October 2014 Meeting

Present: William Dougherty, NI&S, Scribe and chair; Susan Brooker-Gross-IT Policy; Scot Ransbottom-ITSO; Kevin Davis-UCS; Mike Moyer-DCM; Jeff Kidd-CNS PR; Brian Long-SETI QA; Jean Plymale-CTSSR; Kimberley Homer-NI&S QA; Richard Quintin-DBAA; Karen Herrington-IMS.

CCS: 

VT Exchange upgrade begins this week - information

I’d like to send an update to this list to properly set expectations on when\how the VT Exchange migration will occur this week.

[Upgrade timeline]

Monday we will begin to work with the on-site Microsoft PSS engineer to install and configure the new Exchange 2013 components of the system.

Tuesday we will work on configuring the back-end storage for the mailbox stored and expanded quotas.

Wednesday we will be work on the CNS ServerIron hardware load balancers and re-configuring naming schemes

Thursday is scheduled for  potential disruptive DNS changes and the start of mailbox migrations.

Friday - onward are reserved from mailbox migrations

If this timeline significantly changes I will alert techsupport with further VT Exchange announcements.

[Android devices activesync warning]

Some sub-set of Android users may experience mailbox disconnections starting on Thursday as the DNS changes take effect.  We only

know that it is smart device manufacturers that have do not completely support Microsoft ActiveSync either through incomplete

implementation or not licensing the technology.  Only after the user mailbox is migrated and the profile recreated on the device

will it properly sync again to the user’s mailbox.  We have no more information on specifics of which devices will be affected.

[Mailbox migration phases]

[First adopters migration]

We are accepting requests for “first adopters” until EOB on Wednesday.  If you are technically adapt and wish to have YOUR OWN mailbox moved

first on Thursday, please email hokiess@vt.edu  with your email address confirming the request.  We will not accept requests on behalf of others, only yourself.

[Second mailbox migration]

After the first adopters have moved, we will begin to migrate mailboxes based on Hokies OU membership, starting with the first OU alphabetically ordered A-Z.

Before we start moving users in a OU we will email the OU admins (if the OU is managed) letting them know the process is starting.  After the last mailbox in the OU has been moved we will again contact the OU admins letting them know the process is complete.  We will be skipping the NOTOU OU until the third round of migrations.  We cannot accept requests for users or OUs to be first or last in this process.

[Third mailbox migration]

Those in the unmanaged NOTOU will have their mailboxes migrated in this phase.

[Fourth mailbox migration]

We will evaluate those users who have been defined as “restricted” (such as ITAR users) and migrate or move their mailboxes to a special restricted mailbox storage group.

[Fifth mailbox migration]

Anybody caught moving between OUs or haven’t been moved by this point will get swept up in this last effort.

[Public folders de-support]

As have been indicated several times previous, once a user’s mailbox has been migrated into the new Exchange 2013 environment they will not have access to Exchange 2007 public folders.  We will not be supporting public folders in Exchange 2013.  We suggest your department or college review the services offered through VT Office 365 – SharePoint Online as a replacement for public folders.

[Mailbox provisioning through ADadmin]

ADadmin will continue to create mailboxes in Exchange 2007 until we have the new feature set for ADadmin ready.  This will require a mailbox migration from 2007 to 2013 after the mailbox is created.  Once the new ADadmin functionality is in place it will create new mailboxes in Exchange 2013 natively.  New mailboxes provisioned in Exchange 2007 will have the old small quota until moved.

[Mailbox migration speed/ETA]

We hope to have more information about the relative speed (email velocity) of mailbox migrations from the Exchange 2007 environment into the Exchange 2013 system.  We cannot provide ETAs, start or end times for individual mailbox migrations.  Requests for more information will be declined.

[Identification of where a mailbox resides]

Once a mailbox has been migrated it will be expanded to the 10 GB quota.  To verify this you can use a Outlook client to see quota information.  Once migrated you’ll also be able to log into the new version of Weboutlook (it looks very much like the actual Outlook client).

