Email and Communicating

CSAIL Email

What is CSAIL Email?

CSAIL Email is a dedicated email service for CSAIL members, hosted on our own IMAP servers. Unlike MIT exchange email, CSAIL Email is specifically configured for our community with enhanced spam filtering and personalized support. Your @csail.mit.edu email address is optional—you may use it as your primary email, forward it elsewhere, or not set up an IMAP account at all.

Benefits of CSAIL Email:

• Powerful Spam Filtering
• Your preferred username is more likely available (CSAIL serves fewer users than MIT)
• Dedicated TIG support for email issues
• Optional—use it alongside or instead of MIT email

CSAIL Kerberos and CSAIL Email Accounts

Your CSAIL Kerberos account (system authentication) and CSAIL Email IMAP account are completely separate systems with independent passwords. Your Kerberos account grants you access to CSAIL computing systems, storage, and resources. Your CSAIL Email account is optional and provides email delivery and storage via IMAP. You may have a Kerberos account without an email account (for example, if you forward your @csail.mit.edu email elsewhere). TIG recommends using unique, different passwords for each account. For complete details, see Accounts and Authentication.

CSAIL Email vs MIT Email (and email forwarding)

MIT students, faculty, and staff members receive an MIT email address and can read and send email via MIT’s Exchange Service. The MIT Exchange mail system provides you with an address at mit.edu, which you may prefer to give out because it is short and prestigious. MIT Exchange also includes integrated calendar and scheduling features.

You will optionally also receive a CSAIL account. You may like to read your mail at CSAIL because we provide slightly better spam control. Also, CSAIL serves fewer users than MIT, so your first choice for an account name is more likely to be available at CSAIL than at MIT.

You can use the two accounts separately or forward one to the other for convenience.

Your options:

• You could keep your MIT and CSAIL mail accounts completely separate. If you don’t change anything, you will need to log into each account separately to read all of your mail.
• You could have your MIT email forwarded to your CSAIL account. Use Athena’s chpobox command. See also IS&T’s page on Email Forwarding Options at MIT.
• You could have your CSAIL email forwarded to your MIT account, or to another destination entirely (Gmail, or your research group’s mailhub). See Email Forwarding.

These choices have implications for who can help you with email problems and questions. (For instance, TIG sysadmins can trace the path of mail messages through our own mail servers, but not through IS&T’s or Google’s.)

Account Creation

You may have a CSAIL Kerberos account and not a CSAIL IMAP email account. For example, if you forward your @csail.mit.edu email to another address, you don’t need an IMAP account. If you want instead to have your @csail.mit.edu mail delivered locally and read it on our IMAP server, you can Create your IMAP account (CSAIL Login required), which will overwrite any forwarding options.

Email Passwords

CSAIL IMAP email passwords are distinct from your CSAIL Kerberos passwords. If you need to change your CSAIL email password and know your CSAIL Kerberos password, you can Change your IMAP password here (CSAIL Login required).

Password requirements:

• Minimum password length: 15 characters
• TIG recommends using unique, different passwords for your CSAIL Kerberos and CSAIL email accounts.

Email Aliases

New aliases may take up to an hour to be accessible. Create an Email Alias (CSAIL Login required).