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email:faq

Email F.A.Q

Frequently asked questions for y'all, when I'm not being responsive for whatever reason.

Quotas

Just issues surrounding quotas.

Current Email Quotas

The quota breaks down (roughly) as the following:

  • Current Undergrads: 100MB
  • GradStudents/Staff/Faculty: 30MB
  • '06: 50MB
  • Alumni: 25MB

There's quite a bit of variation within there (special cases and what have you), but that's the rough breakdown. The check quota link in your portfolio should give their actual real quota.

Future quotas will probably increase for all, but I don't have any numbers or timeframe in regards to that.

Checking Email Quotas

Common problems with email quota are…

ProblemFix
User has a folder that is not subscribed to/can't findFolders link in webmail lets you subscribe to it and manipulate it
Certain users of older systems have junk data in their home directorySend me an email to clean it
Over quota even though INBOX is smallCheck other folders, notably Spam and Trash

Please check for everything before sending me an email.

Over Quota Behavior

There are warnings (typically quota-10MB) that go out at midnight, if the user is over quota, they receive an email saying they will be disabled within 24 hours. When the quota is lowered they will (within 5-10 minutes) receive an email confirming this. If they've not reduced their quota within this time all non-Wesleyan mail (Wesleyan mail defined as mail sent through our servers) will be immediately rejected.

Webmail

Common webmail issues.

Ability to Sort Vanishes

User probably has “Threaded View” on. Look for the link underneath “Move Message to” select box above main message list to toggle this off/on.

Mail is Missing

Typically, accidentally deleted all the mail using a POP client. Set up client to connect via IMAP and drag mail up or contact Operations for a restore.

Reply-To Incorrectly Set

Check personal options - the Reply-To should be a fully qualified email address. melson will not work - melson@gmail.com will.

Spam

Common spam issues.

Large amounts of Spam

  • Stop whitelisting *@wesleyan.edu
  • Report more Ham (non-Spam)
  • If legitimate site like Amazon, buy.com, contact them to get list removal.
  • Tweak SA settings.
  • Check full headers for diagnostic information.

Wesleyan Spam

  • Contact address given (or best guess if none) and complain.
  • No amount of reporting or blacklisting will help.

Forwarded Spam

We do not scan mail that is forwarded for spam at all unless you're clever, and since that cleverness is not officially supported, I'll not tell you how it's done.

General Email

General email thingies.

Cannot Create Folder

Folder name probably contains an illegal character, I'll get a list once I find them (- /.{}! are some)

Forward Delays/Rejections

Many large ISPs have fingered our forwarding mail servers as spammers. We try and keep on top, but it results in occasionally rejected/deferred mail to people who forward through us. AOL is probably the biggest name ISP who flags us.

Email Setup

Ugh, this is far more complicated than I would like.

Believe it or not, all these ports are standard - nothing quirky about them.

Incoming Server

  • SSL POP - 995
  • SSL IMAP - 993
  • Normal POP - 110
  • Normal IMAP - 143
  • Quirks:
    • Alumni/non-Cyrus - no SSL for incoming POP
    • Facstaff/non-Cyrus - “unsupported” SSL for incoming POP

As far as how to tell if someone is on Cyrus? nslookup username.mail.wesleyan.edu - if it goes to mailproxies, you're Cyrus.

Outgoing Server

  • SSL SMTP - 465 (recommended)
  • Normal SMTP - 25
  • Alternate SMTP because ISPs block 25 - 587
  • USE AUTHENTICATION

Virus/Attachment Filtering

All outgoing and incoming email are scanned for viruses and inappropriate attachments. If a virus is detected and cleaned, an email goes to the recipient, not to the sender; same with attachments. The illegal attachments are as follows:

  • *.scr
  • *.com
  • *.zip (yeah, bummer, I know)
  • *.exe
  • *.vbs
  • *.cpl
  • *.bat
  • *.pif
  • *.ceo
  • *.reg
  • *.scf
  • *.vbe
  • *.wsc
  • *.wsf
  • *.shb
  • *.wsh
  • *.sct
  • *.lnk
  • *.chm
  • *.cnf
  • *.js
  • *.jse
  • *.mad
  • *.maf
  • *.mag
  • *.mam
  • *.maq
  • *.mar
  • *.mas
  • *.mat
  • *.mav
  • *.maw
  • *.shs
  • *.shb
  • *.xnk
  • *.mhtml
  • webpage.rar
  • {[a-hA-H0-9-]{25,}} (yeah, I dunno)
  • Anything with lots of whitespace (10+)
  • Double extensions (i.e. foobar.exe.jpg)
  • Any file name > 150 characters.
  • Multi-part email files (rare, but happens)
  • email with > 50 attachments (have to check on that)
email/faq.txt · Last modified: 2007/02/21 14:16 (external edit)