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Access e-mail with putty »

What do I need to do in order to be able to use ICS email when I'm traveling? (What can I do to relay mail thru smtp.ics.uci.edu?)

To use the ICS mail SMTP server from off campus you need to be authenticated as a valid ICS user. Currently one of the supported way to do this is to send your mail thru an ssh tunnel. If you do not authenticate, and attempt to use the ICS mail server from off campus, your outgoing messages will be rejected by our server. Follow the instructions below to setup ssh tunneling.

Note: Make sure the follow procedure works before going on a trip, so that we may assist you if there are any problems.

  • Down load this WinZip Self-extracting ( PUTTY.exe ) file and save it on your desktop. Hold down a shift key and click left mouse button to download.
  • Double click on PUTTY.exe on your desktop to extract PUTTY application.
    • If you do not want to extract the PuTTY software from PUTTY.exe to the selected location, "C:\Program Files", click on "Browse" button when "WinZip Self-Extractor - PUTTY.exe" window appears. Select a location to extract the PuTTY software, such as your Desktop or D: drive.
    • Click on "Unzip" button on "WinZip Self-Extractor - PUTTY.exe" window.
    • Click "OK" to dismiss the information window indicating "4 file(s) unzipped successfully".
    • Close the "WinZip Self-Extractor - PUTTY.exe" window.
  • The above procedure should have created a folder called PUTTY in your "C:\Program Files" directory (or where ever you've extracted the PuTTY software). The PUTTY directory should contain following 4 files.
    • putty.exe (a client you can use to ssh or telnet to a Unix host).
    • plink.exe (a command line version of putty).
    • Relay mail thru ICS (a shortcut to plink with ssh port forwarding setup).
    • puttydoc.txt (documentation to putty and plink which is available here as well).
  • Open "C:\Program Files\PUTTY" directory.
  • Double click on "Relay mail thru ICS" icon.
  • When prompted login using your ICS login name and password. Leave this ssh connection open while you send email using your mail client (Netscape, Outlook, or Eudora).
  • Whatever you use for your mail client (Netscape, Outlook, Eudora) set up your mail client's SMTP server to be "localhost" (without the quotes). User can change or view this information under mail properties, or setup.
  • Send your email while you have your "Relay mail thru ICS" session open.
  • When done sending email close your mail client.
  • Log out from "Relay mail thru ICS" window.

FYI:
The shortcut to "Relay mail thru ICS" was created with the following command line options to plink.
"plink.exe" -ssh2 igor.ics.uci.edu -L 25:smtp.ics.uci.edu:25

Other secure shell clients might have simular features as PLINK/PuTTY to allow users to do port forwarding. Please read the manual or users guide for your secure shell client for more information.

Any comments are welcome. Please email helpdesk@ics.uci.edu if you have any questions or comments on this page.