ...................................................... 15
2.2.5 Addressing host
(user
.............................................................................................................. 15
3
2.2.6
Addressing ’user
AT
host’ (user
@host) ............................................................................... 15
2.3 EMDIR - The CERN Electronic Mail Directory ...............................................................................
16
2.3.1 Examples ..............................................................................................................................
16
2.3.2 Where to find
further information ........................................................................................
16
2.3.3 Updating your
preferred electronic mail address ..................................................................
16
2.3.4 EMDIR update
procedure from
CERNVM
............................................................................ 17
2.3.5
To install
EMDIR on
DECnet and TCP/IP nodes at
CERN ................................................ 17
2.3.6
EMDIR
inquiry via
Email .....................................................................................................
17
2.3.7
How to get
help with
problems .............................................................................................. 17
2.4 Relevant information
retrieval facilities ...........................................................................................
18
2.4.1
Finding
BITNET
nodes ........................................................................................................
18
2.4.2
Finding CERN usernames .....................................................................................................
18
2.5 Automatically Forwarding Mail ........................................................................................................
19
2.5.1 MAIL on VM/CMS ..............................................................................................................
19
2.5.2 VMS MAIL ........................................................................................................................... 19
2.5.3 Unix Mail ..............................................................................................................................
20
2.5.4 QuickMail on a Mac and
MS Mail on a
PC
.........................................................................
20
2.6 Hints to Outsiders ..............................................................................................................................
20
2.7 Domain Summary Information ................................................................................................. 21
3 Guidelines for Email on workstations
22
3.1 Email for
Unix workstations .............................................................................................................. 22
3.1.1 General rules
........................................................................................................................... 22
3.1.2 Support
issues .......................................................................................................................
23
3.2 Email for VMS workstations .............................................................................................................. 24
Chapter 1: Selecting and Getting Started with
a
Mail System at CERN
You should select one of the recommended CERN mail systems based on a computer system you regularly use
for your work and/or the mail system user interface you prefer. For new workstations, make sure that the Email
system is correctly configured (see later in this guide for
details). Then
read the appropriate
section to
help you
get
started. This guide includes only simple information to help you to read and send mail.
1.1 Which mail system
to
use
Background
A number of
incompatible
mail systems are in use at CERN which require interfaces (gateways) to communicate
with each other. In the longer term the gateways can perhaps become obsolete by introducing mail systems
conforming to the international standards. Until then we
have selected recommended mail systems for each major
computer system in use at CERN interconnected via the MINT gateway.
These
recommended mail systems are
listed below and a brief
introduction to each is given
in this guide.
Machine/Operating System
VAX
or
Alpha/VMS
Various/Unix
IBM/VM
Apple/Macintosh
PC on
Novell/DOS and-or Windows
Mail package
VMS Mail
Unix Mail or
Elm or Pine or native per architecture
MAIL on VM/CMS
QuickMail
Microsoft
Mail
1.1.2 Why use one of
the recommended mail systems?
They offer:
•
access to the other
recommended mail systems
•
access to external networks
•
help with problems, mechanisms for improvements in facilities
•
a standard addressing format for mail
1.1.3 How
to
get help with problems
For general problems contact the User Consultancy Office, user
.support
Qcem.
ch which is equivalent to
ucoOcernvm
.
cern
.
ch,
(or phone
4952).
The
recommended mail systems are described in the following sections.
Chapter 1. Selecting and Getting Started with a
Mail System at
CERN
2
1.2 How
to
get
started
with VMS Mail
VMS Mail is the default
mail system for VMS. It exists on all
VMS
systems and it is designed for communication
with other VMS users, locally
or
across
DECnet. The MINT gateway at CERN provides the facility to exchange
messages with users on other networks as well.
1.2.1
Getting Started
•
To invoke
VMS Mail, type
mail. (Type
help mail to get more details).
•
To read waiting
messages,
type
read/new and press carriage return for each new message.
•
To list a summary of
saved messages, type
directory.
•
To copy the current message to a VMS file, type
extract
filename
.
•
To send a message, type send and enter an address after the ’to:’ prompt. (Address formats are described
below.)
•
To reply to
a
message
you are now reading, type reply.
•
To send a file as
a
message, type
send
filename.
•
For
information on other mail commands, type
help.
•
To exit from VMS Mail, type exit.
The possible addressing
schemes
from VMS are shown below:
Destination
Syntax
Example
local user user
name
bloggs
DECnet user
host::user
vxcern:
:bloggs
others at CERN
MINT::
"user
@host"
MINT:
:
"ucoQcernvm"
others outside
CERN
MINT;
:
"user
@hos
t.domain
" MINT:
:
"joeyQslac
.
Stanford.
edu
1
PSI
mail users
PSI%digits::user
PSI7.
0123456789
:
:
smith
PSI
MAIL is an addition to VMS Mail which allows mail exchange between VMS systems across
a
public
switched data network.
PSI
MAIL is only possible from
a VMS hosts with PSI or PSI
access
installed. For
further
information from the VAX/VMS prompt, type
HELP
P.S.I.
and if you have an Alpha architecture with
Open
VMS, type HELP X.25.
Please, note that PSI Mail costs real money if
the destination address contains
a
'digits' part starting with
zero
as
the message will be carried by
a
chargeable
PTT
network.
For
further information on addressing ’others’ and on
PSI
Mail
see
the section ’Addressing Mail from within
CERN’ in the next chapter.
1.2.2
Quoting your
address
to
colleagues
Your
address from
VMS Mail systems connected to the
CERN DEC'net is
hostname
:
:user.
To receive mail from
other mail systems (e.g, CF.RNVM) you should quote your address as
userQhostname
.
CERN
.
CH
1.2.3
How to get help with problems
If
the
MINT
logical
name
is
not
defined
on your
node
ask
the
System
Manager
to
add
def
/sy
s/exec
mint
dxmint
to the
system wide
login.
For
other
problems contact the
User Consultancy
Office,
vxcern:
:uco
(or
phone
4952).
1.3.
How to
get
started
with mail on a Unix system
3
1.3
How
to
get
started with mail on a Unix system
This
section appears as well in the
document
'The CERN Unix User Guide’. A sophisticated mail program comes
bundled with most flavors of Unix operating systems (e.g. Mail on Berkeley Unix or mailx on System V). It
interfaces to sendmail, a Unix facility for mail
routing.
Some Unix users prefer
to use the
elm or
pine
user
interface to Unix mail. Elm (with the
underlying
metamail)and
pine are public domain mail reading programs with multimedia capabilities. They are available on dxcern and on
asis for workstation
users. Information on release changes and
documentation will be published in the
newsgroup
cern.
mail.
In order to try them
type elm or
pine from the shell prompt. The most
common mail(x), elm, pine commands are
listed in the relevant ’Getting Started’ sections below.
Unix workstation owners should also read
chapter
3
at the end of
this guide.
1.3.1
Getting Started with
mail
•
To send a message, type
mail recipient-address
.
•
To read waiting messages, type
mail.
•
To list a summary of
saved messages in
a
folder, type mail -f folder.
•
To print on the screen of
one of
the listed messages, type
p
message-number or
t
message-number.
•
To reply to the current message, type R.
•
To list
the message headers in the current folder, type
h. If
the list
exceeds one page, type z.
•
To delete the
current message, type
d.
•
To undelete the
current message, type
u.
•
To
extract,
the current message into a file, type
s
filename
.
•
To send a file as a message, type
mail -s "subject-text" recipient-address < filename.
