Email and Calendaring Services Consolidation

Email and Calendaring Services Consolidation merging garnet, mailer, admin onto one platform Fragmented Mail/Calendaring Services garnet.acns.fsu.edu – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – one IBM/AIX server, plus webmail cluster mostly student inboxes approx. 65,000 inboxes no calendaring webmail via webmail.fsu.edu one Sun/Solaris server, plus webmail cluster mostly faculty/academic staff inboxes approx. 9,000 inboxes no calendaring webmail via webmail.fsu.edu five Dell/Microsoft Exchange servers mostly administrative staff inboxes approx. 7,000 inboxes robust calendaring webmail via admin.fsu.edu What isn’t so great about this: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Three hardware platforms Three operating system platforms Three staff skillsets (more or less…) Three iterations of planning, maintenance, and upgrade Expensive to backup Confusion for email users Differences/gaps in features Fragmentation stymies innovation to add value mailer.fsu.edu admin.fsu.edu Michael Barker, Ph.D., Director of University Computing Services, OTI Consolidated Mail/Calendaring Services @fsu.edu – total of 6-8 Sun/Solaris servers – common calendar system for all students/faculty/staff • • • • • • individual calendars shared/group calendars multiple calendars with overlay capability tasks and reminders incoming mail: imap.fsu.edu or pop.fsu.edu outgoing mail: smtp.fsu.edu What’s better about this: 1. 2. 3. 4. One hardware platform One operating system platform Focus staff resources Focus planning, maintenance, upgrade processes 5. Decreased backup costs 6. More reliable with better performance 7. Same webmail interfaces for all 8. Same features for all 9. Opportunities to add value 10. Commercial ISP-grade vendor support – standardize connections per service – all servers are load balanced and/or clustered – FSUID Directory based addressbook – feature-rich webmail interface – improved performance on all tiers – vanity domains (e.g., @ucs.fsu.edu) Michael Barker, Ph.D., Director of University Computing Services, OTI Upgrade Phases Timeframe/phase Affected population April 30th – ongoing June 23 – 24, 2007 ** COMPLETED ** Voluntary garnet and mailer account upgrades via FSUID utilities Mandatory garnet account upgrades (estimated run time: 20-40 hrs) Nov. 10-12, 2007 Summer of 2008 Mandatory mailer account upgrades (estimateed run time: 12-16 hrs) admin/Exchange account upgrades Michael Barker, Ph.D., Director of University Computing Services, OTI No Destruction, Minimal Disruption • All old-style mail addresses grandfathered, will deliver to consolidated @fsu.edu • “mailer.fsu.edu”, “garnet.acns.fsu.edu”, “admin.fsu.edu” will still work, but will point to the new system • All inbox contents and mail folders migrated • All disparate accounts merged • Eudora, Thunderbird, Outlook, Netscape still work (viz., any IMAP/POP client will work) • Outlook will still connect to the calendar and will seem to you like you are connecting to an Exchange server • webmail interface will change, but for the better, with more user configurable options Michael Barker, Ph.D., Director of University Computing Services, OTI Contact: Michael Barker, Ph.D. Director, University Computing Services Office of Technology Integration, FSU mbarker@fsu.edu 645-8001 Privacy Protection safeguarding SSN SSN -- the crux of the matter • Rising illegal and inappropriate use of SSN to steal identities, masquerade as others, or engage in mischief • Problem across all industries, not just education • FSU on the “trailing edge” of using SSN as a “primary identifier” • Primary identifier: – Uniquely identifies an individual – Authorizes access to further information – Often the first, most extensive, and most ingrained, way an individual is identified in processes, problems, systems, etc. • Policy, effective January 1, 2009, to eliminate SSN as “primary identifier” Michael Barker, Ph.D., Director of University Computing Services, OTI FSUSN to replace SSN • OTI has received funding from the Provost to address replacement of SSN in FSU data systems • Replacing SSN with FSUSN (viz., a replacement 9-character string uniquely assigned to individuals) • FSU on the “trailing edge” of using SSN as a primary identifier • Everyone already has their FSUSN (viewable, individually, through http://fsuid.fsu.edu) • SSN replacement project joint effort with enrollment services, student financial services, cashiering, financial aid, etc. Michael Barker, Ph.D., Director of University Computing Services, OTI Additional Steps • OTI has received funding from the Provost to continue research on encryption and remote access technologies: – Encryption: aimed to make it so sensitive data is not exposed, regardless of where it is located (whether servers or laptops) – Remote access: aimed to make it easier to keep sensitive data on more secure systems • OTI has received funding from the Provost for a software utility that crawls .fsu.edu webspace to detect sensitive data Michael Barker, Ph.D., Director of University Computing Services, OTI