University Park

Penn State WebMail to use WebAccess for authentication

University Park, Pa. -- On Tuesday, June 14, Academic Services and Emerging Technologies (ASET), a unit of Information Technology Services (ITS), will convert Penn State WebMail to use Penn State WebAccess for authentication. The conversion is scheduled to occur during the regularly scheduled maintenance window, 5-7 a.m. While WebMail enabled WebAccess as an authentication option in March 2005, the June 14 conversion will implement WebAccess as the only method for authentication to WebMail.

Whether a user reaches the WebAccess login page directly or via a protected service, the authentication process is the same. Users must enter their respective Access Account user IDs and passwords in order to authenticate and gain access to a particular service if they haven't already done so via another WebAccess-enrolled service. For example, a user may authenticate via Penn State WebAccess and then access services such as the Penn State Portal and Penn State WebMail without needing to authenticate again to those or any other WebAccess-enrolled services.

Likewise, if a user first authenticates to the Penn State Portal and then needs to use the ITS secure server, he or she will not need to re-authenticate in order to do so. If the WebAccess login page is first accessed via a protected service, the Web browser will redirect the user back to the service once he or she successfully authenticates. If the
WebAccess login page is first accessed directly via the https://webaccess.psu.edu/ page, the user will be presented with a list of WebAccess-enrolled services. Likewise, users should logout via WebAccess or the logout function provided by the service. For details, visit the WebAccess help page at https://webaccess.psu.edu/help.html online.

For a full listing of other public services that use WebAccess, including the Penn State Portal, visit the WebAccess Services page at https://webaccess.psu.edu/services/ online.

Inquiries and requests for assistance should be directed to the ITS Help Desk staff at helpdesk@psu.edu

Last Updated March 19, 2009