•
For information on other mail
commands, type
help or ?.
•
To quit from mail , type
q.
Address examples from Unix mail are shown
below:
Destination
local user
others at
CERN
Syntax
username
user@host
Example
bloggs
pre
t
ty
Qcernvm
de
ar ©math.
ut ex
as .eduothers outside
CERN
nser@host
.domain
For further information on addressing ’others’
see
the section ’Addressing Mail from within
CERN’,
1.3.2 Getting started with
mailx
The commands are similar
to mail. For example: mailx userflhost .domain
or
mailx aliasname
Type the message text, terminate and send your
message with
<
Ctrl
—
d
>
or
with a last line
containing a single
. (period) in column one.
Chapter 1. Selecting and Getting Started with a Mail System at
CERN
4
Mail a file:
mailx -s "subject” recipient-address < filename
Reading, forwarding, replying, filing, sorting and editing mail are done
inside the mail utility. Invoke:
mailx
then use any of
the following subcommands:
m
send mail, invoke editor
h
header displays list of
messages in your
mailbox
?
help
d
delete current message
e
edit the current message
[n] read message number [n]
[-] read previous message
s
save current message in personal mailbox
s
file save current message to file
s
[n]
file
save message number [n] to file
c [n][file]
same as s but do not
delete message from incoming mailbox
r
reply to current message
a
display aliases
a
hd display alias hd
q
quit
mail, discard deleted messages
x
quit mail, do not discard deleted messages
Note: Ultrix, HP-UX and AIX use
r
to reply to all the people contained within the
To
and
CC:
lists and R
to
reply to the sender only. In SunOs the
reverse occurs. However, the man pages on the different systems correctly
describle the
behaviour on the
different,
systems.
By default mail uses the vi
editor. Insert a line
set EDIT
0
R=/usr/local
/ b
in/ emacs
into your $HOME/.maili*c file to change the default editor to
emacs.
If
you want to work with your
personal mailbox
instead of
the system mailbox, type
mailx -f.
Work
with an arbitrary mail folder is started as
mailx -f filename
1.3.3 Useful facilities
From some Unix machines it is possible to check if a destination address within CERN is correct, by typing the
command mverify recipient-address from the shell prompt, where recipient-address must be of the form
userQhost.
Tile command mverify for CERNVM
users
must,
be
entered as: mverify useridOcrnvmb.
Alias
names of
your
frequent
correspondants can
be
entered in
the .niailrc
file
in
your
home
directory in the
format:
alias
name
address (e.g. alias dear youQcernapo ). Example of
$HOME/.mailrc contents:
alias
hd
.de
alias
um
rz02@mvs
.gsi.de
alias
rb
brunOcernvm
.
cern
.
ch
alias
he
goof
y@v6000a
.
gsi
.
de
alias
body
Aliases may contain lists of
addresses but
not lists of
aliases.
1.3. How to
get
stalled with mail on a Unix system
5
1.3.4 The elm
mail system
elm
is a
screen-oriented
public
domain electronic
mail
processing
system. In interactive
use, the
main
header
index
and mini-menu of
commands are displayed upon initial invocation and at any point when the program is waiting
for input.
You
can invoke elm by typing elm at the shell prompt.
You
can easily send a mail
(m),
reply (r) or forward (f
)
a mail, save it to a folder (s) or delete an incoming mail
(d), (?) to get
help.
Aliases are stored in the file "/
.
elm/aliases
.
text,
which
can be edited by any text
editor. After
having edited
this file, the internal alias database has to be updated by the command newalias. In the latest elm version the
option
a
enters the alias menu. Editing
the aliases.
text file
is then
possible, in which
case
the
update
of
the
database
takes place automatically. An
elm alias may also contain a list
of
previously defined aliases.
As elm
is installed al CERN, i.e. with the
underlying
software
package metamail multimedia mail according to the
internet standard MIME
(Multipart Internet Mail Extensions) is possible
using in the message
body the
command:
[include filename MIME-Content-Type Encoding] e.g. [include /path/to/my/photo image/gif
base64],
A full postscript documentation of Elm is available on dxcern, directory: /usr/local/doc/postscript/elm2.4-doc.
Also on asis, directory: /asis/share/usr.local/doc/elm.
1.3.5 The pine
mail system
pine is a mail user agent designed primarily for novice users, but it is full featured enough for processing large
amounts of
mail.
Like elm the main header index and mini-menu of
commands are displayed upon initialisation and at any point
when awaiting input. Tire help screens in pine constitute the main documentation, but if more information is
required refer to the man pages.
pine can be invoked be typing
pine at the shell prompt.
The major features of
pine include: view, save, export, delete, print, reply and forwarding of incoming mail,
as well as the
composition and
sending of
mail. Use of
the
control keys as described on the
bottom line
of
the
main
menu and following the instructions on the bottom
of
the screen, will enable easy use of
pine.
It is possible to
read elm folders through pine if
you
enter:
mail-directory=Mail in your
Y.pinerc
file.
pine supports MIME, The Multipart Internet Mail Extensions, which enables pine to send and receive mul-
timedia
Email.
Optional features include sorting, address book and spelling checker.
For more information on pine refer to the man pages and to the file /usr/local/lib/pine.info on dxcern. Also
on asis refer to the directory /asis/share/usr.local/doc/pine.
1.3.6
How
to
get help with problems
For
online help, use the relevant man pages. For general problems contact the User Consultancy Office,
user. support
Qcern.
ch
which is equivalent to ucoflcernvm
.
cern
.
ch,
(or phone 4952). For elm or pine
specific questions write to mail
.
supportQcern
.
ch.
Chapter 1. Selecting and Getting Started with a
Mail System at
CERN
6
1.4 How to get started with MAIL on VM/CMS
The MIT/Rice MAIL
exec
with the Columbia Mailer is the recommended mail package for users on the IBM
VM/CMS system.
1.4.1 Getting
started
•
To send
mail, type
MAIL recipient-address
(recipient-address
formats
are
described in the
next
chapter.)
•
To read mail, type
MAIL.
•
For
help at any stage within
a
function, select the help key (PF1).
The possible addressing schemes from MAIL on VM/CMS are shown below:
Destination
Syntax Example
local user
username uco
EARN/BITNET
user
others at CERN
user
©host R01SRGQFRSAC12
ch prettyQdxcern.
cern.ch
others outside
CERN
user
©host,
domain dearQmath.utexas
.edu
Email to some popular CERN hosts, e.g. dxcern, vxcern, cernapo is possible without the domain part ’.cern.ch’,
e.g. it is enough to type: lida@dxcern, apollo©
vxcern, artemis@cernapo.
1.4.2 Useful Facilities
•
The document: "A
User’s
Guide to Electronic MAIL on CERNVM" exists on paper, obtainable from the
UCO, Document number CN/AS/141.
•
The MAILBOOK
exec
allows you to handle mail you have stored in notebooks with the MAIL command.
For
more information, type
HELP MAILBOOK.
•
The NAMES command allows you to set up nicknames and distribution lists.
For
more information, type
HELP NAMES.
•
You can tailor the behaviour of
MAIL and MAILBOOK by having your own MAILUSER
XEDIT
macro.
For
more information, type HELP MAIL PROFILE.
•
CERN Changes to the MAIL/MAILBOOK environment are documented in a pseudo command called
’LOCAL’,
i.e. HELP MAIL
LOCAL.
