© University of Reading 2007 www.reading.ac.uk

Anton Lawrence and Christine StoreyIT Services

24 April 2023

Recent changes to the staff email service followed by

Migrating staff to Exchange

© University of Reading 2007 www.reading.ac.uk

Anton Lawrence and Christine StoreyIT Services

24 April 2023

Service Changes: AutoSpam Mailopts Deleted Items Quotas

OrWhat we have done on our summer holidays

Service Changes AutoSpam

• New AutoSpam service• It is the old service – but takes into account problems with the proxy.• Access method 1: Web https://www.reading.ac.uk/autospam• Access method 2: Imap from email client•What about Junk Mail?•Daily Spam email notification

Access Method 1: Web

Access Method 1: Web

Access Method 2 - IMAP• Create a new IMAP account.• IMAP Server – autospam.reading.ac.uk• USE SSL!

Spam service - contThe following messages were delivered to AutoSpam:- 2007-10-01 13:39:46 sender "Avery@bell.blackberry.net"2007-10-01 17:06:34 sender "Salretentionfancy@battle.fi" You can view these messages and/or have them delivered

by visiting https://www.autospam.reading.ac.uk/ Note that this list displays Delivery Date and Sender rather

than the Message Date and From address, which may differ, especially for Spam.

7

MailoptsWhat not to use it for• As part of the migration process we will resend mail• Exim Rules = Exchange rules• Vacation message = Out of OfficeWhat to use it for• Whitelists• Blacklists• Spam sensitivity• Enable daily notification of new messages in

AutoSpam

Other ChangesDeleted Items• Deleted items are now kept for 7 days• They are then deleted• They are then kept in your “Recover deleted

items” area for another 7 days. • They are then REALLY deleted.• If you hold shift down and delete, they are

permanently deleted.

Other Changes• Quotas

– Warning @ 1.5Gb– Prohibit @ 2Gb

• WHAT ABOUT THE VAULT?

Out-of-Office• You have an account on the University's

Microsoft Exchange service. You may gain functionality by using the Out of Office facility within the Exchange system, available through Outlook Web Access. In particular, email from other University Microsoft Exchange users may not be affected by Out of Office messages specified here.

11

New staff• From 1st September 2007 email accounts for

new staff will be created on the Exchange email service.  Staff can access their email on Exchange via the web using the Outlook web access service at

• https://www.owamail.rdg.ac.uk/• For details of other ways to access email on

Exchange see • http://www.reading.ac.uk/ITS/documents/

email/exchange/config.htm

12

New methods of working• Personal calendars – arranging meetings with

colleagues– Showing free/busy– Giving full access

– ‘private appointments’• Sharing static information – public folders• Larger more dynamic data sharing – ‘Windows

only’ volume on NetApp as mounted drive

13

New methods of working (cont)

• Turn off autocomplete if concerned about sending confidential email – use own contacts list as default– In Outlook 2007

• On the Tools menu, click Options. • On the Preferences tab, click E-mail Options, and

then click Advanced E-mail Options. • Clear the Suggest names while completing To, Cc,

and Bcc fields check box. • Can delete entries from the Autocomplete list

• Select the unwanted name by using the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW key.

• Press DELETE.

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Migration• ‘Migration will be in phases• Ultimately aiming to have all staff using

Exchange message store. (Staff being those with third letter in account name of ‘s’ or ‘q’)

• Can choose to access the message store via IMAP or POP but will get best use of the enhanced features using Outlook (ie using MAPI interface).

• Outlook web access provides enhanced features

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Phase 1Targeting the accounts easiest to move from

UNIX message store• Personal accounts, not group accounts• Have trivial .resends eg just username@exchange• Less than 1.5GB message store on UNIX• Not using POP• Not using Outlook over IMAP

We liaise with IT Supporter on each step

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Phase 1 - contWhat happens when • before the move, an email sent to staff asking them

to check/change their email client server settings• A date will be set for the message store move for

targeted accounts• Staff can opt for a different date if necessary – prefer

to migrate in largish groups though so don’t want too many individuals

• a second email sent a shortly before the move to explain the changes staff may see the following morning.

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Change email client settings

http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/its/ConfiguringYouremailClient.pdf• The root folder path must be blank. Remove

references to ~/mail/• Incoming email server address:

imap.reading.ac.uk, Security setting: SSL (note “reading” NOT “rdg”)

• Outgoing email server address: smtp.reading.ac.uk, Security setting: TLS (in Outlook Express set this to SSL too).

