Sending Email through the Grad/Research Network

INTRO

Secure, TLS-based password authenticated SMTP is available on the Grad/Research Net mail server.

Our SMTP server is the mail server to use when you're sending mail with your @cs.jhu.edu email address from whatever your current location (inside or outside of JHU.)

You authenticate to the SMTP server with your Grad/Research Net CS account.

As mentioned, sending email as an @cs.jhu.edu user will work through our SMTP server. However, sending as other email addresses may not work, as the mail may not be accepted by the recipient due to various restrictions at the recipient's end. (Some remote mail services expect that email sent through an SMTP server be addressed using the SMTP server's domain.)

NOTE: The option of sending mail as an @jhu.edu User using JHU's own SMTP service is no longer available. In the past, JHU allowed users to send as an @jhu.edu user using JHU's own SMTP server, but we were made aware that JHU no longer offers that service.


CONFIGURING CONNECTION TO OUR SMTP SERVER

Configure the following settings on your mail client:

  • Server Name: smtp.cs.jhu.edu
  • Port: 587
  • Security Settings: TLS password authentication. (You might see this as STARTTTLS.)
  • Authentication: Set your mail client to authenticate (using your CS username/password) when sending mail through our smtp server.


Using the above settings will allow you secure login to the e-mail system from inside CS or from outside on the Internet.

Rate Limits on Sent Mail

Mail sent through our mail server is subject to limits on the number of recipient email addresses from a single sender over a period of time. If the mail server's limits are exceeded, it will begin rejecting messages from the sender for a time.

The limits should be high enough that ordinary use of the server won't cause any problems. If you are affected, though, you will probably see error messages saying something like, "Too many emails at once." If that happens, please contact support@cs.jhu.edu and let us know about the problem.