•
Infoi
matiun
on all the
facilities
is available
In
the
online
HELP
files.
From
VM/CMS
prompt type
HELP MAIL
and/or XFIND MAIL,
1.4.3
How
to
get
help with problems
If
you
need
help
with theMAILexec
or
associated
utilities,
send
mail to
User
Consultancy
Officeuser .
supportOcern.
ch,
alternatively ucoOcernvm.cern.
ch
(or phone
4952).
1.5.
How to
get started
with
QuickMail on a
Macintosh
7
1.5 How
to
get started with QuickMail on a Macintosh
When receiving a
Mac, connect to the
network
and get in touch with
AS-SLJ
operations tel. 3510
who will introduce
you in QuickMail.
1.5.1 Getting started
The Email address of
most.
QuickMail users at CERN is:
Firstname.-SurnameSmacmail
.
cern
.
ch
A group of
physicists that investigates Emerging Energy Technologies is reachable
as:
Firstname-SurnameQeet
.
cern.
ch
•
In order to send mail the main steps follow:
-
Select "QuickMail" from the Apple menu.
-
If
you are
not
already logged
on to the
QuickMail system you
now
have
to give
your
name and
password
(assigned by your group administrator).
-
The QuickMail window should now be
opened and here you find a "New” button.
-
Click on it and select the form you want to use for the message you are about to send.
-
An empty mail form is now shown and you can start
filling
in the Subject and the main text.
-
When you
are-
ready with the text and
want,
to send the message click on the "Address"
field
at the top
and a dialog box will appear.
-
If you do not have the address of the recepient in one of your address books then click on the "Find"
button.
-
Now you can search a database for the
correct address of
the person you want to
send the mail to. Give
First
Name and/or Last Name as search criteria. If
the person is found you can click twice on his name
and his name and address is copied into the
"To:"
field of
your message.
-
To send the mail simply press the "Send" button.
-
In the "Mail Log" you can then
see
if
the person has read the
message
or not. In the latter case and if
your correspondent is another QuickMail user, you can "unsend" the
message,
if
you want.
-
If you are sending to someone outside CERN then click on "Special" in order to give the correct
address. In this case the MailCenter must be MACMAIL and the zone should
be
ETHERNET.
In the
address
field
you then type the foreign address (e.g. username@cernvm).
•
To read an incoming message click twice on the message in rhe main QuickMail window and the message
will be opened for reading.
•
To reply to a message click on the Reply and
finally
on the Send buttons.
•
To forward a message click on the Forward and
finally
on the Send buttons.
•
To include
a
document in
a
message,
click on the Enclose button. A list of
folders is displayed. Choose
one
and click twice. Click on the
file
needed and on Enclose . Click on Done to
confirm.
In general, enclosures
other than plain text only work if the recipient is on another QuickMail system or on Microsoft Mail as
explained in the section ’Document Interchange Possibilities via Email' further on.
1.5.2 How to get help with problems
If
you need help with the QuickMail or associated utilities,
send mail topostmaster_MISQmacmail.cem.ch(or
phone
AS-SU operations tel. 3510).
8
Chapter
1. Selecting and
Getting Started
with a
Mail
System at
CERN
1.6 How
to
get
started with Microsoft Mail on a
PC
This section is adapted
for
the needs
of
this
guide
from the document 'A Guide to Personal Computer
Networks at
CERN’,
which
is available
from the UCO.
Microsoft.
Mail is called MS Mail for
convenience further in
this text.
1.6.1 Who can use MS mail
You
must
have a Novell account.
Your
home directory Novell server must
have a MS Mail post office. You
need
to request a mailbox in the post office from your local Novell Supervisor. It is only recommended to have one
mailbox
per
person (not one
on
each server where you
have
an
account). General purpose accounts are
not allowed
to have mailboxes (e.g. GUEST, TRAINING) for security reasons.. The mailbox name
must,
be the same as the
Novell account name.
1.6.2 About MS mail applications
Normally you should use the Windows version of
MS Mail. However, it can be accessed with DOS applications
as well:
mail
[mailbox]
Enter
DOS mail
newmail
[mailbox]
Check
if
new mail
gornail
postoffice [mailbox] For users with multiple mailboxes
The
DOS applications are
only compatible
with a
subset of
the functionality
in the
Windows version
(e.g. the
DOS
version
understands the Inbox
but
not the other mail folders).
You
will be prompted for mailbox password each time you use a mail application to access your mailbox. This
password is in addition to
the
password protecting your
Novell account.
1.6.3
First
things
to
do
The mail icon
The
Mail application is in the
Mail group.
You
have to install the
Mail group using
the
More
Group
icon in the
Applications group. Then you
will see a README file
which is the online
version of
the ’Guide
to Personal Computer Networks at CERN’.
To
attach Word documents to your messages To be able to send a Word
document,
as an attachment, you need
to enter the Word menu "Tools" "Options" "General" and check the option "Send Mail As Attachment". If
this option is not
checked, the document will
be sent as text
without formatting information.
Create
the
MSMAIL.INI file Create
a
MSMAIL.INI
file
in
your
Windows
directory. Use
the
Icon
that
is
available
in the Mail group.
Start
Microsoft
Mail Use the Icon that is available in the Mail group.
Change your
password Please change
your
password
once
you
have
got.
a
mailbox. A
mailbox without
password
can be accessed
by other mail users in the same post office
(same home directory server).
To change your
password select Mail Change Password.
Hie
post,
office administrator
can reset the
password if
you forget
it.
You
do not have to use the same password as the Novell account. lhe password will
not.
expire, but you
should
change
it.
at
regular intervals.
1.6. How
to
get started with
Microsoft
Mail on a PC
9
Automatically
starting
MS mail To automatically run MS Mail upon entering
Windows you should
copy the
MS
Mail icon to your startup group and set the minimized property.
To copy the
mail icon hold the CTRL key down and drag the icon to your startup group.
To set the minimized property: select the mail icon in the startup group; from the Program Manager select.
"File
Properties" and
check
the "Run minimized" check box.
When you subsequently
enter Windows,
MS
Mail will automatically start,
and you will
be
prompted for you
mailbox password (the
mailbox name is always defaulted to the same as
first
time).
Mail Options The "Mail" menu contains an "Options" command from which you can change some automatic
mail features e.g. how often
MS
Mail checks for new mail. Check that the options are set
as you want them.
1.6.4 Using MS Mail
Mailbox
Size When you delete
mail from your
mailbox
the
actual size
of
your mail box
remains the
same. You
will
eventually have disk space problems unless you both delete unwanted mail and "compress" your mailbox.
MS
Mail will automatically start to compress your mailbox after some minutes of idle time (if you let
MS
Mail run and do not
use the
PC
for
a
while). To manually compress your mailbox:
1. Start
MS
Mail 2.
Type
your password but
DO
NOT
press
Enter 3. hold the
F5
key down and press Enter
4. Continue to hold down the
F5
key until a new dialog-box appears.
Sending Mail To send mail either click on the Compose button on the
control bar or select "Compose
Note" from
the "Mail" menu. The Send note window appears. It is recommended that you fill in the "To" and "CC"
fields
by selecting the "Address" command button from the control bar. If
you choose to type a name
it.
must
be
exactly as the name is in the address book.
Note that
you
cannot
type
in directly addresses in the userQhostform. To send mail to non MS Mail users
(Example in the Internet) who are not in the address book, type their email address in the following format:
[smtp
:user@host
.domain]
E.g.
