Using an email alias

Many staff and post-graduate research students are allocated a standard form e-mail alias which directs mail to their account on a server. For example, user June Smith, a member of staff in IBLS, could have an account on the central Unix mail server jas87p and a mail alias

j.smith@bio.gla.ac.uk

to be used in mail programs as her from address which directs mail to her jas87p Unix account.

For postgraduate research students a mail domain research.gla.ac.uk is available and aliases are created in this domain. So, for example, Fred Jones with matriculation number 0598765 would have an account 0598765j and a mail alias like

f.jones.3@research.gla.ac.uk

would be set up to direct mail to his 0598765j Novell account.

It is obviously important for your mail alias to be unique so that you receive the correct e-mail.
The steps taken to ensure this are described towards the end of this page.

N.B. Staff mail aliases are usually issued through central or departmental IT support staff and research student aliases are created automatically using data supplied by Student Registry.

How do I use my alias ?

Your alias should be used (if possible) in your mail program as the e-mail address which your mail will appear to come from. When someone then replies to your mail they will automatically see and use this 'friendly' alias. There are some mail programs which will not, as yet, allow you to set a from address other than the default one provided by the server (e.g. jas87p@udcf.gla.ac.uk or 0598765j@student.gla.ac.uk).

1) Setting your e-mail address in Outlook Express

• Select Tools -> Accounts menu item to open the Internet Accounts window
• Select the Mail tab and highlight your mail account name
• Click the Properties button
• Under the General tab, enter your mail alias in the E-mail address field
• Click OK to apply this change
• Close the Internet Accounts window

2) Setting your e-mail address in Eudora

• Select Tools -> Options menu item to open the Options window
• Select the category Getting Started or Sending Mail
• Enter your alias in the Email address field
• Click OK to save this change

3) Setting your e-mail address in Pine

• type M to go to the main menu
• type S to enter setup and then C to edit the configuration
• use the W (word to find) command to find the string customized-hdrs
• type A to add a value to your mail headers and R to replace the default setting
• add your required from address e.g.
  From: June Smith <j.smith@bio.gla.ac.uk>
  then press return
• type E to exit setup and Y to commit changes

How do we ensure mail aliases are unique ?

In the above examples, June Smith and Fred Jones could use the mail addresses

jas87p@udcf.gla.ac.uk

0598765j@student.gla.ac.uk

These are unique because the account names are unique on each server. However, this type of address is not very memorable so mail aliases are issued which permit a more 'friendly' style of e-mail address.

In the standard form which is used in the University staff are generally issued with an alias form initial.surname@maildomain and post-graduate research students with initial.surname.number@maildomain.

In the above example of June Smith, if there were two j.smith in IBLS then one of them could be allocated an alias using their middle initial e.g.

j.a.smith@bio.gla.ac.uk

or one might perhaps have to use their full firstname e.g.

june.smith@bio.gla.ac.uk

For post-graduate research students, the addition of the number is to ensure uniqueness over the time which the person is attending the University as a research student. In the above case, Fred Jones would retain the alias f.jones.3 during each year of his research and other people with the same initial.surname combination would receive a different number