VCCS Learning Resources, Distance Learning

1
VCCS Learning Resources, Distance Learning
Information TechnologyPeer Group
ConferenceSeptember 8-9, 2005Holiday Inn
Tanglewood, Roanoke, Virginia
2
VCCS Student Email Mirapoint

• Karlin Sink and staff, ITS
• An overview of the Mirapoint Messaging appliance
  utilized by VCCS for student email beginning fall
  2005.
• Presented by Brendan Hogan, VCCS Senior System
  Engineer, bhogan_at_vccs.edu

3
Where Weve Been

• formerly N-plex
• manual bulkload of student accounts
• Also used GDS an x.500 directory
• Still used for some colleges faculty/staff
• 75,000 accounts
• - also known as Atmail
• automated loads daily
• not a stable implementation run on Oracle DB
  but written for MySQL
• 1.3 million accounts

4
Where We Are Now

• - Network
  Appliances
• Secure, hardened operating system with no known
  exploits
• OctetString
  Virtual Directory Engine (VDE)
• LDAP directory
• Secure directory services middleware
• - Email Spam and Virus
  Filter

-for more info http//www.mirapoint.com http//ww
w.octetstring.com http//www.barracudanetworks.com

5
The Company

• The best proof of Mirapoint's success is real
  world customer deployments. Mirapoint solutions
  power the message networks for over 800 customers
  worldwide, including some of the largest service
  providers and mobile operators, as well as
  enterprises, education and government
  institutions.
• The only end-to-end email solution provider in
  the email market, Mirapoint is the backbone for
  more then 60 million mailboxes including global
  enterprises like Ford, Cisco and Mitsubishi
  secure and improve their email communications at
  a very attractive TCO

6
Education Customers

• A. James Clark School of Engineering
• Alma College
• Baker College
• California State University Northridge
  
• Campbell Union School District
• Canisius College
• Suffolk County Community College
• Case Western Reserve University
• Central Michigan
• Derby College
• Edith Cowan University
• Gakushuin University
• Hadassah College
• Hiroshima University
• Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• James Cook University
• James Madison University
• John Carroll University
• Kettering University

• Nihon University College of Art
• Nipissing University
• Oakland University
• Osaka University
• Palo Alto Unified School District
• Queensland University of Technology
• Temple University
• The College of William Mary
• The Institute for Systems Research
• The University of Chicago
• The University of Georgia
• The University of Tokyo
• TSU
• University de Cergy-Pontoise
• University of CincinnatiUniversity of DelaWare
• University of Maryland
• University of Oxford
• University of Wollongong
• Universlity of California Riverside

7
The Products
Razorgate 300
Message Server
8
Scalability Meeting VCCS Requirements

• In industry-standard tests conducted by SPEC,
  Mirapoint systems supported 225,000 SPECmail
  users on a single message server appliance and
  processed seven million messages per day. And
  with Mirapoint technology, administrators can
  scale their message networks in simple,
  economical steps by adding more appliances.

-for more info Standard Performance Evaluation
Corporation (SPEC), http//www.spec.org/mail2001/r
esults/mail2001.html
9
Where do users come from?
10
Functional Diagram
11
The Service Provided

• The Mirapoint system will provide students with a
  very reliable and more secure webmail utility. 
• 128 bit SSL Encryption if supported by clients
  browser
• Mailbox size is 20 MB.  Maximum message size is
  15 MB.
• All password changes will continue to be done
  through my.vccs.edu, and will be passed to both
  the old and new email systems.
• Access will be through browser only, no POP3
  client access will be provided. 

12
Statistics

• The new student e-mail system went live on
  8/12/05. The following is a list of some
  statistics from the new system as of 9/7/05.
• They are now 136,023 mailboxes provisioned on the
  system.
• We receive an average of 11,000 emails an hour
• We send an average of 1,800 emails an hour.
• We block an average of 30,000 pieces of spam
  daily for the student email system.
• The new system is receiving about 50,000 pieces
  of mail a day from outside of the system. The old
  system received about 20,000 pieces of mail a day
  from outside the system. All of these numbers are
  expected to rise a students and faculty become
  more comfortable with the new system.

13
Password Changes

• Log in to https//my.vccs.edu and use the Change
  Password function.  This will update your
  password in SIS, Blackboard, and both the old and
  new email systems.

14
Very Large Attachments

• Go to either www.yousendit.com or
  www.dropload.com and you can use these free
  facilities to send really big files.

15
Auto-Forwarding Email

• Auto-Forwarding can be configured in the new
  email system by going to Options, Forwarding. 
  Users should be aware that auto-forwarding is
  inherently unreliable do to the stringent
  filtering done by many ISPs to remove Spam.  It
  is recommended that users who choose to have
  their email forwarded also check the box Keep a
  copy of each forwarded message and check their
  VCCS mail regularly via the web interface.