[smtp:[email protected]]
Mail
Notification
If
you iconise
MS
Mail instead of
exiting, the mail icon will indicate if
you have new mail by
beeping and appearing with mail in the letter
box. If
you have sound
configured
for Windows, it
is possible
to
configure
a voice or chime as well
!
The Address Book The address book
lists all the
people
that,
you can send mail to.
To access the address book select. "Mail" "Address Book" or if you tire sending mail, click the "Address"
button.
The Global Address List When you access the address book the Global Address List appears. It contains all the
addresses of everyone who is registered as an
MS
Mail user and people’s preferred mail address from the
EMDIR database. If an MS Mail user does not set their
preferred
in EMDIR to their
MS
Mail address then
they will have two entries in (he GAL. We recommend
that,
your
MS
Mail address is also your
preferred mail
address.
Everyone can change their entry in the Global Address List by using EMDIR on several heosts
(See
the
relevant section in chapter 2).
People are listed with first name in lower
case
and last name in upper case. The list is sorted by
first
name.
Other Address
Lists
If
you click on the
address book icon you
can select a
different
address list
or your
personnel
address book. Apart from the Global address list; there
are:
•
Your
post,
office’s address list - listing only those
MS
Mail users registered at your local post
office.
•
Other post office’s address lists
-
listing
MS Mail users registered at other post
offices.
10
Chapter 1. Selecting and Getting Started with a
Mail System at
CERN
•
The SMTP gateway list
-
listing users external to MS Mail, added by the mail administrator (e.g.
EMDIR).
Your
Personal Address Book Your
Personal Address book
is only
available to you. Initially
it
is empty, however,
anyone that you send mail to will automatically be added. If you do not wish this to happen change the
appropriate option by selecting "Options" from the "Mail" menu.
You
can manually add people to your
personal address book by selecting their name from the global address
lists and clicking on the Personal Address book icon. If the person does not appear in the Global Address
list you should
fill
out
a
new card .
When you
fill
out
a
new card you will
be
asked what kind of address you wish to add,
select
"SMTP" if
appropriate.
Entries in the Personal Address Book (PAB) are not automatically updated. This also applies to entries in
your PAB which has been selected from the Global Address List (which is regularly updated ). The reason
is that the PAB has it own copies of addresses instead of
references.
You therefore need to maintain your
PAB as people
change their
mail address. To make this work
easier (but
not too
easy!) you should use the
command Check Addresses in PAB in the Mail menu. This command will
check your PAB against,
the GAL and generate a report of
duplicate
entries and strange addresses. Note that
some of the problems reported may not
be
problems at all (do not trust it blindly!).
SMTP If you
select
SMTP,
you will
be
asked for an "Alias" and their "Address". In the alias box type in the
name that you wish to appear in the address book. This is usually the persons name in the format
firstname
LASTNAME (NB this name will appear on mail that you send to the person). In the address box type the
persons full email address, e.g. billQmicrosoft.com
or robertsQcernvm.
cern.
ch.
When you have
filled
in the new card click on the PAB icon to add it to your card
file.
Email addresses of
people connected with CERN can also be
looked up via EMDIR available in the "Oracle
Accessories" program group.
Who am
I
To find out your MS Mail address: select your name from either your Post Office’s address list or the
Global address list; and click on "Details". Addresses of
MS Mail users are in the formal:
mailboxQpostof
f
ice
.msm.cern.
ch,
for example: r
obert
sQps
.
msm.
cern.
ch
1.6.5
How
to
get
help with problems
If you
need
help with
MS
Mail
or
associated utilities send mail to [email protected]
which is equivalent to
niceffldxmint
.
cern
.
ch.
1
.
7. Document
Interchange
Possibilities via
Email
1
1
1.7
Document
Interchange Possibilities via
Email
This
section appears as well in the document ’Document Interchange Possibilities at CERN’, available
from
the
UCO.
In general a
file
transfer protocol should be used instead of
Email for the following reasons:
Document size Tire formated documents especially if they include images and moreover if they are PostScript
files
are
very large. In most
cases
Email messages have
to cross
a
number of
relays or
even gateways (hidden
by the
uniformity of the address format userQdomains) before they reach the destination. Therefore, body truncation,
fragmentation or
even
rejection might occur
as
there
is no common size limit across Email protocols.
Content type The most commonly used Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) can handle 7-bit ASCII data
only. Thus, accented characters, alphabets other than US-ASCII and binary data (naturally 8-bit) get truncated
1
when crossing a SMTP relay/gateway unless
:
•
either the sender explicitly runs the ’uuencode’ program before sending the message and the recipient
(recognising the
uuencoded
data by the ’begin’ statement al the beginning of the message) runs ’uudecode’
hoping to restore the original data format (not always possible
between platforms),
•
or a more sophisticated mail reader encodes 8-bit message contents into 7-bit and
a
program of similar
functionality exists on the recipient end. More
specifically:
-
MS
Mail enclosures between
PC’s
can be exchanged without problem. When a MS Mail enclosure
crosses the
SMTP
gateway it gets automatically uuencoded.
MS
Mail
messages
should include
bodyparts with accented characters as enclosures (instead of the sender simply typing the text while
composing the mail) to make sure that they will be correctly deployed at the recipient end.
-
QuickMail enclosures between Macintoshes can be exchanged without problem. When a QuickMail
enclosure crosses the
SMTP
gateway it gets automatically uuencoded. QuickMail
messages
should
include bodyparts with accented characters as enclosures (instead of the sender simply typing the text
while composing the mail) to make sure that they will be correctly deployed at the recipient end.
-
Enclosures can be exchanged between
MS
Mail and QuickMail with a use of a CERN
-developed pro-
gram provided the Mac and
PC
are registered at the level of the
MS
Mail gateway.
For
CERN internal
mail
no
registration
is
necessary. Outside
CERN
users should
send
a
request
to adminQsmtpgw
.msm
.
cern. ch
including
the
domain name of
the
external QuickMail community. If
messages are autoforwarded from
other systems (VM, VMS, Unix) to MS Mail or QuickMail then the above inter-ex-changeability is
not available; therefore PC and Mac users should register in EMDIR their
PC
or Macintosh preferred
Email address, if
they want to enjoy the additional functionality of the relevant Email systems.
-
Mail reading programs claiming to
be
conformant to the Multipart Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)
standard (mostly public domain, a
few
commercial ones for the moment) running on almost any Unix
platform provide similar functionality between Unix systems. Currently MIME requires the use of a
’Content-Type’ header where the
ISO-8859-x
(for the character set
used) is explicitly mentioned. Thus
the mix of different character sets within the same text is not convenient. If QuickMail and MSmail
become
MIME
conformant too, then all these content types will
be
exchanged between Mac, Unix and
PC
mail readers.
-
Mail from/to VM and VMS mail is US-ASCII only.
-
Security consideration! Beware of receiving binary files (check the
file
type
2
where possible) that
might hide
harmful programs.
1
soine
places support 8-bit non-standard
SMTP
2
e.g.
.EXE,
.COM,
or
.BAT
on
PC.
executable
files
on Unix, etc.
12
Chapter 1. Selecting and Getting Started with a
Mail System at
CERN
1.8 Using Email
to
send
faxes
An Email-to-fax gateway pilot service is offered for CERN official users only. You
can send an Email message
containing plain text or a postscript file to a fax
destination using the following addressing scheme:
FirstName
.
SurNameQFaxNumber
.MyDivisionFAX
.
CERN
.
