INTRODUCTION In addition to making many types of information available to students and staff at the UIUC campus, the CCSO Nameserver fulfills an important electronic mail routing function. Because the Nameserver links the name of each person on campus with a unique alias and e-mail address, there are three possible ways of addressing mail to someone on the campus network (UIUCnet): 1) using an alias, 2) using a name, or 3) using a specific login and machine. We will discuss each method separately below. But first, for the sake of an example, let me introduce you to a fictitious friend of mine, Molly Modern. The results of a Nameserver query on Molly are shown below: % ph Molly Modern ---------------------------------------- name: modern molly office_phone: 333-3333 office_address: 194 DCL, MC 256 department: computing services office email to: m-modern@uiuc.edu (mm1358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu) ---------------------------------------- USING AN ALIAS The best way to send mail is to use an alias-based address. The address to use is the first one in the "email to:" line--that is, the one that ends in "@uiuc.edu". The mail system will use the Nameserver to look up the alias and then send the mail to the account that is specified in the "email" field of the entry. Thus, the best way to send mail to Molly is to use the address: "m-modern@uiuc.edu". There are three major advantages to this method; first, "m-modern@uiuc.edu" is easier to type and remember than "mm1358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu"; second, if Molly starts receiving her e-mail at a different account, you needn't change the address you use for her; in other words, you can continue to use "m-modern@uiuc.edu"; third, since every person is guaranteed to have a unique Nameserver alias, you can be absolutely sure that your mail will be delivered to Molly (assuming the "email" field in Molly's ph entry is filled in). Note: Some ph client programs display the "email" field and the "alias" field separately instead of combining them into the single pseudo-field "email to:". A query on Molly using such a client would produce results that look like this: ---------------------------------------- alias: m-modern name: modern molly email: mm1358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu office_phone: 333-3333 office_address: 194 DCL, MC 256 department: computing services office ---------------------------------------- In the above example, Molly's alias-based address is not listed explicitly. It can be created by simply adding "@uiuc.edu" to the end of the contents of the "alias" field, e.g., "m-modern@uiuc.edu". All alias-based addresses at UIUC use the form: "user-alias@uiuc.edu". USING A NAME If you do not know a person's alias or specific e-mail account, you might try sending mail using the person's name. This can be done by putting a hyphen between the recipient's first and last name and adding "@uiuc.edu" to the end. For example, Molly might be reached by the address "molly-modern@uiuc.edu". The chief advantage to this method is convenience. The only "computerese" thing you need to remember is "@uiuc.edu". There are a couple of major limitations, however, which sometimes make this method impossible to use. First, the name you use must be listed in the "name" or "nickname" field of the recipient's ph entry. Nicknames won't work unless the recipient has added them to his or her "nickname" field (see help on "nickname"); thus, mail sent to "mol-modern@uiuc.edu" will not be delivered unless "mol" appears in Molly's "nickname" field. Second, there may be more than one person at UIUC with a given name. Mail sent to "john-smith@uiuc.edu" won't be delivered because there is more than one John Smith in the Nameserver database, and the mail system won't know which one you mean. USING A SPECIFIC LOGIN AND MACHINE The last way to send mail is to send it to a person's specific login and machine. You could, for example, send mail for Molly to "mm1358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu". The advantage to this method is that it doesn't rely on the Nameserver. In the unlikely event of a Nameserver outage, you might wish to use this method. Also, if the recipient has not registered his or her e-mail address with the Nameserver, this is the only method that will work. The Nameserver can only route mail to individuals who have entered their current e-mail account in the "email" field of their ph entry. Finally, this is generally the only method available for sending e-mail to people at other institutions. There are two disadvantages to this method. First, it requires you to remember things like "mm1358", a decidedly unpleasant task. Second, if the recipient gets a new account, you will have to forget the old address and learn the new one. This happens frequently in the computer world. There are two morals to this story: 1) under most circumstances, it's a good a idea to use alias-based addresses to send e-mail to other people on campus, and 2)in order for the Nameserver to successfully route mail, every user should keep the "email" field in his or her ph entry up to date (for information on how to do so, see help on "make", "edit", "register", and "email"). WHAT ABOUT ERRORS? The mail system reports errors in addresses the same way the Post Office does, by returning the mail to you. It is beyond the scope of this text to explain all the errors you might encounter. Below is a summary of the types of errors you can expect with each method: USING AN ALIAS -If you use an alias that doesn't exist, the mail will be returned with the message "No matches to Nameserver query". -If the recipient has no account registered in the "email" field of his or her ph entry, the returned mail will be marked "Email field not present in Nameserver entry". USING A NAME -If you use a name that the Nameserver doesn't know, the mail will be returned with the message "No matches to Nameserver query". -If the recipient has no account registered in the "email" field of his or her ph entry, the returned mail will be marked "Email field not present in Nameserver entry". -If more than one person has the name you have given, the mail will be returned with the message "Multiple matches found for Nameserver query". If twenty or less people have the name, you will be given a list of them. You can find the person you were trying to reach in the list and use his or her alias-based or machine address instead. USING A SPECIFIC LOGIN AND MACHINE -If the login doesn't exist, but the machine does, the message on the returned mail will be "User unknown". -If the machine doesn't exist, the message on the returned mail will be "Host unknown". -There are lots of other possibilities. SEE ALSO: alias, aliases, nickname, introduction, register, email