To check your rescomp mail, you can either log into rescomp directly and use an email program like pine, or use a desktop email client. Stanford's officially supported email client is Eudora and is available for download at Essential Stanford Software.

You can use your rescomp account as either a POP or IMAP email account. For either option, you should set your email servers to:

Incoming: rescomp.stanford.edu
Outgoing (SMTP): smtp.stanford.edu

ITSS provides useful information on how to setup email clients for both POP and IMAP mail here. This page provides directions on how to access your Leland mail; for rescomp, simply replace the server settings to those listed above. Additionally, there are a few important things to note:

POP/IMAP. If you check your rescomp mail directly via POP or IMAP, you must encrypt communication with the server using SSL. You may use password authentication, or Kerberos authentication.

SMTP. Because of current restrictions put in place by ITSS on the Stanford network, all SMTP traffic on campus is routed through the main leland SMTP server, smtp.stanford.edu. This raises one important point: if you are off-campus, you will not be able to send mail since open-relaying is turned off for smtp.stanford.edu. At this point, you have three options:

1. Login to rescomp directly and send mail from the server using an email program like pine.
2. Use your ISP's SMTP server.
3. Use smtp-roam.stanford.edu. This server is set up specifically for Stanford users who need to send mail when they are off-campus. For directions on how to use smtp-roam, see the ITS page on configuring your email program and specify that you are connecting from from an "Other Network".

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How to forward your rescomp mail to another account

1. Login to rescomp.stanford.edu.
2. Create a .forward file in your home directory using any text editor, such as pico (type 'pico .forward').

Your .forward file should include the address(es) you would like to forward your mail to, with one address per line.

How to forward your Leland (@stanford) mail to your rescomp account

You cannot create a .forward file to forward your Leland mail. Instead, use the tools at Stanford.You.

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Rescomp uses SpamAssassin to filter incoming mail. Messages marked as spam by SpamAssassin will have the characters ***SPAM*** prepended to the subject line. You can easily set up filters or rules in your email program to sort incoming messages based on these subjects.

SpamAssassin will reject mail that is marked as very-high-probability spam. If this ever happens to a legitimate message, the sender will receive a bounce message, warning her that her message was not delivered. SpamAssassin will never automatically delete a message.

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If you are going on vacation, or if you just want all messages to your @rescomp email address to receive an automated response, you can set up the vacation autoresponder for your rescomp account.

1. Create a .vacation.msg file in your home directory using any text editor, such as pico (type 'pico .vacation.msg'). For example:

   Subject: I am on vacation
   
   THIS MESSAGE WAS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED
   
   Howdy.  I will be out of town from August 29 through September 1, 
   and will likely not be able to read my mail until after that.  
   Your mail will, sadly, not be dealt with 'til I return.
   
   If you really need to reach me, or need prompt attention with
   ResComp matters, email Joe Schlobotnik at joeschmoe@rescomp.
   
   Have a nice day.
   

2. Create (or edit) a .forward file to include the vacation program as one of the recipients. For example, if you're using procmail:

   "|IFS=' ' && exec /usr/bin/procmail -f- || exit 75 # jenschmo", "|/usr/bin/vacation jenschmo"
   

   Or if you're forwarding to your Stanford email address:

   jenschmo@stanford.edu, "|/usr/bin/vacation jenschmo"
   

   Or if you're not:

   \jenschmo, "|/usr/bin/vacation jenschmo"
   

3. Next, run /usr/bin/vacation -I to initialize the program.
4. For more information or options, see the manual page for vacation by typing 'man vacation'.
5. Don't forget to change your .forward file back when you get back from vacation! You can leave your .vacation.msg 'til next time.

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