Configuring Mozilla's E-mail Client to Authenticate to a Remote Mail Server

By Weldon Whipple <weldon@whipple.org>

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) Authentication lets you send e-mail from your e-mail client through a remote mail server to other e-mail addresses on the Internet.

If your ISP's e-mail server supports SMTP authentication (SMTP AUTH), here is how to configure the Mozilla e-mail client to send your user name and password to the mail server.

1. While in the Mozilla client, select Edit > Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings > Outgoing Server (SMTP)
2. Specify the Server Name (example: mail.technoids.org)
3. Specify the port (example: 587)
4. Click the checkbox next to "Use name and password"
5. Specify the User Name (example: morris)
6. Click one of the radio buttons next to "Use secure connection (SSL)"
   • "Never" (sends SMTP Authentication without STARTTLS encryption)
   • "When available" (uses STARTTLS encryption if offered by the server)
   • "Always" (always uses STARTTLS encryption; will fail if the server doesn't offer STARTTLS)
7. Click OK.

Note: Port 587 is the "submission" port for sending mail from clients to mail servers. If port 587 doesn't work for you, try port 25 (the SMTP port).

The above configuration should allow you to relay e-mail through mail servers that are configured for SMTP Authentication--assuming that you have a user name and password on the mail server.