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Email Configuration/Setup

Introduction

This help file applies to users who have, or will have, email forwarding setup with ezSolutions and/or an email account hosted by ezSolutions.

Contents of this article:

Introduction
Initial email setup
Choosing your email client
Configuring your email client
Testing your email client setup
Additional Important Notes (especially for users transitioning from another ISP/WPP)

Initial Email Setup

When setting up your email hosting account with ezSolutions, it is important that you indicate to us your email hosting needs. Below is the information we need from you (please submit this information via fax for security reasons) so that we can setup your email on the ezSolutions servers.

  1. Email Accounts (if so desired):  Determine how many email accounts you require.  Those who have existing 3rd-party email accounts with another email hosting company (such as Hotmail, AOL, etc.) who do not wish to deal with the complexity of setting up a new email account on their computer may not wish to setup any email accounts, only email forwarders (see item 2 below).  It is important to realize than an email account is not the same as an email address (see Table 1 above for more information).  An email account holds email sent to one or more "aliases" (see item 2 below).  For each email account you wish setup, you must provide us with a username and desired password.
  2. Alias Routing Information (at least one is required):  An alias is the portion before the '@' symbol in an email address.  You must provide us with a list of one or more aliases you wish setup (for each of your domains if you have more than one with ezSolutions).  An alias can be any string of characters (including the special wildcard  alias '*' which catches all alias values except for other explicitly specified aliases).  For organizations of one individual, a single alias value of '*' can handle all of your needs quite nicely.  Larger organizations may wish to define multiple aliases (such as 'me,info,webmaster', and then the wildcard alias '*' to catch everything else).  Note that spammers enjoy the wildcard alias '*' as anything sent to your domain makes it to an email account, so be prepared for this, but on a positive note, the wildcard alias '*' can help valid email accidentally sent to misspelled aliases make its way to the intended recipient(s) (or at least an email account associated with your organization).

    For each alias (including the wildcard alias '*'), you must provide one or more of the following: A) the email account username(s) (such as 'myemailaccountusername') to route the alias' email to, and/or; B) forwarding email address(es) (such as me@aol.com, etc.) to forward the alias' email to.

Table 1 below includes example values for terms used herein:

Term Example Value Notes
Alias:    me     The portion of an email address before the '@' symbol, me is the alias of the email address me@mydomain.com
Domain: mydomain.com A domain name hosted by ezSolutions, likely associated with a website such as www.mydomain.com
Forwarding Email Address: me@aol.com An email address having an associated email account held at a third party ISP/WPP such as MSN Hotmail, AOL, etc.  An email address consists of an alias combined with a domain name delineated by the '@' symbol.
Hosted Email Address: me@mydomain.com An email address having an associated email account hosted by ezSolutions.  An email address consists of an alias combined with a domain name delineated by the '@' symbol.
Email Account Username:

myemailaccountusername

Email account username associated with an email account
Email Account Password: myemailaccountpassword Password associated with an email account


 - Table 1 -

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Choosing your email client

Most users will already have at least one email client already installed on their computer.

If you do not already have an email client installed on your computer we recommend using Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, or Qualcomm Eudora. There are many other email clients available as well. www.download.com is a good resource for freeware, shareware, and commercial email client applications.

Keep in mind that you may send and receive your email through our web-based interface (does not apply to Virtual-Only Email Accounts).

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Configuring your email client (this section does not apply to Virtual-Only Email Accounts)

Please keep in mind this help file is not meant to replace the help file included with your email client application.

The following information is required to connect to your ezSolutions hosted email account:

Setting Value
Incoming mail (POP3) Server Name:    pop3.ezsolutions.net

(Note, some anti-virus software applications (PC-Cillin to name one) will change this value to "localhost" automatically.  This allows the anti-virus software to trap incoming email and scan it for viruses prior to download into your mail client.)
 

Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server Name: This is assigned to you by your ISP (ezSolutions is not your ISP, your ISP is the company that provides you with Internet connectivity via modem, DSL, cable, satellite, etc.)

In many cases you can "PING" your ISP's mail server to determine the real-name (such as mail.MY_ISP.COM) or IP address (in the form of AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD where the letters are replaced by numbers (integers)) of your ISP's SMTP mail server. In Windows9X you can usually ping your ISP's mail server by: 1) connecting to the internet; 2) opening a DOS prompt; 3) typing "ping mail" at the DOS prompt; 4) hit the enter key. The information returned, if any, usually includes the real-name of the mail server along with the IP address. Either value can be used as the SMTP server name.

If you have special requirements and need to use ezSolutions' SMTP server, please contact us.  Please note, to use the ezSolutions SMTP server to send outgoing email it is necessary that you 1) connect to the internet using a static IP address (that you supply to us), or; 2) use SMTP authentication and an email client that supports it.
 

Username/Email Account Name: This was assigned to you when you opened your account AND IS CASE SENSITIVE. You username IS USUALLY NOT the "local-part" of your email address. In other words, if your email address is customer@ezsolutions.net, your Username/Account Name is not necessarily "customer".

(Note, some anti-virus software applications (PC-Cillin to name one) will change this value to "[Username/Account Name]/[Incoming mail (POP3) Server Name]" automatically.  This allows the anti-virus software to trap incoming email and scan it for viruses prior to download into your mail client.)
 

Password: This was assigned to you when you opened your account AND IS CASE SENSITIVE.


 - Table 2 -

All other settings are optional. Using the above information and the help file for your email client application you should have no trouble connecting to our email server.


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Testing your email client setup

The best way we know of to test your setup is to send yourself an email. This tests the ability to both send and receive email. Keep in mind you will not receive the email instantly after you send it. Even computers need a few seconds to work. If you do not receive the email you sent to yourself within 30 minutes, double-check the email address you sent your test email to and resend using a corrected address if you made an error the first time. If this does not work, review your mail settings and try again.

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Additional Important Notes

Many email clients allow you to connect to multiple servers so that you can check multiple email accounts. Setting up your email client to connect to ezSolutions' email server(s) usually does not require that you delete your existing settings. Only the end-user (you in most cases) can determine the best overall setup for his or her situation.  If the email account(s) you are configuring to work with ezSolutions is(are) currently or was(were) recently hosted by another ISP/WPP, we recommend leaving your old account settings in-tact until your previous EMAIL ACCOUNT with said ISP/WPP (not your general business account with said ISP/WPP) is disabled by said ISP/WPP.  In other words, do not delete the old account set-up from your email client, for example: setup your email client to check a new account(s) rather than modifying existing account(s) settings.  This will help assure that there are no emails lost during your transition to ezSolutions (if you do not follow these steps to assure complete coverage during the transition, it is possible that some email will be delivered to your old account(s) with your previous ISP/WPP, never to be checked, left abandoned).  ezSolutions is not responsible for lost email under any circumstances, including circumstances created by pre-mature discontinuation of checking email accounts with other ISPs/WPPs.  Transitions (resulting from DNS changes for your domain(s) completed in effort to setup your account with ezSolutions) usually last for 48-72 hours and rely on the Internet's root servers and DNS information, this length of the transition period is not within our control and can take longer.

If you have followed the above steps carefully and yet still experience difficulties sending or receiving email it is possible that our email server is down for maintenance. To check the status of our servers please click here.

Virtual-Only Email Accounts - In some cases, based on decisions you made when your account was setup with ezSolutions, your email may be configured for forwarding to another host for pickup. In such cases ezSolutions does not hold your mail, we only route it to the proper host. If your account has been setup in this manner this help file does not apply to you. You will need to contact the host of the email account we are routing your email to.

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