FAQ about the Upcoming Migration to Exchange
Currently there are two email migration projects that our office is undertaking; the first to migrate users of the older ACS mail system to the newer Cyrus mail system. Beyond that we’ve also been tasked by IS&T to assist in the migration of folks over to the new Exchange environment that will be going live in August.
To provide more information, here is a Q&A:
Q. What is this about and why is it happening?
A. IS&T currently provides and supports multiple email environments, several which are outdated. With the move of the student email to Google Gmail, the time is right to consolidate the email environments into a single service offering, as it simplifies the support structure, and facilitates quicker email problem resolution. The decision was made by IS&T to consolidate onto Microsoft Exchange, as this is the platform that many of the administrative units have been using for many years, and provides numerous features in addition to email.
Q. What are these features?
A. The biggest draw is the calendaring function, which will unify several services into a single interface. People using existing Google Calendars, WebEvent or other calendar applications will find the Exchange simplicity and usability attractive. Sharing calendars is also very easy and will eliminate the need for using other products. There are many other features, such as an Out-of-Office assistant that can be set up ahead of time, and will enable and disable itself according to a schedule. The directory services and searching for people is built-in and very easy to use. The last draw is the ability to see the same mail, folders, attachments, contacts, calendar, notes, tasks across multiple computers as well as the web.
Q. Who needs to be moved?
A. Everyone who is using ACS as their primary email server. Several CAS departments have their own email server, and while we may need to do something for the Cyrus migration, the Exchange project won’t require us to do anything to the folks using departmental email servers. The servers known to us are in Astronomy, CNS, Computer Science, Math, Chemistry and Physics. If you don’t belong to any of the departments mentioned above, most likely we’ll be working with you to move your account to Exchange.
Q. What email clients can be used?
A. For the full functionality and use of all of the features, we recommend the use of Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2011. Mac OS X Mail and Thunderbird also can connect to the Exchange server, however some of the functionality is lost, but the basics still work (email, access to Global Addresses). Mac OS X Mail users also get the calendar functionality through the iCal application.
Q. When will this start?
A. We are already moving people to Exchange, however the bulk of the transition will not begin until August 2011, when an updated Exchange service is made available by IS&T. We will have until Summer 2012 to move all of the CAS faculty and staff onto the Exchange server.