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Email

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Science Email or RU(Exchange) Email and forwarding setup between them

You have two email accounts: a Science email account and a RU central Exchange email account.

The RU-account is seen as your main account. Only people at the science faculty have also a science account.

When a new science account is created then they by default they configure a forward of your science email to your RU-account's email address. However when a science account is created before an RU-account is created, then this is not done, and the new employee has to set the forward himself later.

Historical note: for employees working longer at the university they first had only a science account, and when the ru-accounts were introduced they configured a forward from the RU-account to the science-account.

Forward RU-mail to Science-mail

If there already exists a forward from you science-mail to your RU-email then first remove that. We don't want to get loops. See section "Forward Science-mail to RU-mail" for instructions on how to delete this forward.

Log in to https://mail.ru.nl with your U-number preceded by "RU\" and your RU password. After that, go to "Options -> Create an Inbox Rule" named "redirect all incoming" where you fill in your science-email.

Also see the manual: Forwarding your mail from your RU account to another account

Forward Science-mail to RU-mail

If there already exists a forward from you RU-mail to your science-email then first remove that. We don't want to get loops. See section "Forward RU-mail to Science-mail" for instructions on how to delete this forward.

Forwarding Science mail to RU(Exchange)-mail can be configured in the Do-It-Yourself Site. Log in with your science account and create a "forward" to your @ru.nl mail address.

What happens when you configured a mail loop?

There is a safety build in: the Exchange server (RU-mail server) will not forward emails with the sender address the same as the forwarding address, in order to prevent mail loops.

Science Email

Webmail clients

You use email directly using one of the two available online webmail clients :

As webmail client is Roundcube preferred because it also supports extra features like email filtering (using Sieve), sharing of Imap folders and FNWI address book.

Local Email client using IMAP/SMTP

You can also use an local email client on your machine. This client works with two servers :

  • a receiving server which you can access using the IMAP protocol.
  • a sending server which you can access using the SMTP protocol.

Note: all email will be stored on the receiving (IMAP) server and not on your home directory.

Cncz has a page about configuring email at : http://wiki.science.ru.nl/cncz/Categorie:Email?setlang=en.

In short the configuration is :

  1. we are setting up your science email
  2. use science account when credentials are required
  3. make in your email program a new account with the following settings
    • IMAP protocol
    • mailserver: post.science.ru.nl
    • turn on TSL or SSL security (IMAP than uses port 993 )
  4. add in your email program a new sending (SMTP) server :
    • SMTP-server : smtp.science.ru.nl
    • Turn TLS on! Authentication is only allowed if TLS is used. Sometimes this is called STARTTLS (Eudora) or SSL (Outlook, Pine).
    • port : 25
  5. In your email client you can now make new folders under your Inbox folder. These new folders can be used to store mails from your Inbox folder by using drag and drop.
Remarks
  • IMAP uses TSL/SSL, but SMTP uses TSL!
  • When configuring SMTP with TLS in email clients, the TLS protocol is sometimes called STARTTLS (Thunderbird) or SSL (Outlook, Pine).
  • With IMAP you cannot turn SSL off!
  • With SMTP you can turn TLS off but I advice to always keep TSL turned on. Because outside the university you are only allowed to send emails to the SMTP server when using authentication, and authentication is only possible with TLS turned on. So when only sending emails within the university network you can send emails without using authentication either with encryption(TLS on) or without encryption (TLS off).
  • When using port 587 (instead of port 25):
    • the messages will not be filtered! Sending mail will be faster, and it also will be possible to attach .zip or .exe files.
    • authentication is mandatory, meaning TLS is mandatory (on port 587)

Details see

More information

Spam filter

By default a spam filter is applied on your incoming,forwarded and outgoing email. Mail which is marked as spam is automatically moved to the Spam imap folder. Note: if your email client doesn't show the Spam imap folder then you still must subscribe the email program to show this folder.

You can configure the level of filtering in the "doe het zelf" (do it yourself)  website by choosing from 4 levels :

  • none: no blocking takes place.
  • light: blocking by using the C&CZ's own white- and blacklists : whitelist.sci.kun.nl, blacklist.sci.kun.nl
  • medium: also use lists from : bl.spamcop.net and sbl.spamhaus.org
  • heavy: On top of the 'medium' lists also use lists from : dnsbl.sorbs.net and xbl.spamhaus.org

New logins automatically get the 'medium' blocklevel. This has a small risk that wanted mail will be blocked, but it clearly blocks more spam for most users than the 'light' blocklevel. Mail that would be blocked by a heavier blocklevel, is let through, but with a warning sign (X-Would-Be-Blocked-By:).

