Generic email client setup

This is the information you need to set up any client. If you want to skip ahead to your specific client (and I have a walkthrough for it written) go ahead; otherwise, read on for everything you need to know.

Note: You will probably get a warning that says something like "This certificate has not been signed by a certificate authority" when you first connect to the mail server. Read this explanation for background on this message.

Some clients make this fact obscure, but you will be configuring two email servers. Your incoming server is where you'll be getting your email from, and your outgoing server is where you send email to. Each client has different vocabularies, so please contribute by noting here other names for these setup options.

The incoming and outgoing mail servers are both mail.radkeland.org.

Incoming server configuration:
Server type: IMAP
Encryption: SSL Encryption
Authentication type: Password (Do not use "secure authentication", as the login is already SSL encrypted)
Username: The password discussed on this page.
Password: You get this the same place as your Username

Sending server configuration:
Server type: SMTP
Encryption: TLS Encryption
Server requires authentication: Yes!
Username and password as in your incoming server configuration
Authentication type: Either "Plain" or "Login"

Other Options:
Synchronize Mail Locally: Makes it so your local (on your computer) copy of the mailbox information stays current with what the server has. This may be a bit slower when synchronizing, but is very useful if you have a slow connection. Note that IMAP can be a bit strange with this. Say you keep local copies of all of your email, and move something from your inbox to another folder. Then, you travel with your laptop, and find that the message is still in your inbox; this happens because it's in your local (on that computer) inbox, and this is where the confusion happens. Take a look at the folder you thought you put the message in ... if it's there, just delete it from your inbox.
Save Password: This is incredibly convenient. If you change your machine account password, it will need to be updated in your email client. Also, if you computer is compromized (cracked, stolen) you should change your machine account password.
Check for new messages every ___ minutes: How often does your computer check with mail.radkeland.org for new mail? Somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes is what I usually use. If you're waiting for an email, most clients have a 'get mail' command, which synchronizes immediately.

Thunderbird Client Setup

The Thunderbird email client is a relative newcomer with some ancient (in internet timescales) roots. It grew out of the Mozilla project which was launched by Netscape (does anybody remember that browser?) in 1998. Configuration is pretty straightforward, just follow the screenshots. Note that until you permanently aceept mail.radkeland.org's certificate (details here), you will be prompted whenever you start the client.

Ok, on with the screenshots. In configuration one, name the account whatever you like. You can fill out the Email Address: and Reply-to Address: to be whatever you like. This may be particularly useful if you are using an email alias that you happen to like better than the default name you were given when you got an account here at Radke Land. Finally, note that your outgoing server may not be available until you've configured one (screenshots four and five).
Thunderbird Configuration One

Screenshot two has settings critical to getting your client working correctly (top half), and some general preferences (bottom half). Note that even though the checkbox for "use secure authentication" is not checked, your authentication is encrypted via the SSL link created before you actually log in (in otherwords, your username and password are never sent in the clear).
Thunderbird Configuration Two

None of the settings in figure three can break your email access, but it's worth talking about them, since there are peculiarities with IMAP. If you want a local (fast) copy of all of your email messages, put a checkmark in both of the top boxes. This will make it so that each email is only downloaded once. The reason they are not checked in this screenshot is that I use the same account from at least two different computers (on a daily basis). When I move messages from the client on one computer, the changes won't necessarily show up on the other if I've got the messages cached. There's no particularly easy way around this issue, since the Radke Land email server doesn't care where your client is connecting from. The lesson: Be confused, but not troubled.
Thunderbird Configuration Three

Thunderbird doesn't hide that you need to configure ingoing and outgoing mail servers. In fact, it makes it much easier to let you use a reliable outgoing server for all of your emails. This is the screen where you would add an ougoing server.
Thunderbird Configuration Four

As you can see from this final screenshot, setting up your outgoing server is just plain simple.
Thunderbird Configuration Five

Enjoy your use of Thunderbird, one of the nicest email clients I've used! And as always, if you have any question, feel free to email me.

Outlook Express Client Setup

Outlook Express is Microsoft's "default" e-mail client, and has been included with many versions of windows. It's also the most obscure in terms of the configuration screens aligning with what the settings really are. If your screens look pretty much like these, you should be up and running (provided your specific information is filled in correctly). Outlook Express does not appear to allow you to permanently accept a certificate! If you get a message that says something like "The server you are connecting to is using a security certificate that could not be verified ...", see this link about unsigned certificates.

You can start a new account with Tools:Accounts:Add:Mail. I don't have screenshots for the wizard - these are for the account settings after they've been added.

Ok, on with the screenshots. The first box is the name that will show up in the navigation outline (normally on the left pane in Outlook Express). I has no effect on how Outlook works with Radke Land's servers. User information boxes determine what is attached to your headers. Sorry, plain english: When you look at a received e-mail, you see something like: From: Joshua Radke . You can just use your machine username, or an e-mail alias that has been configured for you (all users should have a FirstName.Lastname alias).
Configuration screen one

Open the servers tab. This screenshot is fairly self explanatory. If you were configuring a different account (say you have an Earthlink account, but weren't able to send emails when you weren't on an earthlink dialup, you could configure the outgoing server to use mail.radkeland.org (and leave the incoming server what it was). This may take some fiddling, but you won't have to worry abou those pesky "unable to relay" messages. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just ignore the babbling.
Configuration screen two

If you click the "Settings button" on the server tab, you get to Configuration screen three. This is where you would change information in the strange case I mentioned in the previous paragraph. If you decided to ignore the babbling, keep it up!
Configuration screen three

The connection tab really has nothing to do with making Outlook work with mail.radkeland.org. Here's my setup (with a broadband connection, on a home LAN)
Configuration screen four

The security tab (I think) can also be left to the default values. Like figure five.
Configuration screen five

The advanced tab is important. In particular, make sure you're using SSL (both ways), and that the IMAP port is 993.
Configuration screen six

That's it, you're done! Well, actually, one Radke Land member had to reboot their OS *boggle* to get the connection to work. I take no responsibility over the sillinesses of operating systems.