CH
where:
FirstName
.
SurName
:The full name of
the fax
recipient,
as you want it to appear on the fax cover page.
FaxNumber
:The
recipient fax number with an additional leading
zero if
outside
CERN, e.g.
7155
is
a
fax
number
in
CERN
01234567
is
a
fax
number
in
Geneva
10FFFFFFFF
is
a
fax
number
in
France (province)
101614FFFFFFF
is
a
fax
number in France
(Paris)
00211234567
is
a
fax
number in another region in Switzerland
OOOCCTTFFFFFFF
is
a
fax
number
FFFFFFF
in country
CC
and town
TT
MyDivisionFAX
:
A symbolic subdomain that reflects your (the SENDER’S)
division. Its value will determine
your (originating) fax number in case the fax
recipient wants to reply to you
by fax.
Some of
the defined ’MyDivisionFAX’ subdomains so far are the following
:
will generate on the fax
cover From: CERN CN fax
service +41 22 767 7155
will generate on the fax
cover From: CERN/PS building 561 fax service +41 22 767 8590
will generate on the fax
cover From: CERN/PS fax
service +41 22 767 9145
will generate on the fax
cover From:
CERN/ST/DI
fax service +41 22 767
2200
will generate on the fax cover From: CERN/AS fax service +41 22 767
8780
will generate on the fax cover From; CERN/PPE fax service +41
22
767
8760
will generate on the fax
cover From: CERN/ECP fax service +41 22
783
0600
will generate on the fax
cover From: CERN/DELPHI fax service +41 22
782
3084
will generate on the fax
cover From: CERN/Finance division leader +41 22 782 1918
cnf ax
ps561f
ax
psf
ax
stf ax
asf
ax
ppef
ax
ecpf
ax
delphif ax
f
if ax
Example: A member of
ECP
division can send a fax to Mr Joe Bloggs in central London by addressing his/her
Email message to: [email protected]
There is a utility that
allows the fax sender to check the faxes still queued and not
delivered. For more details and
installation instructions contact fax
.
supportQcem.
ch.
Warning:
Faxes
cost
real money. Excessive usage will be billed.
1.8.1 How
to
get help with
problems
For
any questions related to this facility you can send Email to fax. support ®cern.
ch which is equivalent to
f
ax-support®dxmint
.
cern.ch.
Chapter
2:
How
to
formulate
or
find Email addresses
The address syntax for sending mail to different computers both on and off
the CERN site is described as well as
commands to access EMDIR, the CERN Electronic Mail Directory. A few facilities to help you find
addresses of
users not in EMDIR are introduced and some hints are given to outside
collaborators on how to address people at
CERN. A small section is included on how to
automatically forward your mail to another address.
2.1
User
friendly addresses
for
CERN users
Users with computer accounts at
CERN can now
be addressed
with the format:
[firstname
. ]
surnameQcern.
ch
2.1.1 Syntactic
rules and semantics
The part in square brackets, firstname, is optional. You can include up to
3
firstnames separated by any
combination of: dots (.), hyphens (-), underscores (_)
or single
quote (’) (it must
be escaped or typed twice).
The
firstname(s) can be abbreviated in any possible prefix, (e.g., maria,
mari,
mar,
ma,
m)
A dot
must separate the firstname(s) (if
present) from the surname.
The
presence of surname is mandatory. Within surnames with many parts e.g. Van De Welde all the above
separators
are
allowed except the dot.
Case
is not
significant.
In case of
first or last names with many
parts it is not mandatory to use all of
them.
If
no match for the specified [firstname .] surname is found, then the
program tries to do approximate matching
of
up to two mistakes for each of
the firstnames first
and (hen for
each of
the lastnames.
If
multiple matches have been found
then a list of
all the matching
recipients is returned by mail.
A
program tries to match the
recipient’s
name to
the
approximately
relevant
entries in
the
computer centre
database
and their Email address in
EMDIR.
Obviously, this means that the form [firstname .]
surnameQCERN
.
CH
must
not be stored in
EMDIR,
which must contain your preferred real address in the form userQCOMPUTER.cem.ch.
Please allow one day in order for the change to take
place.
If
you want to change the value of
your
preferred firstname do it
via your group administrator in
USERREG.
People outside CERN can use this addressing scheme if they want to sent mail to someone that has a CERN
computer account.
If
you receive in return a list of
multiple matching
recipients e.g. for the destination
j
ean
.
dupondficern
.
ch
1. First name(s): JEAN ***** Last name(s): DUPOND
Cern phone number:
1234 ***** Beep number
:
13+5678
Division:PPE/BLA *****
Of
f
ice
:
000/R-006
E-mail address:
DUPONDJEQCERNVM
.
CERN
.
CH
2. First name(s)
:
JEAN
PAUL ***** Last name(s): DUPOND
Cern phone number:
9876 ***** Beep number:
Division:BLI/LE *****
Of
f
ice
:
99/9-999
E-mail address:
DUPOND
JPQCERNVM.
CERN.
CH
and you
are
interested in Jean Dupond with no middlename you can either type jean. .dupondQcern.ch
or use
his “real” email address as received from
EMDIR,
i.e., dupondjeOcernvm.cem.ch
For
any
questions
please
send
mail
to
mail
.
supportficern. ch
which
is
equivalent,
to
mail
.
support Qdxmint .cern.
ch.
13
14
Chapter
2. How to formulate or
find
Email
addresses
2.2
Addressing mail
from
within CERN
Tills
section explains
how to address mail users from
any of
the
recommended mail systems described in this
guide.
The same address format is valid from all these systems. The address can be composed in upper or lower case
characters.
2.2.1 Sending mail
to
users
on the
same computer
Users on the same computer as yourself
can be addressed by their registered username e.g. fred.
2.2.2
Sending
mail
to
other
computers
at CERN
Depending on the destination host CERN addresses can
be:
user@host
.
cern
.
ch
where
user is
a
computer registered username
host is a computer at CERN
From most hosts at CERN simply userQhost is also accepted.
The above syntax is valid from all CERN recommended mail systems except VMS Mail where the syntax
MINT:
:
"userQhost
.
cern.ch" (also possible: MINT:
:
"userQhost
"
) must be entered after the ’to:’ prompt.
2.2.3 Sending
mail
to
users
outside CERN
All external addresses are of the form:
us
erQho
st .domain
(MINT:
:
"us
er
Oho
st
.
domain" from VMS Mail)
where:
user is a computer registered user name
host is
a
computer name
domain is (or ends in) a unique
identifier
for a country or mail distribution ’network’ (e.g. ch, fr,
de,
uk, bitnet,
uucp)
A
domain may consist of several subdomains separated by dots and a host name might be missing,
(e.g.
userQsubdomainl
.
subdomain2
.
domain)
A list of
some accessible, domains is given at the end of
this chapter.
2.2.3.1
Addressing DECnet Users host
:
:user
DECnet users tend to quote their address in the form host
:
:user. Provided their host is connected to the
CERN
DECnet they can be
addressed from any of
the
recommended mail systems by userQhost
.
CERN
.
CH
,
even if
their
host is not physically at CERN.
If the
DECnet host is not known by name but only but its DECnet numerical address in the form
area.subciddress
or in decimal, the syntax to be used has to
be:
user
QDECnel
-address
.
DECNET
.
cern
.
ch
NB! This is the only
case
when the ’decnet’ subdomain
is mandatory.
