IMAPS

What Is IMAPS ?

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is the protocol used by clients to retrieve mail from servers. It differs from POP3 in that the mail is stored on the server and synchronised to the client. This means that a user can use a variety of clients from a variety of locations and always have a consistent view of their mail folders.

IMAP servers require clients to authenticate with a username and password. Unfortunately, IMAP is not a secure protocol, so the username and password are transmitted in the clear.

IMAPS is IMAP over Secure Sockets Layer. This provides an encrypted connection for the Internet Message Access Protocol. More importantly, it provides an encrypted connection over which the username and password may be transmitted for authentication purposes.

The departmental mail server provides IMAPS access both internally and extrernally. Unencrypted IMAP access is not provided.

How To Set Up Your Account For IMAPS

Your account must be configured to use the Maildir rather than the mbox e-mail storage format. See Mbox to Maildir Conversion for more information.

How To Configure Your Client

Once you set up your account to, you need to configure your preferred client to use IMAPS. The required settings are:

Setting	Value
Protocol / Server type	IMAP
Email address	username@ece.ubc.ca
Server hostname	imap.ece.ubc.ca
SSL/TLS encryption	SSL
Port	993
Authentication type	Password (Secure authentication = No)
Username	username