Electronic Mail Services

Secure POP and IMAP Email Access

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For those who are reading BNL email from home via POP or IMAP, a server called smail.bnl.gov has been set up to provide secure POP and IMAP access to the internal email servers. Secure POP or IMAP (SSL/TLS) is a method of encrypting the session between the mail client and mail server during mail retrieval.

This server provides SSL POP and IMAP connections which protects your password as it is transmitted over the internet and will help close many firewall conduits to internet email servers if it proves to be stable and reliable.

• Client Configuration Instructions

What is the difference between POP and IMAP?

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) - IMAP allows a client to access and manipulate electronic mail messages on a server which includes manipulation of remote message folders called "mailboxes" in a way that is functionally equivalent to local mailboxes. It also provides the capability for an offline client to resynchronize with the server.

Other functions include creating, deleting, and renaming mailboxes, checking for new messages, permanently removing messages, setting and clearing flags, parsing, searching, and selective fetching of message attributes, texts, and portions thereof.

Post Office Protocol (POP) - POP was designed to support "offline" mail processing were mail is delivered to a (usually shared) server, and a personal computer user periodically invokes a mail "client" program that connects to the server and downloads all of the pending mail to the user's own machine. Thereafter, all mail processing is local to the client machine. Once delivered, the messages are then deleted from the mail server.

Although the limitations of offline access have triggered interest in using POP in online mode, POP simply doesn't have some of the functionality needed for high-quality online (or disconnected) operation. Indeed, POP's "pseudo online" mode of operation, wherein client programs leave mail on the server, often depends on pervasive availability of a remote file system protocol in order for the mail client to access or update saved-message folders or message state information such as status flags.

Last Modified: July 31, 2008
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One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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