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UCI Receives Broadcom Donation

July 28, 2011 by Allen Schiano

For several years, the Broadcom corporation has been supporting computing at UC with substantial donations of computing hardware. Previous donations of computers and disk arrays have benefited other UCs, as well as OIT, ICS, and researchers at UCI.

Broadcom recently donated disk arrays totaling almost 100 terabytes, comprising 24 shelves of high-performance disks compatible with OIT’s existing campus disk storage, used for campus email and departmental shared space. This donation will allow OIT to expand our available space and improve disk performance.

OIT is currently exploring making network-accessible disk space available to departments on a cost-sharing basis. Interested departments should contact Andrew Laurence (x43966) to discuss options.

Google Apps for UCI

January 5, 2011 by John Mangrich

Google Apps

UCI is among many Universities now partnered with Google to provide email and collaborative online tools to students.

Among the tools is a Gmail account linked to the student’s UCInetID, thus providing the familiar Gmail interface for a student’s official university communication, with the ability to link that account to other Gmail identities, or to form groups with other UCI students. While UCI students continue to have access to the same email system used by faculty and staff, UCI Gmail may be more familiar or better suit their needs.

Google Apps for UCI includes other useful tools for students which foster a sense of belonging to the UCI community and promoting collaborative work, including Google Docs (productivity tools analogous to Office), Google Sites (for creating Web sites), Google Talk (instant messaging), and Google Calendar (for keeping track of schedules, appointments, and campus events.)

More information may be found at the Google Apps for UCI web site.

POP or IMAP – Which Protocol to Use?

January 5, 2011 by Lyle Wiedeman

Using email generally requires three components: a “mailbox” (a computer or “server” to which mail is delivered, and where mail is stored until acted upon), a mail reader (the method you use to access, read, and manage email, which might be a program such as Outlook or Thunderbird, or might be integrated into your Web browser – Webmail), and a method of moving information (messages and commands) between the two.

Fifteen years ago, the most popular of these methods was the Post Office Protocol (POP). POP worked well for the habits of email readers then, and may potentially still offer benefits now. Today, many more people use the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). IMAP is better suited to the volume of email exchanged today and the connectivity and mobility of today’s readers. Your choice between POP and IMAP will probably be determined by the difference in how each protocol approaches message storage.

POP is designed to work like a postal mail box: mail is dropped off, but it is expected that you will empty the mailbox and be responsible for the mail thereafter. The definitive copy of each email message is on the computer you use to read mail. This is ideal if you are always using the same computer, and especially if you are not always on line.

IMAP uses a different idea. The definitive copy of each message is kept on the server. This provides two advantages. First, no matter what computer you are using, or what kind of email reader, you are shown the same picture of your mailbox. This makes it very easy to move among computers, but requires each one to have Internet access to manage your mail. Second, central storage makes it possible for the central IT organization (OIT in this case) to maintain backups of everyone’s email.

But it also means that every email user is sharing the storage space of the mailbox system, and it is possible to fill up the amount of space allocated to your account. Webmail requires IMAP; it operates as if there is no local storage.

So, consider what your email habits and needs are. Most people will find that IMAP offers the most flexibility, fastest service, and least bookkeeping. If you’d like help analyzing your email needs, please call the OIT Help Desk.

Thunderbird Rolls Out in A&BS

July 22, 2009 by Dee Cart

IAT-AdCom has recently completed the process of helping UCI administrative departments migrate to a new email service structure. 12 departments and 570 users have been assisted in this process since January.

The migration involved three changes, each intended to improve email service to affected users. The most obvious change was moving from Eudora, a program that is no longer supported by its developer and has become increasingly error-prone and insecure, to Thunderbird.

However, behind this obvious change, users were also migrated from the POP protocol for email delivery to IMAP. There are many advantages to IMAP, not least of which is the ability to see the same email messages from every computer, and even from Webmail. IMAP also allows the server to tell the user when new mail has arrived, rather than the user creating an unnecessary workload for the server by polling it: “Is there new mail yet? How about now?”

Finally, users were migrated to the campus’s main Enterprise Services email server, allowing for more cost-effective support, and providing better response time and more space for email storage.

Candidate users were given a choice of making the change themselves, using online self-help instructions, or waiting for their department’s turn and getting personal assistance.

While change is never easy, many people have already commented that the new system is an improvement.

Most Spam is Blocked

March 26, 2009 by John Mangrich

In 2008, UCI email readers were spared almost one billion spam messages which were blocked by the NACS spam-mitigation system prior to delivery. This represents more than 21,000 messages for each faculty, staff, and student at UCI last year.

Of the messages accepted for delivery, 12 million were labeled as potentially spam so that people could quarantine them and inspect them at their convenience. Here is a summary of the spam and mail delivery statistics for 2008:

Total Messages Blocked: 869,295,065
Total Messages Accepted: 97,484,167
Total Messages Accepted marked as spam: 11,786,134

The chart shows the number of spam messagess blocked each day in 2008 (in red) and the number of messages accepted for delivery (in blue.) You can find more information on spam and spam filtering on line.

Email

UCI Receives Broadcom Donation

Google Apps for UCI

POP or IMAP – Which Protocol to Use?

Thunderbird Rolls Out in A&BS

Most Spam is Blocked

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