ITS has added authentication support to our Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) server.

Customers that utilize Outlook and Exchange for email already take advantage of authenticated access for outgoing emails, but our generally available SMTP server has not historically supported authenticated access.  A consequence of this is that ITS blocks access from off campus to the SMTP server when sending emails.  This has required laptops (for example) that access the SMTP server directly from off network to either have a separate configuration using a different SMTP server or to utilize the University Virtual Private Network (VPN) when sending email.  There are often similar complexities when configuring home machines to access your university email.  Enabling authentication capabilities on the SMTP server allows ITS to fully support direct access to the SMTP server from outside of our network.  This limits complexity and potentially reduces support needs.

Mail clients configured to utilize smtp.uconn.edu directly can use SMTP authentication through either SSL on port 465 or STARTTLS on port 587.  The authentication credentials are simply your NetID and password.  Outlook or other clients that use Exchange directly will not require reconfiguration and adjustment.  They will simply continue to operate as they do now.

For assistance on configuring ports for SMTP Authentication, users can contact the ITS Service Desk by submitting a ticket at http://serviceit.uconn.edu.

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