SMTP Authentication
If you were directed to this page by a so-called "bounce message," you are
probably a local user who needs to configure your E-mail client to provide for
authentication. A change to our SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) mail
server (used for sending your mail) has resulted in a problem for folks that
use ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to establish Internet connectivity when
they're "on the road" or at home connected via broadband service. Some ISPs do
not provide a SMTP server for their customers, or arbitrarily route SMTP
traffic through their own system, so these people would have trouble using
Eudora (for example) to send messages to others.
We have provided a means for people in this situation to continue to use our
local SMTP server. The solution we have implemented calls for your E-mail
software to support the concept of SMTP authentication and the SMTP submit
mechanism. Most modern E-mail clients, including Eudora, Outlook Express,
Netscape Messenger, and Thunderbird, provide for this functionality.
Regardless of E-mail client software in use, this discussion assumes you are
using the local SMTP server:
smtp.ecr6.ohio-state.edu
Eudora
In Eudora, bring up the settings dialog. In Eudora for Macintosh, choose
Settings... from the Special menu. For Eudora for Windows, choose Options...
from the Tools menu. Select "Sending Mail" in the scrolled area on the left
of the settings dialog. Depending on what version of Eudora you're running,
the setting that should be enabled will be labelled either "Allow
authorization" or "Allow authentication". You also need to enable the option
to "Use submission port (587)."
NOTE: If you have more than one personality in Eudora, be
sure to apply these changes only to the personality (or personalities) that
pertain to the ECR6 mail server.
You may need to update Eudora if the above options aren't apparent. You may do
so here.
Netscape Messenger (Netscape Communicator v4.x)
In Netscape Communicator, select Preferences... from the Edit menu. Select
"Mail Servers" under "Mail & Newsgroups" in the scrolled area on the left
of the settings dialog. Make sure your ECR6 username is entered in the
"Outgoing mail server username" field, under the "Outgoing mail (SMTP) server"
field. Here, you need to specify an alternate form of the SMTP server to
provide a port number:
smtp.ecr6.ohio-state.edu:587
Netscape Mail & Newsgroups (Netscape v7.x), Thunderbird
In Netscape Mail, from the Edit menu, choose "Mail & Newsgroups Account
Settings." For Thunderbird, choose Properties... from the Edit menu. In the
left side of the dialog which appears, scroll down to "Outgoing Server (SMTP)"
and select it. Click the Edit button after selecting your SMTP server on the
right side of this dialog, if necessary. Make sure the "Server Name" field is
set to smtp.ecr6.ohio-state.edu and that the option to "Use name and password"
is enabled. In the "User Name" field, enter your ECR6 username. The port number
should be 587 (not 25).
Outlook Express
Access the Accounts dialog from the Tools menu. Select the "account" you use
to access your ECR6 account, and click on the Properties button. In the next
dialog, choose the Servers tab. In the Servers tab, make sure the setting
under "Outgoing Mail Server" labeled "My server requires authentication" is
enabled (checked). When this is enabled, you should be able to click on the
"Settings" button next to it. In the dialog which results from this, make sure
it is configured to "Use same settings as my incoming mail server". Finally,
click on the Advanced tab and next to the "Outgoing mail (SMTP)" field, set the
port number to 587 (rather than 25).
Note: Outlook should have a similar configuration.