There is also an option to put an email address on a so called whitelist. Emails on the whitelist will never be considered as spam, and will always appear in your inbox. This can help you to still receive mails from persons which by some reason often arrive in your spam folder without needing to modify your spam level of filtering.

For more details look at the C&CZ website about spam.

Virus filter

By default a virus filter is applied on your incoming,forwarded and outgoing email.

If a mail contains an attachment with dangerous content, this mail is put into quarantine. The mail without the dangerous attachment, but with an attachment that explains what has happened, is marked as virus and is automatically moved to the Virus imap folder. Note: if your email client doesn't show the Virus imap folder then you still must subscribe the email program to show this folder.

An attachment is considered dangerous if it is an executable program, e.g. .exe, .bat, .dll. Since MS-Windows considers zip-files to be directories, and therefore viruses in zip-files appeared, we also consider an executable in a zip-file to be dangerous. In order not to make the list too long (a zip-file in a zip-file in ..., the Dutch chocolate Droste-effect), we also consider a zip-file in a zip-file to be dangerous.

For more details look at the C&CZ website about virus filtering.

Custom Server Filtering with Sieve

homepage: http://sieve.mozdev.org
official documentation: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3028
tutorial: http://www.tty1.net/blog/2011-07-16-sieve-tutorial_en.html

Sieve is a powerful script language for server-side mail filtering. It is intended to be used with IMAP and thus it is widely spread. Many IMAP Server are already sieved, this means capable of running sieve filters. Sieve stores and runs all script on the server-side.

Sieve scripts filter incoming email, and Sieve Scripts are run on the server side therefore you need an IMAP Account, which supports Sieve!

Message stores are commonly sealed servers so you cannot log into them, yet users must be able to update their scripts on them. To update Sieve scripts you can use either one of the following options:

  • the online webmail client http://roundcube.science.ru.nl/ gives you a simple gui interface to add filter rules, so you don't need to write the scripts yourself!
  • the Thunderbird Sieve Extension implements the Manage Sieve protocol for securely managing Sieve scripts on a remote server
  • the linux email client kmail supports updating Sieve scripts

ADVICE: use roundcube, setting up a sieve client is problematic!

For configuring Sieve see: http://wiki.science.ru.nl/cncz/Email_sieve

Account settings for Sieve :

  • server port: 2000
  • imap server: post.science.ru.nl
  • security : force TLS
  • authentication: IMAP Username and Password

Eg. with the following sieve script all emails from the university order system(BASS) are moved to automatically to a special folder INBOX.orders : 

require "fileinto";

if header :contains ["From","To"] "Workflow Mailer" {
   fileinto "INBOX.orders";
   stop;
}

Share IMAP folders with colleagues

Sometimes you just want to share some emails with just a couple of colleagues. You can do this easily by sharing an imap folder with you colleagues. Just make a new imap subfolder of your Inbox folder and share this using the Roundcube webmail client. Go to "Settings->Folders". Then, select in the middle column the folder you want to share, and in the right column (folder properties) configure the sharing of this folder by adding as many users with the desired priviliges to this shared folder.

Create custom "Email group" by combining an email alias and shared imap folder

You can also ask C&CZ to make an extra alias to your email account. (eg. examencommissie@cs.ru.nl for rinus@cs.ru.nl) and then redirect this email to a shared imap folder accessible by multiple people. This is an alternative simple way to create an email group under a special adress (eg. examencommissie@cs.ru.nl). Note: the redirection for the alias to the shared folder can be done with the Sieve filter client.

Exchange mail

Radboud University's central Mail using exchange server.

The Exchange account gives you access to the central RU mail and calendar service.

Next to email your Exchange account gives you access to your Exchange calendar.

Note that by default all mail to your Exchange account is forwarded to you Science Account, however you can still use the exchange calendar without any problems. For details see: Email#Science_Email_or_Exchange_Email

Clients

For basic usage the web client suffices, however for more advanced usage you can better use the Outlook desktop client from microsoft.

For manuals how to set up email or calendar clients please visit this page.

