• Chemistry Email Addresses
• How do I know what somebody's chemistry address is?
• What about people who choose to read their email elsewhere?
• What are mps.ohio-state.edu addresses?
• What are osu.edu addresses, and how can I forward them?
• What are magnus and postbox addresses?
• What are mainframe addresses?
• How can I find out where my osu.edu address is forwarding to?
• How can I forward my chemistry email elsewhere?
• Can I forward my chemistry email to my own Unix computer in the Department?
• Are there any departmental mailing lists?
• How can I find out who is on a given mailing list or under an alias?
• How can I be sure that I send email to the right person in Chemistry?
• How can I actually read my chemistry email?
• The virtue of receiving and reading email on chemistry
• Can I relay email through chemistry?
• A few tips

This "primer" is meant to help clarify some of these issues. It attempts to answer "all you ever wanted to know about email, but were afraid to ask."

1. Chemistry Email Addresses:
   Everyone in the Chemistry Department has an account (username and password) on the central Unix server, called "chemistry". Everyone's email address, therefore, is of the form

               name@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

   This form is equivalent to

               name@chemistry.mps.ohio-state.edu

   In the latter form, "mps" stands for "Mathematical and Physical Sciences", the name of our College. Since we are a part of the College, "chemistry's" full address (fully qualified domain name) contains the string "mps". In order to make the address shorter, we have created the form without the "mps" (think of it as an alias or shortcut).

2. How do I know what somebody's chemistry address is?
   You can follow two simple rules:
   • every faculty member has an address of the form

                 lastname@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

     with "lastname" *truncated* to 8 characters.

     Example:

     singer@chemistry.ohio-state.edu	S. Singer
     mccoy@chemistry.ohio-state.edu	A. McCoy
     rajanbab@chemistry.ohio-state.edu	T.V. Rajanbabu
     sundaral@chemistry.ohio-state.edu	M. Sundaralingam

   • everyone else (staff, postdocs, graduate students, visitors, ...) has an address of the form

                 ilastname@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

     where "i" is the first initial (initial of the first name), and the *entire* name is truncated to 8 characters.

     Example:

     rpalmer@chemistry.ohio-state.edu	R. Palmer
     jmanches@chemistry.ohio-state.edu	J. Manchester
     rfeierta@chemistry.ohio-state.edu	R. Feiertag
     jrobbins@chemistry.ohio-state.edu	J. Robbins

   Barring mistakes on our part, there is only ONE EXECPTION to these rules, and that is for people with ambiguous names: "Robert Lee" and "Richard Lee" would both default to a username of "rlee". Whoever came first wins, and the other person would become "rolee" or "rilee", or whatever else he/she wishes.

   NOTE:

   Even though several people have usernames that deviate from these rules, mailing addresses of the above form will always work!

   Example:

   Dr. Rajanbabu actually logs in with a username of "babu". So you can send email to

               babu@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

   but the canonical form

               rajanbab@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

   will work. I log in as "raimann", but

               graimann@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

   is a valid email address.

3. What about people who choose to read their email elsewhere?
   If you are a new user on chemistry, by default you will receive all your departmental email on chemistry, and you will be responsible to forward it elsewhere if you wish (see here: Internal --> Computing --> Chemistry Department Related FAQs). If you are faculty or staff, we have made an effort to make sure that all email reaches you wherever you have been reading your email for historical reasons (see below on the virtue of reading it on chemistry).

   Therefore, even if you know that Professor X. reads his email on some archaic system outside the Department, you still can and should send all email to his chemistry address.

4. What are mps.ohio-state.edu addresses?
   The name "mps" stands for our College, "Mathematical and Physical Sciences". The address "mps.ohio-state.edu" is also the address of one of the central servers in the Physics Department. Unless you have an account or a mail alias in Physics, you CANNOT be reached as

               name@mps.ohio-state.edu

   In order to get a mail alias in Physics, you do not have to get an account. Since Physics does not offer any services that we do not have in the Chemistry Department, there is no a priori reason to have a Physics account. If you believe you need either an account or a mail alias in Physics, please talk to us first.

