Reading and sending email when away from Cambridge

You might want to read your email under several different circumstances when you are away from Cambridge. This document lists some of these and gives solutions to possible problems you may encounter.

You might be using

• your own computer, either via broadband or dial-up (with or without a VPDN connection to the cam domain), or with a different permanent Internet connection, for example if you are visiting another University;
• someone else's computer, connected by one of the methods outlined above (e.g. in an Internet cafe). If the computer belongs to someone else it may be impractical for you to change the configuration. In this case we recommend you use Hermes Webmail at https://webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk/

There are four basic ways to get at your Cambridge mail from elsewhere, and the choice will depend on what you are used to and what facilities you have. In summary:

• You can use a web browser to read your mail;
• You can run a mail user agent (MUA) on your local machine and configure it to reach your Cambridge mail;
• You can use an SSH application to login to Hermes and read your mail using Alpine or Pine;
• You can forward your Cambridge email for the duration of your absence to another mail account.

1. You can use any available web browser to read your mail. Hermes Webmail at https://webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk/ offers a secure, fully featured system that gives access to all your mail folders and to the University LDAP Directory (University-wide email addressbook). If you usually read your email using Hermes Webmail, or if you will not be based in the same location for a long time, then we recommend that you use this method.

2. You can run a mail user agent (MUA) on your local machine (e.g. Thunderbird, Alpine, Apple Mail, Outlook) and configure it to reach your Cambridge mail. The following description assumes you are using your own computer. If this is a laptop that you use both at Cambridge and away it may already be configured, in which case you will not need to change anything. However you should check that your settings are as described below. If the machine is not yours then it may not be convenient to change any settings and we strongly recommend that you use Hermes Webmail at https://webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk/

   In this Information sheet the settings are described in general terms. For specific details on configuring Eudora, Alpine, Pine or PC-Pine, Apple Mail (MacOS X), Mozilla or Netscape mail or Thunderbird, Mulberry, Outlook or Outlook Express see the pages at Email program settings for Hermes

   For reading mail

   The server setting for IMAP should be imap.hermes.cam.ac.uk
   The server setting for POP should be pop.hermes.cam.ac.uk
   Note that POP will, by default, download your email from Hermes to the computer you are using, so it will not be kept on Hermes for your return. We strongly recommend the use of IMAP rather than POP.
   You must also configure secure settings (you are likely to find the phrases SSL or STARTTLS used); you should use the equivalent of Required, STARTTLS.

   For sending mail

   The name of the SMTP server should be smtp.hermes.cam.ac.uk
   You will also need to find settings for SMTP AUTH (authentication). In most mail programs you will need to enter your CRSid (e.g. spqr9) in a User ID field. If you have a port setting for SMTP change this from 25 to 587 (if port 587 does not work, change the setting to 465 instead).

   Sending mail if you are not using the Cambridge VPDN

   If you wish to send mail via Hermes from home, or when you are away, and you do not have a Virtual Private Dialup Network (VPDN) account then it is worth noting that some ISPs have blocks that mean you will not be able to use Hermes to send mail even when using SMTP AUTH. If this is the case you will need to reconfigure your machine to use the ISP's SMTP server (see documentation provided by the ISP for details). You will need to turn off any security and authentication options for SMTP and turn them on again when you are back in Cambridge.

   The University LDAP Directory (University-wide email addressbook)

   Note that this is only available to mail clients on computers on the Cambridge network. If you wish to use the University LDAP Directory when you are away from Cambridge then you will need to use the VPDN service so that your computer appears to be on the Cambridge network. Alternatively you can use Hermes Webmail at https://webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk/

3. You can use SSH ("secure shell") to login to Hermes and read your mail using Alpine or Pine. If you are familiar with one of these then this is a straightforward option. The address to which you connect is hermes.cam.ac.uk.

   Macintosh and Windows PC users may need to install an application capable of making secure connections (e.g. JellyfiSSH or iTerm for Macintoshes with Mac OS X, or use ssh from the Terminal; MacSSH or Nifty Telnet SSH for Macintoshes with older Mac OS versions; PuTTY for PCs running Windows); from Unix systems use ssh.

   Note: Unencrypted access to Hermes using Telnet is not supported. Encrypted access using SSH protects your password from being snooped.

4. You can forward your Cambridge email for the duration of your absence to another mail account (free ISP account, etc.), and then read it by whatever method you use for your other account. See IS 12 Hermes Email: Forwarding (redirection) and vacation messages for details.

   If you are using a different address to send mail, in particular an address from certain of the free email providers, then you may find that messages you send are put in the "spam" folder of the recipient or, at worst, rejected.

Last updated: September 2010 Last reviewed: October 2011