[During a mailbox migration]

While a mailbox is being actively migrated, Outlook will lock the mailbox and user will not be able to send or receive email .  Incoming email will be queued (and not bounced) and outbound email will be delayed sending.  When the migration is complete Outlook should indicated this with a pop-up saying the Exchange administrators have made a change to the user’s mailbox and the Outlook client will have to be restarted.  After the restart the Outlook client _should_ automatically auto-discover where the mailbox is now and redirect.  If, after a restart, the Outlook client repeatedly indicates the client must be restart then the user should recreate the mailbox profile.  See http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/2934750 for more information about repairing a profile.

[Supported Outlook clients]

Outlook 2003 will no longer be a supported client with Exchange 2013!  You should verify that supported Outlook clients are at a specific patch revision.  See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx (supported clients).  Specifically, these versions (and newer) are supported:

·         Outlook 2013 (15.0.4420.1017)

·         Outlook 2010 Service Pack 1 with the Outlook 2010 November 2012 update (14.0.6126.5000). For more information, see Description of the Outlook 2010 update: November 13, 2012.

·         Outlook 2007 Service Pack 3 with the Outlook 2007 November 2012 update (12.0.6665.5000). For more information, see Description of the Outlook 2007 update: November 13, 2012.

·         Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition

·         Outlook for Mac 2011

[Pre-move cleanup]

We ask you direct users to clean up their mailboxes BEFORE they are migrated.  This will speed the transition for themselves as well as the overall migration for everyone.  PLEASE also refrain from immediately re-uploading .pst files back into the Exchange mailbox.  We understand people will want to do this so all their email is readily accessible but it will add increase overhead and tax the systems when we want them focused on mailbox migration effort.  We’ll let everyone know when we’re done with the bulk migration.

SMT: 

The NetApp engineer and I finally have been able to test connecting the storage to the Exchange Servers. We are experiencing network/protocol communication issues with the connection between the NetApp and the Exchange server. The connection is used by the Exchange server to manage its storage.  We have requested a callback from level 3 support this morning to help diagnose the issue. 

To fully test the connection between Exchange servers and the NetApp storage that allows Exchange admins to manage Exchange’s storage, the Exchange software had to be installed on the servers. This occurred Tuesday and we (NetApp, SMT and Exchange admins) start testing. We have encountered issues with the network/protocol communication between the NetApp software and the Exchange servers.  We have level 3 NetApp support engaged in the diagnosis of the issue along with CNS network engineers. 

I have CNS network engineer helping me look at all the network connections this morning and will have a webex with Level 3 NetApp support  after that.

DBAA: 

We'll be doing the fall Banner upgrade on Nov 2. See the URL below for details. Schedule down for 8 hours beginning at 6am. 

https://apps.es.vt.edu/ons/event/view/1435?date=2014-11-02

Filebox reminder: Will be gone by end of calendar year. 

DCM: Tentatively scheduled semi-annual PMs for the generators (load transfer test) and annual UPS testing for Sunday, November 23rd. Possible impact from NetApp upgrade? Total time: 9am 'til 1-2pm. See Michael if issues. 

SETI QA: TAS changes probable, and maybe Global qualified CA (SHA2 upgrade) within the next month due to PKI staff leaving. 

CTSSR: Risk Assessments are still due by December 1st. 

NI&S QA: Zabbix is a powerful tool! Kimberley will meet with Jean Plymale to work on triggers and critical systems' handling to help coordinate VTOC alerts and identify dependencies to speed response. Luke Ward may be a good resource. ServiceNow integration may be possible as well. 

IMS: Code base for OTP for password resets needs to be deployed. Scheduled for Friday,  October 10th, but perhaps this can be delayed? New date will be chosen; likely next week. Karen will notify group.

Update:  IMS will deploy at 6:30am on October 15, 2014.

IT Policy: Thanks all staff who do inform the Communications Committee about planned activities! Not only inform, but also explain. Use of multiple mediums and formats is best to offset misinformation or misunderstanding. 

ITSO: October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month! "Built-in is better than bolted on."

UCS: New version of CAS is being deployed to use some KSU code to allow ServiceNow to work as envisioned.