Q&A
POP server name changes and email aliases
Q.
I read an announcement recently that said something about POP server name changes, and that I can't use Minerva as my POP server any more. Huh? What's this all about? Is my email address about to change?
A.
Relax! This change only affects people who are using Eudora or Netscape (or some other program that needs to connect to a POP server) to read their mail - if you're using only Pine you can ignore the announcement. And the change has no effect on email addresses. You do need to make sure, however, that your Eudora program (or whatever POP mailer you're using) is using the correct POP server:
If you are: use:
Class of '96 pop-ug96.cis.yale.edu
Class of '97 pop-ug97.cis.yale.edu
Class of '98 pop-ug98.cis.yale.edu
Class of '99 pop-ug99.cis.yale.edu
Graduate Students pop-grd.cis.yale.edu
Faculty, staff, others pop-fs1.cis.yale.edu (note:
that's f-s-one, not f-s-el)
So, if your NetID is bclinton, and you're a faculty member (hey, it could happen), you should set your POP account to bclinton@pop-fs1.cis.yale.edu. In Eudora, you change this setting by selecting "Settings" or "Configuration" under the Special menu. If you're not sure which category you fit into, use pop-fs1.cis.yale.edu. But whatever you do, don't use minerva.cis.yale.edu, because after March 25 Minerva will no longer function as a POP server.
Q.
So what is a POP server, anyway, and why the name change?
A.
Programs like Eudora don't actually talk directly to the Pantheon machines; they work through an intermediate machine known as a POP (Post Office Protocol) server. Things are set up this way to reduce the load on Minerva, Mercury, and Morpheus. Your email program connects to the POP server, which grabs your email off the Pantheon machines and sends it to you. At the moment, there's actually only one machine operating as a POP server for people with Pantheon accounts, but it's possible that more machines will be necessary in the future as the load on the system continues to increase. Each of the new POP server addresses listed above is what's known as an "alias", which means that it's a name that isn't permanently attached to any one computer. Pop-grd.cis.yale.edu could represent one machine today, and another one tomorrow, and as long as both machines could function as POP servers, no grad student would be the wiser. This flexibility was the motivation behind the new naming scheme - all six aliases could point to the same physical machine (as is the case now), or, if the load requires it, five more machines could be added and each alias would point to a different machine. All in the interest of keeping an even load on the system.
Q.
I've heard that people can send email both to my actual email address and to something called firstname.lastname@yale.edu. What's going on? Do I have two email accounts?
A.
Remember the concept of an "alias"? Just as
"pop-ug96.cis.yale.edu" is a name that can be set to point to any machine, this "firstname.lastname@yale.edu" thing is an address that can be set to point to any email account. If everything is set up properly, it should point to your actual email account. For instance, if you are Bill Clinton, you have a Minerva/Pantheon account, and your NetID is bclinton, then your actual email address is bclinton@minerva.cis.yale.edu, and your firstname.lastname alias is bill.clinton@yale.edu. You really only have one account, but you have two addresses that point to it.
Q.
Ok, that's neat. But will it work for me?
A.
That depends on your entry in the CSO database. This database contains entries for most people at Yale, whether they have email accounts or not. When mail is sent to an email address in the firstname.lastname@yale.edu format, the machine handling mail checks in the CSO database, finds the record that contains the appropriate firstname.lastname@yale.edu address (as entered in the "email_to:" field), and sends the email on to the actual email account (entered in the "email" field). To check your entry, just type "ph firstname lastname return all" at the minerva% prompt, and make sure you have "email_to:" and "email" entries. If you don't and you want to use the firstname.lastname alias, send email to "email@yale.edu" and request that your CSO entry be changed. Note, however, that you can only change email info this way - biographical information is only updated once a year (in the fall) from information submitted by the registrars.
Q.
So I've checked my record, and I have an email_to: entry. Which address should I tell people?
A.
Giving out your firstname.lastname@yale.edu alias is a good idea for a number of reasons. First of all, it's usually easier for people to remember the alias. Second, should your actual email address ever change, you could simply change your "email:" entry rather than inform all your correspondents of a new address. And perhaps you have some reason you don't want to be associated with a Roman goddess.
Q.
Where can I go to get more help with all of this networking stuff?
A.
The Internet Information Center maintains an online documentation system at the following World-Wide-Web address:
<http://www.yale.edu/iic/
>
If you don't find the answers to your questions here, please contact the IIC directly. The IIC is located in the Yale Computer Center, 175 Whitney Avenue, and is open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The telephone number is 432-5116. If you have a question that can be answered via email, feel free to write the IIC at <iic@yale.edu>.
Steven Thomas is a consultant at the Internet Information Center. He can be reached by sending email to <iic@yale.edu>
Back to March 1996