ELECTRONIC MAIL ON THE SUNS

It is now possible to send electronic mail directly from UNIX or iraf on the SUNS. The mailer on the SUNS also has some nice features like the ability to edit the mailfile, reading in text from a file, and changing or adding addresses. These will not be discussed here but if you would like more information type "!man mail". To send a message, use;

      mail [address]

You will then be prompted for the subject. The many tilde options for editing a file are given in the help file. If you are in the task, type ~? for the list of possible commands. When you are finished typing the message, use a . in the first column and type return. An equivalent command is (~.) without the brackets, if you can remember it. The message is then queued to be sent out. If you must send a file, then use the following format:

      mail -s "type subject here" [address] < [filename]

The subject is added since you are not prompted for it using this form. There is a simple way to create a file with your message using the "cat" command. This will take input directly from the terminal. To use this type:

      cat <<EOF > [filename]

Now type your message and when you are finished, enter EOF on a blank line and you will get the UNIX prompt again. If you do a cat [filename], you will see that the EOF line was not echoed in the file. Now you are ready to mail the file. The format for the address is the standard BITNET, ARPA, or UUCP address, ie;

      AIPS@UNMB.BITNET
      ALLEN@SOLPL.AS.ARIZONA.EDU
      hao!ico!ism780c!sean@uunet.uu.net.UUCP

The ending for the UUCP address can be simplified by using @noao instead of @uunet.uu.net.UUCP. The typical SPAN addresses must be handled much differently. They are reversed from their usual DECnet/VMS form. For example;

      PSI%NSSDCA::KEPLER::SSD0::SMITH 
	       becomes
      SMITH%SSD0%KEPLER@NSSDCA.SPAN

Other forms of this might work. If you need help with an address, see Jim Hughes or Lisa Wells.

ELECTRONIC MAIL ON THE VAXES

If you insist on using the VAX then you give up a lot of nice features of the SUN mailer. We would prefer that you learn and use the SUN mailer. We have had many problems with the VMS mailer including links over SPAN as long as 43.9 hours, and that costs money!!! The real problem here is that the VMS mailer leaves the user connected to the net from the moment that send has been typed. Since SPAN is very expensive, we ask that you help us cut costs by editing the message you wish to send and then use the mail utility to send that file. There are several editors which you may use, edit, and vi for example so use one that is comfortable for you. We usually suggest using the vi editor if you are remotely logged onto the Vax from the mountain. If you are not comfortable with vi or you do not want to learn yet another editor, use the "CREATE filename" command which works just like mail. This is a VMS command. You can type your message and use ctrl-z to exit. Now send your message by typing:

      mail [filename]

You will then be prompted for the address. It is a good idea to route mail through the ST mailer on ctiov2 rather than directly out from ctiov1 across SPAN. This look like;

      To: CTIOV2::" your BITNET or ARPA address "

The advantage of this is that, the mailer will automatically retry, and use alternate routing. So if one SPAN node is down as it frequently is, it will try them all until it gets through. (Direct SPAN addresses may not work as well and must be formatted differently. If you wish to use this please see Jim Hughes.) You will not be prompted for the subject so if you wish to include it you must add it to the mail command, ie;

      mail <filename> /subj="type in subject here"

Some key words should be avoided. Do not use "To:", "From:, or "Subject:" in the edited mail file. In traveling through the many nodes, the file is searched for keywords and using them can hangup the message you are sending. Some examples of an address that can be used in the mailing address are:

      "AIPS@UNMB.BITNET"
      "ALLEN@SOLPL.AS.ARIZONA.EDU"
      "JOHNSON@YALASTRO.BITNET"
      "hao!ico!ism780c!sean@uunet.uu.net.UUCP"

The general address form for sending mail directly from ctiov1 is;

      To: CTIOV2::" your BITNET or ARPA address "

Or, if you absolutely must go out directly,

      PSI%NSSDCA::DRACO::"your BITNET or ARPA address"

Direct SPAN mail may be sent this way also.

      PSI%NSSDCA::MACHINE::MACHINE ... ::MACHINE::USER  ie;
      PSI%NSSDCA::KEPLER::SSD0::SMITH 

There are copies of the international computer mailing addresses directory available if you do not know the correct address for your party. If you have trouble getting through, ask Jim Hughes, or Lisa Wells for alternate routes. One Note is that SSL can be used in the place of machine NSSDCA, so if you can't get through to NSSDCA, try this one.