Configuring Mozilla Thunderbird (a.k.a. Icedove)
"A free, open-source and cross-platform mail client ... based on the mozilla codebase." -- www.mozilla.org
Thunderbird runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, among others, and it may be downloaded free of cost.
The following is a step by step guide, complete with pretty pictures, through the process of configuring Mozilla Thunderbird to access your Brown CS email remotely using IMAPS, and to send mail remotely via our SMTPS server.
Step 0
(Only if you do not already have a LDAP password or if you don't know what it is.) In a shell on a departmental Linux machine (logged in as yourself), obtain Kerberos credentials by running kinit. At the password prompt, enter your Kerberos password (this is the same password that you use to log in to Linux). After successfully obtaining Kerberos credentials, run the /local/bin/ldappasswd command. At the prompt, enter the password that you would like to use to identify yourself when checking your mail remotely. This password will also be used for accessing the wiki, OpenVPN, and other "less secure" services. This password can not be the same as the one you use to login. Remember this password.
Step 1
Install thunderbird, if necessary. Again, it can be obtained from the Mozilla Foundation website By default, Thunderbird is installed on all Linux and Windows departmental systems.
Step 2
Launch Thunderbird. If you are not immediately presented with the new account wizard, select "Account Settings..." from the "Edit" menu, and click "Add Account".
Step 3
Select "Email account" (it should actually be selected by default). Click the "Next" button.
Step 4
In the text box next to "Your Name:" type your name (we're guessing that you should know what that is). In the text box next to "Email Address:" type your cs department email address. This should take the form <login>@cs.brown.edu (where <login> is your cs user name). Click the "Next" button.
Step 5
Under "Select the type of incoming server you are using" select IMAP. In the text box next to "Incoming Server:" type imaps.cs.brown.edu. In the text box next to "Outgoing Server:" type smtps.cs.brown.edu. Click the "Next" button.
Step 6
In the text box next to "Incoming User Name:" type your login name. In the text box next to "Outgoing User Name:" type your login name. Click the "Next" button.
Step 7
In the text box next to "Account Name:" type whatever you would like this account to be called. In case you are not feeling particularly creative you can call the account "Brown CS Email Account". Click the "Next" button.
Step 8
Congratulations! You are all done...or maybe not. Check over the information for obvious errors. Click the "Finish" button.
Step 9
At this point, thunderbird will likely try to check your mail for you. Unfortunately, we're not quite ready for it, and it will likely fail. Don't be concerned if you are presented with a message such as this:
just click OK, and move on to the next step.
Step 10
From the Edit menu at the top select "Account Settings...". In the left-hand panel of the resulting window (pictured below), select "Server Settings" for your newly created account. Find the section marked "Use secure connection:, and select SSL.
Step 11
Now, click the "Advanced" button. The window pictured below should appear. Make sure that the text box next to "IMAP server directory" is blank. If you wish to show all the folders in the mail directory (and, unless you know otherwise, you probably do), uncheck "Show only Subscribed Folders". Click the "Ok" button. Leave all other options and text boxes at their defaults, even if it looks different than the below image.
Step 12
Still in the "Account Settings" window, click on "Outgoing Server (SMTP)". Select the newly added Brown smtp server from the list of servers (chances are, it will be the only one), and click "Edit". The window pictured below should now appear. Under "Use secure connection:" select "SSL", and click OK. You are now finished setting up your account; click "OK" to exit the "Account Settings" window.
Step 13
You are almost done; all that remains is to make Thunderbird aware of the department certificate authority. To do this, first download our certificate from here to your desktop, using a web browser. Now, in Thunderbird, select "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu. In the resulting dialog, click "Advanced", and select the "Certificates" tab.
Step 14 Click the button marked "View Certificates". This will bring up the Certificate Manager. In this window, select the "Authorities" tab, and click "Import".
Step 15
Find and select the certificate you downloaded to your desktop, and click "OK". You will now be asked the purposes for which you will trust this certificate. As is shown below, select "Trust this CA to identify web sites" and "Trust this CA to identify email users". Click "OK" in this window, the certificate manager window, and the preferences window.