5. What are osu.edu addresses, and how can I forward them?
   The University operates a central email dispatch system under the name "osu.edu". As soon as you are at OSU as a student or an employee, you are entered into a central database, and a unique name will be generated for you. If your name is "Joe User", and there are already 122 other people at OSU with last name "User", your "osu.edu" username will be

               User.123@osu.edu

   The database will also contain your home address, your appointment information, your job title, and email address information. If you do not yet have an "osu.edu" account, of if you want to change your "osu.edu" password, go here.

   An "osu.edu" address is not a "real account" on a "real machine". The machine behind "osu.edu" merely acts as a dispatcher forwarding email elsewhere. One obvious configuration is to have "osu.edu" forward email to your chemistry account. Another possibility (the default after you enable your "osu.edu" address) is to forward to "User.123@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu". The machine "postbox" will allow you to read your mail via Eudora (or any other POP mail client).

   If you want to have your "osu.edu" email forwarded to a new destination, you can do this on the web here, or you can call OIT at 8-HELP.

6. What are magnus and postbox addresses?
   Once upon a time, OIT operated a multi-user Unix computer system under the name magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu. Users could telnet to this computer (actually, it was a group of computers, collectively known as magnus), send and receive email on it, read newsgroups, etc. Magnus as an interactive system has long been abandoned in favor of the "osu.edu" email dispatch system and postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu. You cannot telnet to postbox (i.e. no interactive logins), but you can connect to it via POP (post office protocol) and read or send email using pop-mail compliant programs such as Eudora. This approach to providing University-wide email service is much cheaper and more flexible than the old interactive magnus service.

   While magnus was in use, many people had their "osu.edu" email forwarded to their magnus account (remember: while magnus was in full bloom, the Chemistry Department did not have a general-purpose Unix server "chemistry.ohio-state.edu" yet). While osu.edu usernames are of the form

               User.nn@osu.edu

   magnus accounts were of the form

               ilastname@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu

   where "i" is the first initial.

   When magnus was being phased out as an interactive system, postbox was becoming more popular. Many people chose to have their "osu.edu" address forwarded to their postbox-account. Postbox usernames generally are of the form

               user.nn@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu

   Many people, however, never had their old forwards from osu.edu to magnus changed. What is left of magnus today is a database that translates between "ilastname@magnus" and "user.nn@postbox", or forwards email to whatever destination users had set in their .forward files on magnus (for backward-compatibility).

   As a result, old-style magnus addresses can still be found today. But there is no computer named "magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu" anymore; email sent to magnus either goes to an account at "postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu", or to whatever users had last set on magnus.

   As a final twist, OIT introduced "generic names" at some point in history. When you think you send email to postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu, you actually send to a system called

               smtp.service.ohio-state.edu

   OIT recommends you point your Eudora to the above address, if you want to read email on your "postbox account". For further information about how to configure Eudora properly *if* you want to read your email on "postbox", see the OIT Online Reference Guide (go to "The Internet and Networking"). Information on how to configure Eudora to read email on chemistry can be found here (Internal --> Computing --> Chemistry Department Related FAQs).

   What you should remember from this lengthy discussion is this: "osu.edu" is an email-dispatch system, and the meanings of "postbox", "magnus" and "smtp.service.ohio-state.edu" are largely synonymous. You want to make sure that your "osu.edu" address is forwarded to the destination where you want to read your email (we strongly recommend "chemistry"), and that it is forwarded in the most direct manner (*not* osu.edu --> magnus --> postbox --> ...). You can find out where "osu.edu" currently forwards to with a utility called "whois" (see below). If you want to change this forward setting, you can do this on the web here, or you can call OIT at 8-HELP.

7. What are mainframe addresses?
   If you have been in the Department for a long time, you may even have used the University mainframe for email-purposes. Addresses on the mainframe are of the form

               name@ohstmvsa.acs.ohio-state.edu

   We hope that, at this point, nobody reads email on the mainframe anymore. The address to advertise should be your chemistry or your osu.edu address, and email going to any other account elsewhere should be forwarded to chemistry.

8. How can I find out where my osu.edu address is forwarding to?
   If you need to find out information about somebody at OSU (faculty, staff or student), or about yourself, a utility by the name of "whois" can help. The following kind of information is available: name, email address(es), employment status, department, job title, home address and appointment information.

