SMTP Mail Relay

SMTP Mail Relay Quick Index:
What is SMTP?
What is SMTP Mail Relay?
How Do I set an SMTP Mail Relay Host from a System On Campus?
How Do I set an SMTP Mail Relay Host when Off-Campus?
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

What is SMTP?

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transport Protocol. SMTP is a TCP/IP protocol governing electronic mail transmission and reception. The details of SMTP are in RFC 821 of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

What is SMTP Mail Relay?

Mail is actually sent and received by just a few systems at each site called Mail Hosts. If you are sending mail from your Personal Workstation, you must contact one of these Mail Hosts at your site. It in turn sends your mail to Mail Hosts at other sites until it reaches its final destination. The process of a system contacting a Mail Host to send mail to other systems using the standard mail protocols is called SMTP Mail Relay. This allows Mail Hosts to be used as Remailer sites for Junk E-mail or SPAM.

How Do I set an SMTP Mail Relay Host from a System On Campus?

Configuring the relay host for on-campus use is simple. Just set SMTP Relay Host to mail.njit.edu. For example, in Netscape 4.X. Select Edit-Properties, then select Mail & Newsgroups, click Mail Servers. In the window on the right, enter mail.njit.edu in the field next to Outgoing mail (SMTP) Server:, then click OK.

How Do I set an SMTP Mail Relay Host when Off-Campus?

Option 1)

Configure your PC to use VPN services (see http://telecom.njit.edu/vpn/). Since VPN allows you to access secured NJIT services from your ISP you can then follow the directions for On-Campus Connection.

Option 2)

Use the SMTP server provided by your ISP. Most ISP's have a mail server with the name mail.DOMAINNAME where DOMAINNAME is the domain name of the ISP. Check with your ISP's homepage for their specific instructions.

Please note: Some Context Service based ISP's such as AOL and Compuserve often do not use the SMTP standard for sending mail. In the cases of these you must use VPN in Option 1.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Why is NJIT joining other sites on the internet and restricting SMTP relay use to NJIT sites?

The mail SPAM abuse at NJIT and the entire Internet has reached very high levels. Because of this abuse, SMTP Mail Relaying can only be done by authenticated users.

I'm calling one of the NJIT Modem Pools for my connection, how do I set my SMTP Mail Relay?
When dialing the NJIT Modem Pools it is considered an On Campus Connection, follow the directions for an On-Campus Connection.

I'm using POP3 mail or IMAP does this still apply to me?
Yes. POP3 and IMAP are protocols that define how you can receive or read mail from a Mail server. SMTP is the Protocol for Sending Out Going mail regardless of the protocol you are using to read mail.