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Migrating to Google Apps for Student Email. Kevin Macnaughton , Team Lead, IT Services [email protected]. April 28, 2014. Agenda. Background Platform Selection Migration and Communication Plans Technical Details Lessons Learned Outcomes. April 28, 2014. Background. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Migrating to Google Apps for Student Email
Kevin Macnaughton, Team Lead, IT [email protected]
April 28, 2014
Agenda• Background• Platform Selection• Migration and Communication Plans• Technical Details• Lessons Learned• Outcomes
April 28, 2014
Background• UWindsor initiated a project to renew student
webmail options in fall of 2011. – Student comments on the existing service were
generally unfavourable– Vendor was changing interface – Need to comply with standards, such as AODA– New options were available, presenting an
opportunity to improve student experience
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Background• Existing service was in-house solution– Single CommuniGate Pro server– Customized skin used– Used local SAN disk for storage– Mailboxes limited to 100MB
April 28, 2014
Background• Issues with current solution– Mailbox limit (100MB)– Interface was non-intuitive– Message formatting often broken– No support for accessible views– SAN disk is expensive
April 28, 2014
Background• Project structure and Governance– Technical Team that reported to Student
Computing Committee for approval– Student Computing Committee consisted of reps
from student bodies, ITS and other campus representatives
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Friends and Assists• Worked with several Universities in Ontario
were migrating to or selecting Google Apps:– McMaster, OCADU, WLU
• UAlberta gave extensive and invaluable support based on their migration experience
• Lakehead broke the ice in Ontario
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Platform Selection• Decision factors– Student experience/comfort– Capabilities and features– Cost (money and support)– Compatibility with existing environment
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Platform Selection• Methodology– Developed comprehensive evaluation matrix• Technical features, • Privacy/management issues• Migration possibilities• Integration possibilities
– Matrix completed by Technical Team and vendors– Interviewed existing education customers
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April 28, 2014
Platform Selection• Choices evaluated– Upgraded CommuniGate Pro– Microsoft Live@EDU– Google Apps for Education
• Google Apps won based on student familiarity, ease of use, cost, and integration possibilities
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UWinGmail• Services included in UWindsor Google Apps– Gmail – Google Calendar– Google Talk– Google Docs web-based tools
April 28, 2014
UWinGmail• Key implementation details:– Users retain @uwindsor.ca email address– Will still use UWinID and password– Migration will be Voluntary
• Contract protections:– UWindsor maintains ownership of data/IP– No data mining, profiling, or ads
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UWinGmail• Branding will be both UWindsor and Google
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Migration Plan• Three key elements to project
1. Communicating information around privacy impact of cloud services
2. Addressing requirements for disclosure and user acceptance
3. Implementing a phased migration approach
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Migration Plan• Data to be migrated and how:– Email (inbox and folders)• Automatic using IMAP
– Calendar and Contacts• Manual using export to iCal, vCard
– Web pages• Manual move to student web space on another server
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Communication Plan• Three messaging stages:– Launch and privacy awareness– Project updates– Individual migration phase • Multiple messages to each student• Migration status page
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Communication Plan• Migration stage:
1. Invitation to Migrate• Disclosure and AUP review• Self-insertion into migration queue
2. UWinGmail Account Active• Mail migration in progress
3. Migration Complete• Review messages, migrate calendar + contacts
January 31, 2011
January 31, 2011
January 31, 2011
QUESTIONS?
Technical Details• Key pieces:– CommuniGate Pro server– UWinGmail website and registration portal– Migration control machine and workers– Google Apps domain
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Technical Details• Google Apps domain setup:– Email Migration API enabled– @uwingmail.uwindsor.ca aliases for all accounts– Accounts created by migration script– Passwords populated by migration script– IMAP, POP and Google Sync enabled
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Technical Details• Migration scripting architecture:– Migration portal• Show AUPs, record acceptance to db, add to queue• Provide migration status page
– Workers• 10 Windows VMs• Run GAMME tool (using Email Migration API)
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Technical Details• Migration scripting architecture:– Migration control system• runs scripts (Perl) • updates db, does logging• system is multiple queue-driven• cron schedules control queue checks
January 31, 2011
Technical Details• Mail routing– All accounts use @uwindsor.ca• Still only one MX record for all mail
– Campus mail gateway routes to mail servers• All mail systems believe they own @uwindsor.ca• @webmail1.uwindsor.ca, @uwingmail.uwindsor.ca
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Technical Details• Mail routing– UWinGmail routes every message to gateway• including UWinGmail-to-UWinGmail messages• allows delivery management • provides central logging for non-repudiation
April 28, 2014
Technical Details• Single Sign-On– UWinGmail configured to use SSO– Configured against campus CAS• easiest to integrate• does not provide true logout though
– Mobiles do not use CAS• authenticate using pass stored in Google account
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Lessons Learned• Overcommunicate– Students want to know details / progress– Need to keep at top of inbox/mobile display
• Don’t communicate too much– Receive too many messages from Uni– Avoid long emails
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Lessons Learned• Deadlines work best– more migrations from sticks than carrots
• Clarity is key– temporary account locks caused many issues
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Outcomes• Started with 28000 accounts, 17M messages
• Active student migration took 3 months• High adoption rate• Migration failures around 1%
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Outcomes• Alumni account migration took 1 year• Slow migration, allowed long contact time• Way lower uptake• Extended to all Alumni
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Outcomes• Average mailbox size is already over 200MB• Huge adoption of Google Docs – over 12000 document creators– over 28000 documents
• Google Drive has uptake too– 430,000 files stored in Drive
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Minor Hiccups• Many students’ passwords did not meet
Google’s minimum complexity
• Delay between Google Apps account creation and mail acceptance
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Minor Hiccups• Some students had mail directed to other
campus systems
• Automated messages caused issues – due to not being properly structured– one bad message would stop entire queue!
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Q & A
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April 28, 2014