2.2. Addressing
mail from within
CERN
15
2.2.4
PSI
Mail (psi
%
digits::
user)
Addresses quoted as PSI %digits::
user
can be sent, directly from some VMS systems by authorised users (e.g.
users on vxcern). There is no
way today to send
PSI
mail from other systems.
Please,
note that PSI Mail costs real money if the destination address contains
a
'digits' part starting with zero.
The
PTT
bill is sent to the group administrator.
The
following is an extract
from
the document ’The
VXCERN
cluster users guide’
and
explains how the billing
is calculated. X.25 PSI
Access
is a Digital product which allows suitably
configured
VMS systems to connect
to and/or
access
Packet Switching Data networks (PSDNs) conforming to
CCITT
recommendation X.25, i.e. to
function as a
DTE
(Data Terminal Equipment) connected to a PSDN.
The user
process
can send data to, and receive data from, other user applications at remote
DTEs
(written in any
programming language under any operating system and on any machine which can conned to the PSDN), by
assigning a channel and setting up a virtual circuit.
PSI
Charging:
Please note
that
PSI
outgoing
calls made
using normal
PTT
telephone
lines (as opposed to the calls made via
leased
lines) will be charged. (Calls to
DTE
addresses which start with the digit
0
are charged.) The bill will
be
sent
to the group administrators on a regular basis. The size of the cost depends on the destination of the call, and is
calculated according to the
PTT
tariffs in
effect. Each month, the VMS Central Support team runs a
PSI
accounting
procedure that tots up the total cost, of
calls for all users over the preceding month. These costs can be examined
by Group Administrators using the command
psi-charges
which will show all the available monthly data. The administrator
can choose whether to save
a
copy of the
file
or
not. In any
case,
at the end of a four month period (so at the start of
May, September and January) the individual
group charges are collected together and a
TID
sent to
each
group administrator responsible. In
cases
where the
group administrator would like to prevent one or more of his/her users from generating
PSI
calls, this can
be
arranged.
Please
contact the UCO as
a
first
step.
Warning
.‘Some
groups hold their individual users personally
responsible for charges incurred through the
use of
PSI. Users should be
aware that sizeable costs can be incurred
through calling some
PSI
addresses!
2.2.5 Addressing
hostluser
Addresses quoted in the form
host iuser may be addressed from CERN mail systems to userQhost .uucp.
Addresses likehostl !host2!
. .
.hostnluser should be converted to
userQhostn.uucp or hostl Ihost2 !
. .
.hostn luserQdxmint. Unix users should note that for some shells the
’
!’ should be
escaped with a backslash (\).
2.2.6 Addressing ’user AT
host’ (user®
host.)
Some
users on EARN/BITNET quote
their address in the form
user AT host or userQhost. Whilst this syntax
may
be
acceptable on CERNVM
(see
note
below), the
correct syntax is userQhost .bitnet.
Since the middle of 1993 there has
been
a growing number of
BITNET/EARN nodes leaving the network, which
practically means
that instead of
the form
userQhost or
userQhost .BITNET
the
Internet
(domain
style) addressing
should be used, i.e. userQhost .domain, e.g. userQcernvm. cern.
ch.
Unfortunately, some sites are leaving
EARN/BITNET without
having
really prepared a graceful transition to Internet style
electronic mail addresses and
are therefore indirectly
causing
problems to users used to reach them via their old but no longer functional address.
In the latter case, it may be
useful to know
that,
a
file
containing the list of new and deleted EARN/BITNET
nodes
since
November 1992 has been installed on CERNVM’s "P" disk under the name BITEARN
NEWDEL.
This
file
will also be
updated on
a
monthly
basis as soon as the monthly
EARN tables are distributed. In most
cases,
the
file
contains information about the
new Internet
style address. The same information is also available via gopher from
gopher.earn.net in the subtree "Network information", item "Node
changes".
16
Chapter
2. How to formulate or
find
Email
addresses
2.3
EMDIR - The CERN Electronic Mail Directory
EMDIR is an
Electronic
Mail Directory Service returning the
preferred addresses for
CERN
personnel and some of
their
regular
correspondents. It
is accessible from
cernvm, dxcern, vxcern
and several other nodes. For a complete
documentation on
EMDIR contact emdirQcern.
ch.
2.3.1 Examples
To search for someone with a name like
Denys Smithers, type:
Unix users should replace the wild
card characters ’?’ by ’%’, respectively or
precede them
by a backslash
(\).
EMDIR smithers
EMDIR
♦
denys
EMDIR smith* den*
all
entries with surname Smithers
all
entries with first name Denys
search on partial names
If EMDIR returns ’(no mail address defined yet)’ then either this person does not use electronic mail or their
EMDIR entry is not updated.
2.3.2
Where
to
find further
information
For information on how to use EMDIR, type:
VM/CMS
:
HELP
EMDIR
VMS:
HELP
EMDIR
Unix: man emdir
2.3.3 Updating
your preferred electronic mail address
Send an Email message to emdir®cern.ch which is equivalent to emdirmgrQvxcern.
cem. ch asking for
the creation of your EMDIR entry. Then, you are responsible for its update. The EMDIR update proce-
dure from all computers (except CERNVM) follows. The commands for Denys Smithers to enter the address
smithersficernvm
.
cem
.
ch
are:
emdir
(emdir entry for
smithers is displayed)
(8 =
line no.
of
mail address in display)
Emdir> query smithers
Emdir> update
Update>
8
smithersOcernvm.
cern
.
ch
Update>
go
Emdir> exit
After the ’go’ command your update will be accepted without a password if it is attempted from a host and
username known to the CCDD (Computer Centre Data Base), e.g. ceriivm,vxcerii,dxceni,cernapo,vxeng. If
the
update is attempted from another host you will be prompted for a password if
there is one. If
you never assigned
a password your entry is not protected against unauthorized changes unless you have delegated the authority to
somebody known to the EMDIR database. If
you have forgotten this password from a previous update , contact:
emdirQcern.ch . If
you decide to assign a password, while updating from a host and username known to the
CCDD, you can, in the future, perform subsequent updates using this same password from any other machine,
e.g.
a private workstation. A more detailed example is given in the online
help.
2.3.
EMDIR
-
The
CERN
Electronic
Mail
Directory
17
2.3.4 EMDIR update procedure
from CERNVM
Another interface to
EMDIR,
The Electronic Mail Directory, is available on CERNVM. Some new features are:
•
It is accessed through a panel interface
•
A password is no longer needed for entry update (for CERN central computer users only)
•
Some help is provided to build
e-mail addresses
•
User registration updates (databases USERREG, USERINFO) are reflected
also in EMDIR.
•
XWHO uses EMDIR data
For
the users who
REALLY
prefer the old interface on CERNVM, EMDIR supports DEFAULTS
as follows:
DEFAULTS SET EMDIR VERSION
OLD
will switch to the old
version
DEFAULTS SET EMDIR VERSION
PRO
will switch to the production version
2.3.5 To
install EMDIR on DECnet and TCP/IP nodes at CERN
If
you have
DECNET
or TCP/IP access and wish to install EMDIR, send a request to [email protected]. EMDIR
is a
portable C program using
remote procedure
calls to access the Oracle data
base on dbsrv01.cern.ch.
2.3.6 EMDIR inquiry via
Email
You
can send an Email message to [email protected]
cerndirQdxmint
.cern.chand on the "Subject:" field
and/or in the
body enter the names of
persons you look for separated by semicolon (;) or carriage return. You
will
receive
a reply with the retrieved EMDIR entries that match
exactly or (in case of
no exact match) approximately
your query.
