How to change your email password

please note that this will only change your email login password and will not change any other passwords such as database password or webdav passwords.

Before you begin

It's essential that you have the following information to hand:

Your user name. (By default hosted domains have info@MyHostedDomain.com sales@MyHostedDomain.com and billing@MyHostedDomain.com accounts.) NB: Everything before the @ should be lower case.
Your e-mail address. For example jsmith@MyHostedDomain.com. NB: This is almost always the same as your "user name".
Your current e-mail account password.

If you don't know all of this information, then speak to someone in your organization who will be able to advise you. Failing that, speak to us.

Remember - you will be substituting your domain name and e-mail address details for those used in the examples below.

The great news is that all Covisp.net website hosting customers have access to their own password-protected web page (User Email) where they can change their email passwords and add forwarding. There is also a Admin interface where the administrator for your domain can add email addresses, delete email accounts, add aliases and do other tasks.

Choose Your Method

METHOD 1 - For secure IMAP accounts (99%, if you aren't sure, this is the method).

Open up your web browser and go to the postfix admin User Login
Put in your FULL email address and your CURRENT password.
Click on "Change Password"
Please be aware that your password should be 8 or more characters long and should include at least one upper case, one lowercase, one number, and preferably, one non alpha-numeric. A secure email password is very important because if someone figures out your password and starts sending out spam via your domain, it is your responsibility and it is also your reputation that is on the line. Keep in mind that passwords like 'top=hat9' are not especially secure even though they match the criteria above. The best passwords are random. In OS X, I make sure and keep all my passwords in the keychain. This way I have one password I remember for my keychain that gives me access to all the other passwords.
We provide a strong password generator at Covisp. Simply load up that page and look for a password that 'looks' good to you. You have 100 to choose from, and you can relaod the page for another 100. And yes, it might seem impossible to remember, but keep in mind you are very rarely going to type it in, unless you're using webmail, and in that case, a couple dozen times typing it in and you can remember anything. My last webmail password was "rxPHGMkSDdm.6T" and I got used to that for 6 months before I changed it.
If you need to write the password down, write it down in some secure location. For example, in OS X you can create an encrypted disk image and store a text file on it. In some version of Windows XP you can encrypt a document as well. If you have to write it down on paper, copy a list of 15 or 20 passwords off http://www.covisp.net/email/passgen.php where your password is one of them. You'll be able to pick out the right one, and no one else with have any idea what the paper is. Of course, don't label it 'My Password is #7'

METHOD 2 - For insecure IMAP/POP3 users

You will need a SSH client. In OS X, you just open up Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal). For Windows you will probably need to download one. We recommend putty which seems to work well and is free.
In OS X type 'ssh user@akane.covsip.net' where 'user' is the username you login to check mail. don't type the ''s. For putty, put 'akane.covisp.net' in the server name field. Press return.
In OS X, after a delay of some seconds you will get a line asking you to authorize the connection. You must type 'yes'. In putty, you will get a dialog asking the same thing, click yes.
In OS X, you will now be prompted for your password. This is your current email password. enter it and hit return. In putty, enter your user name and password.
Now, type 'passwd' and press return. You will be prompted for your OLD password, and a new password, twice. Enter all this and your password is changed. Please read above about password security and use the password generation script we provide for added security.