E-mail Servers
From DreamHost
Basic information about incoming/outgoing servers for your email configuration pleasure.
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IMAP-IDLE command is not supported
IMAP IDLE isn't supported at DreamHost. The IMAP daemon they utilize (Courier IMAP) supports the IDLE extension but it needs to be set up as per http://www.courier-mta.org/imapd.html. To confuse matters further, the server is misconfigured to advertise the IDLE extension and will happily accept the IDLE command, but it won't notify you about new mail. This was checked on 12/10/2009.
This feature has been suggested on the DH Panel and you can vote for it here
Size limit
- Is there a size or attachment size limit for email?
Yes. Our mail servers will reject messages greater than 40 MiB for either incoming or outgoing mail. This limit applies to the entire message size, regardless of content. This means, you can send or receive a message with or without attachment, but the total size cannot exceed 40 MiB per message.
For files larger than this, you should upload the file to an anonymous FTP server or to your website and send the recipient a link to the file.
What is an SMTP server?
It is an Internet email server that knows how to send your email on its way to its proper destination.
In order for your email program on your local computer to successfully send email, it must have an Internet connection plus an "SMTP" server address that it is allowed to send mail through.
When you host with us, mail.yourdomain.com is the address of the SMTP server you use!
How do I configure my outgoing mail (SMTP) server?
Both your incoming and outgoing mail servers are:
mail.example.com
Where example.com is replaced by your domain you host with us.
Note that some ISPs block the default SMTP port 25 to control junk email. You may have to use your ISP's SMTP server instead of ours or use the alternate port 587 if this is the case. Your ISP's internal SMTP server’s domain name address is most likely "mail.isp.com" or "smtp.isp.com". You can still have your from email address be @yourdomain.com even if you use your ISP's SMTP server.
Since few ISPs block ports other than 25, use of the alternate port 587 is often preferred, especially if you're using a laptop or other portable device that may be used to connect to several networks. In that case, using port 587 will relieve you of changing your email server settings for each location.
An additional workaround is to use secure SMTP, if your mail client supports this. See Secure_E-mail for more information on secure SMTP.
We use Authenticated SMTP that requires a username and password. You must set your username for the outgoing SMTP server (sometimes labeled "Outgoing Mail Server User Name") to be the full email address where you receive your Dreamhost email. The email address must have a mailbox stored on the Dreamhost servers to use SMTP, so you can not use a forward-only address (doing so will result in an authentication error on every attempt to send an email). Some email programs will ask you for your password the first time you send mail, so you won't always need to type that into the account configuration. You can (and probably should) use SSL/TLS to secure your connection, but you can not use the older "secure authentication" protocol or STARTTLS.
A Eudora user reported that "In Eudora each of the personalities needs to have a server specified in the incoming mail section. Even if it doesn't check the email on that account." If you are having trouble sending email from one of your domains, this may be the cause.
Port 25 Blocking
- See Port 25 Blocking
You may need to use port 587 for mail submission, rather than port 25 – see discussion at Port 25 Blocking.
What is the name of my incoming mail (POP/IMAP) server?
Both your incoming and outgoing mail servers are just
mail.domain.com
Where domain.com is replaced by your domain you host with us.