The
service has the capability of
searching for approximate matches, up to two mistakes and accepts
the
use
of
two
wildcards, for
any
one
character and for
any
number
of
characters. If
just
one
string
is entered,
e.g.
dupond,
it
will be treated
as a
surname, if
you
want
to specify firstnames
as well, the syntax firstname.surname
should be used e.g.
herve.dupond,
if
you want to retrieve all entries of
a certain firstname, you have to terminate
it with a dot and leave a blank before the separator e.g. herve. The allowed separators within parts of the
firstname(s) and/or surname(s) are the dot, hyphen, underscore, whitespace and single
quote. E.g. sending mail to
[email protected] with 'Subject: Alcibiades. ; and no message body, you
will receive a message as follows:
From CERNDIR Tue Feb
8
15:57:25
1994
Date: Tue,
8
Feb
1994
15:57:24
+0100
From: CERNDIR
Subject: Re: Your query to CERN DiRectory
Apparently-To
: dimou
******
CERN DiRectory
Lookup Mail Service
******
The following
records match exactly
your
requested query
:
Alcibiades.
1.
First
name(s):
ALCIBIADES
*****Last
name(s):
APOSTOLAKIS
Cern phone number
:6039
*****Beep
number:
Division
:
PPE/LR
*****
Of
f
ice
:
20/R-030
E-mail address: APOSTOCERNVM
.
CERN
.
CH
2.3.7 How
to
get help with problems
For further information or problems with EMDIR contact [email protected] If
you wish to be added to EMDIR
include in the message your surname, firstname, CERN Division
or Institute, and
preferred electronic mail address
in the form userQHOST.
DOMAIN.
18
Chapter
2. How to formulate or
find
Email
addresses
2.4
Relevant information retrieval facilities
EMDIR
should contain entries for all central computer
users at
CERN. If
an entry
is
missing or no mail address has
been
entered, please request the person to enter their preferred electronic mail address as outlined in the previous
section. Although
EMDIR
contains some non-CERN entries (e.g. INFN and SLAC
users) in many
cases
the only
way to learn someone’s address will
be
to ask them. You
may however
find
the following facilities helpful.
2.4.1
Finding BITNET
nodes
On CERNVM from the
VM/CMS
prompt, type
xfind
nodes to get help on the
syntax of
the
most
popular
command
sequences. To enter the
NODES
menu type the following commands in the given order:
gime earn
nodes
2.4.2 Finding CERN
usernames
To find CERN user login information
•
from VM/CMS typexwho name or username.
•
from some Unix systems type
phone name or username.
The
XWHO
and phone commands display personal and login information for all CERN central computers as well
as the preferred Email address extracted from EMDIR. The
phoneb name command available on VXCERN and
VXENG clusters provide the CERN telephone book information, i.e. Name, tel. extension, division,
building and
office
number.
2.5.
Automatically
Forwarding
Mail
19
2.5 Automatically Forwarding Mail
Below is a brief table describing how to automatically forward your mail from various mail systems at CERN to
the address user@host
.domain.
All commands must be entered locally on the system you wish to forward from.
ALWAYS
test
your autoforwarding. Incorrect addresses cause mail loops!
2.5.1
MAIL
on
VM/CMS
Type
XFIND MAILFWD for help. The usage of
MAILFWD is:
MAILFWD
neu>-elec
ironic
-ma
iZ-addreaa (to start forwarding)
MAILFWD
*
(to stop forwarding)
MAILFWD (to query forwarding)
The MAILFWD command hides two commands that have to be issued one after the other for each operation
(initialization,
cancellation,
query of
autoforward):
TELL LISTSERV /FORWARD user@host
.
domain and
TELL MAILER SET FORWARD
user<6host
.
domain (to initiate autoforwarding)
TELL LISTSERV /FORWARD * and
TELL MAILER SET FORWARD
*
(to cancel autoforwarding)
.
TELL LISTSERV /FORWARD query and
TELL MAILER Q
FORWARD (to query current autoforwarding)
.
If
you do
need to have your mail forwarded to multiple
addresses, here
is how
to do
it. You
first
issue
a normal
SET
FORWARD
command with the first address, and then, for each additional address you want your mail forwarded
to, you send a SET
FORWARD
command with a plus sign before the address. Example:
SET FORWARD JackeWSl.Blue-Lake.EDU
5ET FORWARD
+J
ack-Srn
i
tMJCC
.
Blue-Lake
.
EDU
SET FORWARD
>J
.
SmithftLIB
.
Blue-La
ke EDU
You
now
have three
addresses in your forward list. If
you issue
a
normal
SET
FORWARD again, all three addresses
will be
replaced with the new one, or deleted if
you did
SET
FORWARD
OFF.
To remove just
one address,
prefix
it with
a
minus sign:
SET FORWARD
-JackftWS
1
,
Blue-Lake
.
EDU
would
remove the
first
address in the list. You
can check where your
mail is going at any time
by sending
a
SHOW
FORWARD command. If you want to keep a copy of each forwarded item in your VM mailbox, ie if you only
want an extra copy sent to the address of your choice, simply include your own VM address in your forwarding
list.
2.5.2 VMS MAIL
Do not set an autoforward address to a
PSI
Mail destination. Unfortunately, we can no longer forward Email to
such addresses due to additional security
measures
we needed to introduce in order to keep control of
the
PTT
X.25
costs. Even more unfortunately we have no technical means to selectively allow forwarding over non-PTT X.25
lines. To invoke
VMS Mail type:
mail
M
A
I
L
>
set forward MIHT
::
"""user<2host
.
domain'
MAIL> show forward query current autoforwarding
MAIL>
show all show all mail parameters
MAIL> set noforward cancel autoforwarding
MAIL> exit exit from VMS Mail
Note that the
forward
command invoking
MINT
initiates autoforwarding to a non-VMS Mail user account. Three
pairs of double quotes are required as shown above. The syntax set forward
host::user
is also possible to
another VMS Mail account.
20
Chapter
2. How to formulate
or
find
Email
addresses
2.5.3
Unix Mail
cd move to
home directory
echo userQhost
.
domain
>
.forward initiate autoforwarding
more .forward query current autoforwarding
(Note: the existence of
this file is necessary for autoforwarding to happen)
rm .forward cancel autoforwarding
2.5.4 QuickMaii
on
a
Mac and MS Mail
on
a
PC
Autoforwarding is
not.
possible.
2.6
Hints to Outsiders
This section offers hints to external collaborators wishing to address electronic mail to users at CERN. They will
normally need to give an address of
the form:
[firstname
.]
surnameQcern.
ch
or
userQhost
.cern.ch
If the above address format is not accepted by their mail system, then the following list suggests an alternative
syntax.
•
Between DECNET hosts: host:
:user
•
From a
DECNET
host to a non-DECnet one: DXMINT
:
:
"userQhost
.
CERN
.
CH"
•
From EUNET/USENET/UUCP: dxcernihost
‘user
(from systems using Unix bang (!) addressing)
•
From some JANET systems not yet
converted to the Internet
world order: userQCH
.
CERN
.host
•
From X.400: C=ch;
ADMD=arcom;PRMD=cern;0=cern;OU=host
;S=username
Restrictions:
Use of CERN mail facilities to route mail between two non-CERN machines is not permitted without prior
agreement by
CERN.
2.1.