Web client

Outlook client (windows/macbook)

Install outlook from the software install network share. Outlook is both an email as calendar program. Both are setup at once. To setup it ask you the following information:

  • Your name: <free to choose your name>
  • Email address: firstname.lastname@ru.nl
    note: before @ is case insensitive
    note: using your ru account here as u123456 or ru\u123456 or u123456@ru.nl or ru\u123456@ru.nl do not work
  • Password: <your ru password>
  • Enter your username (your u-, e- or s-number preceded by ru\) and RU password in Outlook.
  • If you are asked to enter the name of the mail server, enter mail.ru.nl. Always supply the server even if it is optional because it speeds up setting up your account.
  • If you are asked for credentials for mail.ru.nl then enter:
    • username: <your ru account> Example: ru\u123456
    • password: <your ru password>

For the radboud manual see Windows computer at home or laptop.

Note: the outlook client uses the MAPI protocol to access email, contacts and calendars from the exchange server.

Delete all mail profiles in Windows

A profile consists of accounts, data files, and settings that specify where your email messages are saved.

  • Exit Outlook.
  • Open Control Panel by doing one of the following:
    • In Windows 8 and Windows 10, choose Start and type Control Panel.
    • In Windows Vista and Windows 7, choose Start > Control Panel.
  • Open Mail by doing one of the following:
    • In Windows 10, choose User Accounts > Mail.
    • In all other versions of Windows, choose Mail.
      Note: The Mail icon appears after Outlook starts for the first time.
  • Choose Show Profiles.
  • Select a profile.
  • Click Remove.



Local Email client using IMAP/SMTP

By default the microsoft outlook clients uses the MAPI protocol to connect with the exchange server to not only sync email but also contacts and calendars. For more info see https://www.howtogeek.com/99423/email-whats-the-difference-in-pop3-imap-and-exchange/.

However when using another local email client The exchange server also supports the IMAP and SMTP protocols to let other local email clients work with the server.

An local email client on your machine working with the IMAP and SMTP protocols uses two servers :

  • a receiving server which you can access using the IMAP protocol.
  • a sending server which you can access using the SMTP protocol.

Note: all email will be stored on the receiving (IMAP) server and not on your home directory.

The ict helpdesk has a page about configuring email at :  http://www.ru.nl/ict-uk/staff/mail-calendar/user-guides/imap-pop3/


In short the configuration is :

  1. we are setting up your RU email: firstname.lastname@ru.nl
  2. use U-account when credentials are required
  3. make in your email program a new account with the following settings
    • IMAP protocol
    • mailserver: mail.ru.nl
    • turn on TSL or SSL security (IMAP than uses port 993 )
    • username: ru\u123456 (for some clients we need ru\ prefix, but in thunderbird I had to remove this prefix)
  4. add in your email program a new sending (SMTP) server :
    • SMTP-server : smtp-auth.ru.nl
    • Turn TLS on! Sometimes this is called STARTTLS (Eudora) or SSL (Outlook, Pine).
    • port : 587
    • username: u123456 (without ru\ domain prefix)
  5. In your email client you can now make new folders under your Inbox folder. These new folders can be used to store mails from your Inbox folder by using drag and drop.


The same config described in other format:

    • Account type: IMAP
    • email: firstname.lastname@ru.nl
    • for incoming e-mail:
      • username: ru\u123456 (for some clients we need ru\ prefix, but in thunderbird I had to remove this prefix)
      • server: mail.ru.nl
      • security type: SSL/TLS
      • port 993
    • for outgoing e-mail:
      • username: u123456 (without ru\ domain prefix)
      • server: smtp-auth.ru.nl
      • security type: TLS. Sometimes this is called STARTTLS (Eudora) or SSL (Outlook, Pine).
      • port 587

File sender

FileSender gives you a secure and fast way to send very large files (up to 500 GB). FileSender requires no installation, only a fairly current browser (supporting HTML 5) on both the sender's and the recipient's PC.

To use FileSender, go to: https://filesender.surf.nl

Log in with your RU username and password. Using FileSender is free to staff and students. FileSender also allows guest users, so you can use it to exchange large files with people who do not have a license for SURFfilesender.

Addressbook

An address book for the FNWI is available : http://wiki.science.ru.nl/cncz/Ldap_adresboek

Mailing lists / Email groups

See: Email Groups

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