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Training

Higher Performance Email Service

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Email

Email

During the last academic year, NACS made a number of enhancements to the central campus email service.

The most important changes were implemented to improve performance and responsiveness of the email system, including the Webmail interface.

One of those changes was the format in which email was stored (the “mix mailbox format” from the University of Washington) which allows much faster response with large inboxes.  The email servers are connected to disk storage in a new way, improving access speeds.  We’ve also installed new versions of the email server software (the program that supports POP and IMAP), which includes features that improve server performance.

Other enhancements include:

Disk quotas have been expanded to 1Gb for faculty and 500Mb for staff, and larger quotas are on the horizon.

The maximum size of an email message has been expanded from 20 million to 30 million bytes.  Practically, this means you can send larger attachments in a message.  However, large attachments affect email server performance, and may not be acceptable at the destination server.  Therefore, it is prudent to be aware of your attachment size, and you should consider alternatives for file sharing such as sending a link to your document.

In addition to these visible changes, NACS maintains email performance in other ways, such as applying security patches, and refining the rules that identify spam.

Academic Personnel Training

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NACS Academic Web Technologies combined forces with Academic Personnel and the Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, to deliver a series of nine workshops, which concluded recently.

NACS is developing an online tool under the guidance of Academic Personnel to aid in the Senate Faculty search process. Informally referred to as “Recruit,” this tool was originally written for internal use by ICS, and NACS is extending it for use campus-wide.

84 staff attended Recruit training over the past two weeks, representing the School of the Arts, Social Sciences, Social Ecology, the Paul Merage School of Business, Biological Sciences, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering, Humanities, the Bren School, and Physical Sciences. Workshop attendees were personnel managers, department managers, administrative analysts, and admin assistants, all of whom were invited to learn to use Recruit to manage a Senate Faculty search.

Pat Price (Academic Personnel) and Peggy Munhall (ICS Dean’s Office) led the training. NACS staff were on hand to provide additional support.

Certified Installer Training

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NACS hosted a free, hands-on training session on Molex Certified Installation Practices.

Mark Travers of Molex provided the Certified Installer training and Wayne Brushett of Beach Wire and Cable, Inc., arranged for the instructor, the training manuals, etc.

Class topics included: structured cabling systems for voice and data services, a standards update, and review of termination techniques.

Each participant, following the class, took a test to become a Molex Certified Installer.

Office XP Training

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For the 6th summer in a row, NACS offers Microsoft Office hands-on training workshops designed to help computer users become familiar with, or brush up on the various computer applications commonly used at UCI.

Beginning August 1st, this summer’s line-up includes 4 levels of Access, 3 levels of Excel, 3 levels of Word, and 2 levels of PowerPoint.

Morning or afternoon classes are $79 (departmental recharge required) and will be conducted in various locations around campus including the Humanities, Social Sciences, Engineering, and Physical Sciences areas.

For course objectives and registration, log into the TED system (Training and Employee Development) with your UCInetID and click on the Catalog and Enrollment tab. Then type “Microsoft Office” in the keyword box.

Network Cabling Training

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NACS hosted a half-day of hands-on training on communications cable installation on Thursday, March 31st. The class participants included fifteen UCI staff.

Gary Price, RCDD, of Nelson & Associates provided the Outside Plant electrical protection training. Wayne Brushett of Beach Wire and Cable, Inc., arranged for instructors from Superior Essex Communications LP.

The focus of the class was Outside Plant Copper Splicing and Outside Plant Fiber Optic Cable. Outside Plant cabling is installed in conduits below the ground which connects all of the buildings together and comprises the “backbone” of UCInet, the campus network.