   There are at least two ways to access whois:

   • via the web: Internal --> Computing --> Other helpful links --> OIT Whois

   • by telnetting to osu.edu (on the chemistry Unix server, if you just type "whois", you will telnet to osu.edu)

   If you wish to change your email forwarding address, you can do this on the web here, or you can call OIT at 8-HELP.

9. How can I forward my chemistry email elsewhere?
   See here (Internal --> Computing --> Chemistry Department Related FAQs).

10. Can I forward my chemistry email to my own Unix computer in the Department?
    No. The chemistry Unix server should be the only computer in the department receiving email and running a mail server (smtp daemon).

11. Are there any departmental mailing lists?
    Yes. Every new member in the Department will be added to the appropriate mailing list(s). The most important ones are the following:

                faculty@chemistry.ohio-state.edu
                staff@chemistry.ohio-state.edu
                postdocs@chemistry.ohio-state.edu
                graduate_students@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

    Computer Support periodically sends out newsletters to everyone@chemistry.ohio-state.edu, which includes all the above groups. Please let us know if you are not on any of the mailing lists.

    ATTENTION:
    Use the mailing list everyone@chemistry.ohio-state.edu only for Chemistry Department related issues. Don't send any solicitations, spam, virus hoaxes, chain letters or other unsolicited material to everyone@chemistry.ohio-state.edu.

    If you have non-chemistry related material that you want to send to people in the Department (such as football tickets, girl scout cookies, etc.), use the mailing list misc@chemistry.ohio-state.edu instead. You have the option of unsubscribing from this mailing list. Instructions how to unsubscribe are appended to all submissions.

    More information on the everyone@chemistry and misc@chemistry email lists can be found here. Please read this before you send email to everyone@chemistry!

12. How can I find out who is on a given mailing list or under an alias?
    See here (Internal --> Computing --> Chemistry Department Related FAQs).

13. How can I be sure that I send email to the right person in Chemistry?
    The same way that you expand an alias (see directly above; method 3 of the FAQ). If you think you have the correct Chemistry email address, type it into this form; You will be given the full name of the person.

14. How can I actually read my chemistry email?
    There are several ways to read the email that you receive on the chemistry Unix server. Here are 6 of them:
    • Use the secure web-based email interface TWIG

    • Use Netscape Messenger

    • Use Outlook Express

    • Use Mozilla Thunderbird

    • Go to a PC or Mac and use Eudora

    • Telnet to chemistry and use pine

    • Telnet to chemistry and use elm

    See here for information on how to configure Eudora to read email on chemistry (Internal --> Computing --> Chemistry Department Related FAQs).

    See here if you get error messages when trying to run pine or elm.

    See here if you need help setting up Thunderbird.

    If you want to access your email from outside the Department, please see the FAQ How can I access my email from outside the Department?.

    For a good introduction to configuring the various email clients in ways that will both minimize your usage of the Chemistry mail spool and maximize your ability to access all of your email from any client you happen to be using, please read see the FAQ, How do I optimize my mail client?

15. The virtue of receiving and reading email on chemistry
    If you receive your email on chemistry and you accidentally erase a message, there is a good chance that we will be able to restore it. We are performing nightly backups of the mail spool and home directories of most users.

    If you receive your email on a OIT system (postbox), there is nothing we can do to help you in case disaster strikes. OIT does not make backups of mail messages.

16. Can I relay email through chemistry?
    You can only relay email through the chemistry Unix server if you are sending from a computer at OSU, if your are sending to a computer at OSU, or if you have turned on encryption and authentication in your emai client. See the email relaying FAQ for more details.

17. A few tips
    If you send email from chemistry to other people in the department, try to use chemistry addresses. This is the fastest way to get email to its destination. Don't use a mixture of chemistry addresses, osu.edu addresses, magnus addresses, mainframe addresses and mps addresses (you only confuse others and help proliferate outdated addresses).

    If, after checking your osu.edu mail forward with whois, you discover that your email goes in weird ways (e.g. osu.edu --> magnus --> ?? --> chemistry), please take the time to call OIT at 8-HELP and ask them to forward your osu.edu mail directly to your chemistry address (without detours), or change it yourself by going to their website,

    If you use Eudora to read and write email, make sure that your Reply-To address is set correctly. Don't use pop.service.ohio-state.edu or smtp.service.ohio-state.edu as a Reply-to address (use your chemistry address, or your osu.edu address.

    G. Raimann