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FAQ: How do I deal with exceeded quota on Hermes?

FAQ E3

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Your mail folders on Hermes (including your INBOX and any folders where you store mail that you have received or sent) all occupy space on the Hermes mailstore. If you have saved other files then these occupy space on the Hermes filestore. There is a limit (quota) to the total space you are allowed to use. For most users this is 1 Gb on the mailstore and 100Mb on the filestore.

Dealing with exceeded mailstore quota

Warning messages are sent when an account reaches 90% and 95% of mailstore quota.

You can delete and expunge (permanently delete) mail messages either using your usual mail client or by connecting to Hermes via Webmail (https://webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk/). Once connected to Hermes you will see your mail messages and mail folders listed. Delete and expunge the messages or folders that you no longer need or that you have copies of elsewhere (if necessary see IS41: Introduction to Webmail for further details). It is good practice to do this routinely rather than only when you are close to using up your quota.

Note: Once you have exceeded your mailstore quota on Hermes any messages that are sent to your account will be queued for delivery for a period of time (currently up to 14 days or until your usage is sufficiently reduced by deleting and expunging as above). After this time the messages will be bounced back to the sender. However, if your account remains over quota for 14 days, any new incoming mail will be bounced back to the sender after a single delivery attempt. Note that when the usage has been sufficiently reduced it may take a few hours (maximum 8 hours) for stored messages to arrive in your inbox.

Dealing with exceeded filestore quota

You are only likely to exceed your filestore quota if you regularly use Alpine or Pine on Hermes itself and have saved various attachments as files in your Hermes filespace. Attachments can often be quite large. To delete unwanted attachments that you have saved:

  • Login to Hermes using SSH (encrypted connection). After the introductory screens, you will see the Hermes Message Store Main Menu.
  • Select option 3 (FILES) to see the Hermes Message Store File Management Menu.
  • If necessary select option 1 (LIST) to list your files and check the file names. Some files in your space are created automatically when your account is set up. Do not delete any file that you yourself have not created. If you have saved a mail attachment, you will have been asked at the time what name to give it.
  • Select option 4 (DELETE) and type the name of the file you want to delete. You will see a confirmation message that your file has been deleted.
  • Press RETURN to return to the Hermes Message Store File Management Menu and press Q twice to terminate the Hermes session.

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Last updated: October 2011