Domain Summary
Information
21
2.7 Domain Summary Information
A
complete list of the valid International Standards Organisation (ISO) country codes together with some other
connectivity information is available on CERNVM by typing: XFIND COUNTRY. Some country codes often
appearing as top-level-domain in Email messages are listed below, but, of course the list is not exhaustive,
ar ISO country code for Argentina
at ISO country code for Austria
au
ISO
country code for Australia
be
ISO
country code for Belgium
bitnet Because
It’s Time NETwork
(USA EARN network)
br
ISO
country code
for Brazil
ca ISO country code for Canada (replaces ’cdn’)
ch ISO country code for Switzerland (replaces ’chunet’)
cn ISO country code for China
cz ISO country code for the Czech republic
com Commercial domain in Internet (USA)
de
ISO
country code for Germany
dk
ISO
country code
for Denmark
earn European
Academic and
Research Network (called BITNET in USA)
edu Educa
tional
domain in
In
ternet
(USA)
es ISO country code for Spain
(replaces
’his’)
f
i
ISO country code for Finland
f
r
ISO country code for France
gov Government
domain in Internet (USA)
gr
ISO
countr
y
code for Greece
hu
ISO
country code
for Hungary
ie ISO country code for Beland (replaces ’hi’)
il
ISO
country code for Israel
in ISO country code for
India
int ISO country code for
India
it ISO country code
for
Italy
is
ISO
country code
for Iceland
jp ISO country code for J
apan
mf
enet Magnetic Fusion Energy Network
mil Military domain in
Internet (USA)
net Top-level-domain grouping main network
relay hosts
nl ISO country code for the Netherlands
no
ISO
country code for Norway
nz ISO country code for New
Zealand
org Organisation domain in Internet (USA)
pt ISO country code for Portugal
se ISO country code for Sweden
sk
ISO
country code for Slovakia
uk United Kingdom
(can also appear as the
ISO
code gb, mainly for X.400 mail)
us ISO country code for USA
uucp Unix mail network
(EUNET/USENET)
za ISO country code for South Africa
Chapter
3:
Guidelines for Email on workstations
The workstation support, team has prepared instruction documents for system installation that include Email.
However, some
basic information
is included
in this
user guide
in order to give
some
initial
help to the
workstations’
users.
3.1 Email for Unix workstations
3.1.1 General rules
•
The
recommended protocol to use is SMTP over
TCP/IP.
•
The recommended model is that of a pool of workstations which send and receive Email via
a
server. The
server should be equipped with the proper Email set up and disk space and should be always available and
properly managed.
•
The hostname of the server with complete domain information, i.e. userQserver
.
cern.
ch
should appear
on the message header instead of the name of the individual workstation.
•
An aliasing mechanism on the server level should allow for routing to the individual workstation involved.
In any
case,
make
sure the
server
knows that
mail
for
userQmyclientX
should
be
delivered locally.
•
The
Domain Name Server (DNS) should
be
updated with the appropriate internal MX records where every
client host should be mapped to the appropriate server. To do that, the server owner should send mail to
mail
.
supportQcern.
ch
mentioning the clients’ and server names.
•
It is not recommended to forward the messages to mailer-daemon, root and postmaster aliases of any
workstation to another host. In case of
loops and general delivery problems it is useless to flood the
network
and the spool of
another host. These aliases should rather point to an account local to the
host
or
the server.
The ’pool model’ is strongly recommended as opposed to isolated workstations connected to the central gateway
service, although such
cases
exist and must be correctly configured. Some of the advantages of the ’pool model’
are:
•
Faster delivery of
Email traffic between the pool members.
•
Offload of
the central gateway, which leads to faster delivery for the whole serviced community.
•
A
longer expiration time than in the central gateway is possible for Email messages stored in the server.
•
The server offers disk space for message storing.
•
The common address for the whole pool userSserver
.
cern
.
ch
is easier to remember than
user@each-workstation
.
cern
.
ch.
•
Workstations in a pool can be more
easily shared or re-allocated.
•
The
quality of
support
from the server manager and the
central gateway manager is much better for the
users.
•
Email to other hosts should be routed directly to selected popular CERN hosts and via the central gateway
system (DXMINT)
as
a
default relay for all others.
For
systems which do nameserver look up, the
CERN
nameservers will point to DXMINT
or the destination
system as appropriate.
22
3.1.
Email
for
Unix workstations
23
•
Note
that,
all mail forwarded to individual workstations may be returned as undeliverable when you switch
off your workstation during the week-end or your holidays if the autoforward pointing to the workstation
is not cancelled. When most stations are off together, especially over Christmas, this problem leads to
unacceptable mail
backlogs for everybody.
Such a
risk
does not
exist in the
case of
the "pool" model,
provided the
server is running and
receiving
SMTP
mail.
3.1.2 Support
issues
Support for users and operations can be categorized as follows:
•
Support of
the workstation pool community and the server.
This is performed by the system manager of
the server and includes:
-
Email set-up and
maintenance for the workstation and the server.
-
Workstation
user support.
-
Workstation - server transport layer management.
-
Server
SMTP
and
TCP/IP management.
•
Support
between the server and the central gateway system.
This is performed by the manager of
the central gateway system and includes:
-
Operation of
the
Email central gateway
system.
-
Provision of
sample configurations for
use by the server manager.
-
Documentation for the workstation users.
-
Address re-writing and selection of
route to the final
destination.
-
Central gateway system SMTand
TCP/Imanagement.
-
Fault detection and isolation.
It is very valuable for functional and operational reasons to adopt some computer naming conventions and follow
them.
For
all
machine types
reference sendmail configuration
files
have
been
prepared for
the
CERN workstation owners.
The installation guide for every machine type explains how to obtain (if
it is not already integrated in the system
installation automated procedure) the appropriate sendmail.cf
and how to install it. If
people want to have a look
in these reference sendmail eonfigui
alien files they should regularly look into the newsgroup
cernanail
and the
relevant group to
their
platform, e.g. cern.sun.
In principle there should be no need to alter the contents of
your sendmail.cf, but if
you need to do so, remember
that for your
change to take
effect you should:
Keep a copy of
the
previous scndmail.cf, just in case.
Install the new one in your
Zusr/lib
(/etc/mail for Sun Solaris 2.X) directory .
Create the configuration freeze file with command: /usr/lib/sendmail -bz
Kill the sendmail daemon if
it runs.
Restart
it with command: /usr/lib/sendmail -bd -qlh -om
If
your
workstation is
an
Ultrix
one
AND
it
is
provided
WITH
DECnel
then
communicate to
mail . support Qcern
. ch
its hostname. It is necessary for the central Email gateway system to have this information in order to use the
appropriate protocol (SMTP instead of
DECnet) to route Email to the workstation. In general, DECnet numbers
are not available for new
Ultrix stations, in which case this action is obsolete.
24
Chapter 3. Guidelines
for
Email
on
workstations
3.2
Email
for
VMS
workstations
Unfortunately
VMS
mail
is
rather
’simple
minded’,
giving
little
possibility
of
protection against
system
management
problems. As a minimum, owners of
VMS workstations are advised
to:
•
Publicize their Email address on
a
’bigger’ machine (which has a system manager monitoring
its availability
and the
users’ disk space).
•
Set an autoforward on that node pointing to the VMS workstation. This autoforward should be cancelled
when the station is shut down. Note that your mail may be returned as undeliverable when you switch off
your workstation during the
week-end
or your holidays if
the autoforward is not cancelled.