16
Accounts

• Auto-provisioned accounts
• Receive 1st email
• or
• Log in to account
• Licensed for 250,000 accounts
• No idle accounts accumulating SPAM wasting
  resources

17
Email Address Reservation

• At term activation, required data for each
  student is copied into Directory Services which
  then assigns a permanently reserved email address
  for that student. This does not mean there is a
  working mailbox at this point.
• Students do not receive authorization for a
  mailbox to be created until there is an
  enrollment. There is a great deal of confusion
  over the difference between an address
  reservation and eligibility for an actual enabled
  mailbox attached to the address.

18
Transferring emails from the old to the new email
system - old email is available through September
30, 2005 .

• Log into your old email account by going to
  http//oldmail.vccs.edu/ and using your current
  email address and password.
• Open each email that you want to transfer.
• In the lower right corner of the screen, select
  Forward.
• Fill in the To field with your
  username_at_forward.vccs.edu.
• Select Send.

19
Eligibility for a Mailbox

• Students must have an enrollment for either the
  current or past 2 semesters to be eligible for
  email. If the student is enrolling for the first
  time within these 3 semesters now, they will be
  eligible for an email account the next day after
  enrolling. You can see the eligibility status by
  going to Person Lookup, Directory tab. Near the
  bottom you will see a new field called "student
  email access" at the bottom that says Yes or
  No. It is updated nightly with a batch run to
  find all the day's enrollments.

20
Related Documents

• Client Services E-mail Tip Sheet for CSLs and
  Help Desks - Obtain from ITS Client Services
• Online Help

21
Student Email Issues

• If you require the assistance of VCCS ITS in
  resolving a student e-mail issue, please use the
  IssueTrak system and select the Email Student
  Mirapoint issue type. Include as much detailed
  information as possible, but please do not
  include sensitive student data, as IssueTrak is
  not an encrypted system. Items that should not be
  entered into IssueTrak include student Social
  Security Number, birth date, and passwords.

22
Always include

• System identification (until Oct. 1 2005, please
  specify either _at_Mail or Mirapoint)
• the students emplid
• username of the account being accessed
• identification of the sender and receiver
  involved in the problem
• action being attempted
• description of the problem
• complete error message (if there is a kickback
  notice, include the entire contents, not just a
  portion)
• full contents of the message generating the
  problem (include message headers)

23
Webmails Navigation Bar

• The navigational bar on the left side of the
  screen (top if you choose the frameless view)
  allows you to access various screens to perform
  various functions.
• Check Mail Shows your messages
• Inbox Shows your messages
• Compose allows you to compose an email message
• Folders list of folders you can use to organize
  your messages
• Search search for messages using a variety of
  search criteria
• Address Book customize your address book
• Preferences set your email account preferences
• Options set your email account options
• Trash contains any deleted folders or messages
• External Mail configure account to import other
  email
• Help internal Mirapoint Help files
• Logout click to ensure you are logged out of
  the system
• Legend- explains the icons that appear next to
  messages

24
A Quick Look at the Inbox
25
Calendaring NEW!
26
Address Book

• In Webmail you have only one address book. All
  entries will appear in that address book. Entries
  can be filed in categories or groups.
• Each entry is a contact an entry can be a
  person, an entity, a distribution list, etc. Use
  the Alphabet Letters Links to find contacts in
  your address book.

27
Address Book Functions

• Contacts Are entries/individuals listed in your
  address book. Each entry is considered a contact.
  There is a maximum of 1000 contacts in the
  address book.
• Groups Enable you to connect individuals as
  members of a unique set. Each group has its own
  unique name. Messages addressed to a group name
  are distributed to all contacts listed as members
  of the group. The default maximum number of
  groups you can create is 100.
• Find People Finding People/Searching for
  Contacts that match the Alphabet Letter Links at
  the top of the Address book screen or through
  search parameters inside your address book. You
  can search your address book by name, address,
  e-mail address, phone, or a global alphanumeric
  string.
• Import/Export If you wish to import any other
  address books from other e-mail clients or wish
  to export your address book to any other client,
  use this function.

28
Sharing Mail Folders Access Control

• Create a list of individuals to share your mail
  folders. To share a folder with another
  individual, they must have an account on the
  student email server. Please review the
  permissions list and make sure you understand the
  access you are given to another account before
  using this feature.
• To set folder access
• 1. Select the folder to share from the drop-down
  box.
• 2. Enter a users ID into the text box below your
  ID.
• 3. Select the permissions (see list) you wish to
  give to the user.
• 4. Click OK to save or CANCEL to cancel the
  action.
• You can remove permissions by returning to this
  screen and removing the checks in the appropriate
  check box next to the user name and clicking the
  OK button.

29
Spell Checking and the Personal Dictionary

• After composing an e-mail message, you can check
  the text for spelling errors.
• Spelling allows you to complete this process
  quickly, and return to the Compose window.
• The Personal Dictionary allows to customize the
  words that your spell checker will encounter to
  save time looking at words that may not be in the
  general dictionary.

30
Questions?