Thunderbird / Early Bird Mail Client
Once the Peasy Mail Server is running it is possible to use different mail clients to access the mail accounts. Any mail client that supports IMAP and SMTP such as Thunderbird / Early Bird will work.
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Creating an account
Choose menu File > New > Mail Account. This will start a wizard that will prompt to create an account with some default settings.
Enter the details of your Peasy Mail Server and press the "Create Account" (sometimes just call "Done") button.
Note that specifying the port number, SSL and authentication parameters manually will work much better than allowing Thunderbird to auto-detect it with the Re-test button.
IMAP
IMAP is the mail communication protocol that allows a mail client to talk to a mail server.
Set the server hostname. For access from the World Wide Web (WWW) use the name of your web site. So if your web site is called mywebsite.com then enter mywebsite.com. For internal access just use the local name of the computer. Alternatively use the IP address of the computer.
The IP Port number is 143 by default. If this number is blocked by a fire wall then a user define number such as 5050 can be used providing the number has been configured on the Peasy Mail Server.
For security so that mail content and password can not be easily read with an IP analyser it is recommend to use encryption. Especial if the connection is through the WWW. Choosing StartTLS is best.
Authentication should be "Normal password". With encryption enabled the password will be safely used.
SMTP
SMTP is the mail transfer protocol. It enables mail to be sent and received.
Set the server hostname. For access from the World Wide Web (WWW) use the name of your web site, with "mail." in front. So if your web site is called mywebsite.com then use mail.mywebsite.com. For internal access just use the local name of the computer. Alternatively use the IP address of the computer.
The IP Port number is 587 by default. If this number is blocked by a fire wall then a user define number such as 6060 can be used providing the number has been configured on the Peasy Mail Server.
For security so that mail content and password can not be easily read with an IP analyser it is recommend to use encryption. Especial if the connection is through the WWW. Choosing StartTLS is best.
Authentication should be "Normal password". With encryption enabled the password will be safely used.
Certificate
If you do not have a certified web certificate for your web / mail site then Peasy Mail Server will automatically create a self signed one. However this will not be a fully verified one. The certificate is used for encryption. It is recommended to use it, if the connection is through the World Wide Web (WWW). So choosing StartTLS encryption will then make Thunderbird alert you to this. As it is your own web site you can simple allow Thunder Bird to accept an unverified certificate as an exception.