• Incoming email server address: pop.reading.ac.uk, Security setting: SSL

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Phase 1 - contHow to target the accounts to migrate in

Phase 1• ITS prepare

– a snapshot per School/Department of the individual personal account details

– Extract from this list those suitable for phase 1 migration

– Prepare an email list from this spreadsheet

• We then brief School/Department IT Supporter

19

20

In NIS

Exchange

Mailbox

Exchange

deliveryvims1

delivery

AutoSpam

delivery

Non-trivial .resend

Usage (KB)

IMAP Logins

POP Logins

Folder Prefix

Outlook SMTP

AutoSpam Folder

abs04nnn - - - - - 351755- - - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - 19390

abs04nnn

abs04nnn

abs04nnn -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - 508267

abs04nnn - - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn - - 47320

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn -

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - 469416

abs04nnn -

abs04nnn -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn - - 31009

abs04nnn -

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - 348595

abs04nnn -

abs04nnn -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn - - 1514

abs04nnn - - - -

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - 53297

abs04nnn - - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - 4627

abs04nnn - - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - 3890

abs04nnn - - -

abs04nnn

abs04nnn

abs04nnn

abs04nnn - - - 16561

abs04nnn -

abs04nnn - -

The spreadsheet"snapshot" at time report was generated:-• Exchange Mailbox - the account has an Exchange account (i.e.

an AD entry for the mailbox)• Non-trivial .resend - has a .resend with something other than

username@exchange in it• Usage - disk usage "via UNIX du" of folders plus inboxes• AutoSpam Folder - the user has an AutoSpam folder"log analysis" for typically the previous month• Exchange/vims1/AutoSpam delivery, there was at least one mail

delivery to Exchange/Unix INBOX/Unix AutoSpam• IMAP(POP) Logins - there was at least one IMAP(POP) login to

the UNIX mail service

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The spreadsheet - cont"log analysis" for typically the previous month

• Folder Prefix - there was at least one IMAP request for a folder containing "mail/" (i.e. 99% sure they have a prefix defined, but it might hit if they had a folder subdirectory ending in "mail")

• Outlook SMTP - a message was sent from the user using SMTP via mailhost/smtp.reading.ac.uk (i.e. rather than the native Microsoft MAPI protocol) using a client that identified itself as Microsoft Outlook (and not Outlook Express) - these are clients that probably should be switched to MAPI in the future.

22

After the migration• can continue to use same email client over

IMAP or POP if preferred. However, to make use of the additional features on Exchange straight use Outlook Web Access.

• If you need advance email facilities such as email filtering and forwarding then you need to use IE as your web browser.

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After the migration – cont

Current settings preserved• Active Out-of-Office message settings will be

honoured. New Out-of-Office messages must be set up using Outlook Web Access.

• Active resend or forward settings will be honoured. New resend or forward settings must be set up using Outlook Web Access over Internet Explorer.

• http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/its/help/its-help-email/outlookrules.asp

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After the migration - cont

May see some differences• Cannot see email folders? Change email

settings as initially requested, removing ~/mail/ from the folder path setting.

• Up to four new folders may be visible, (Calendar, Junk, Public Folders and Sent items). These are related to the features available if you use Outlook or OWAmail.

• Folder names may have extra symbols at the end eg [-/]

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After the migration - cont

SPAM• Some staff have previously chosen not to use the

Autospam service for filtering email. When the message store is migrated to Exchange, email filtering of spam into an Autospam folder will automatically be turned on.

• Use the mail options tool at https://www.mailopts.reading.ac.uk/ to stop automatic filtering.

• http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/its/help/its-help-email/its-exchange/its-exchange-dealingwithspam.asp

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Outlook on Exchange • If you want change desktop client on staff PCs

to Outlook on Exchange either do this after migration or handle as small groups and bypass the migration.

• We will move message store on an individual basis if requested.

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IMAP Proxy – How it works

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UNIXMAILSTORE

ExchangeMAILSTORE

IMAP

IMAP MAPI

IMAP Proxy – How it works

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UNIXMAILSTORE

ExchangeMAILSTORE

IMAP

IMAP MAPI

PROXY FILES

Links• Configuring Outlook

– http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/its/help/its-help-email/its-exchange/its-exchange-configure.asp

• Remote Access– http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/its/help/its-help-

email/exchange-remoteaccess.asp• AutoSpam

– http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/its/help/its-help-email/its-exchange/its-exchange-dealingwithspam.asp