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Google Apps – 1 Year Later. Resnet Symposium 2009 10,000 Lakes, Infinite Ideas Chester Andrews OBERLIN COLLEGE 28 June 2009. Oberlin College. Small Liberal Arts College/Conservatory of Music in NE Ohio 2800 students, 900 faculty/staff 4000+ e-mail accounts. Today’s Presentation.
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Google Apps – 1 Year Later Resnet Symposium 2009 10,000 Lakes, Infinite Ideas Chester Andrews OBERLIN COLLEGE 28 June 2009
Oberlin College CAA/OC/Resnet09 Small Liberal Arts College/Conservatory of Music in NE Ohio 2800 students, 900 faculty/staff 4000+ e-mail accounts
Today’s Presentation CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Email in “The Cloud” provided by Google • How did we get here • Current Forecast: Partly Cloudy • Where are we now • Extended Forecast: More Cloudy • The Future and Some Observations
Google Apps at Oberlin Timeline October 2007 – March 2008 April 2008 - July 2008 July 2008 - October 2008 November 2008 - January 2008 February 2009 - June 2009 Planning, Internal Testing, Broader Pilot, Approval, Campus Introduction Documentation, Implementation Plans, Rollout to Incoming Class Open Migration of Students, Faculty, and Staff, Training, Individual Assistance Additional Google Apps planning Google Apps Rollout CAA/OC/Resnet09
Existing Environment (2007) Mail Server Clam AV (anti-virus) IronMail Spam Filter User Access via: * Mac Mail * Thunderbird * ObieMail (web) User’s Inbox CAA/OC/Resnet09
Existing Environment (2007) CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Mail server • SunFire V480 (UltraSPARC III) • Solaris 9 OS • iPlanet SunONE Messaging Server
Existing Environment (2007) CAA/OC/Resnet09 • E-Mail Quota • 50 MB Students;100 MB Fac/Staff • ~10% fac/staff accounts > standard 100 MB
Existing Environment CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Spam • Used CipherTrust IronMail product • Approx. 400,000 messages per day • Approx. 90% spam, 5-8% suspected spam sent to quarantine, 2-5% real messages • Required constant updates & tweaking
Other Considerations CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Blackboard based On-campus portal http://oncampus.oberlin.edu • Meetingmaker Calendar • Need/desire for more/better collaboration tools, calendar, shared docs
Decision Point OR… CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Upgrade existing environment • New server hardware & software – support for e-mail, calendar, IM, LDAP • More disk space • Backup hardware & software replacement • Need Sun’s Web Communication Bundle • Training • Professional services to assist with upgrade • Ongoing licensing
Decision Point CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Outsource • Looked at Google Apps for Education and Microsoft Live
Google Pilot CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Fall 2007 – only e-mail at first • Oberlin domain at Google for testing purposes • Provided Gmail to CIT/ Client Services staff and selected others • Maintain 2 concurrent e-mail accounts • Met every other week • Info online on CIT Wiki for participants
Google Pilot: Questions and Issues CAA/OC/Resnet09 Usernames: ObieID(flast)@oberlin.edu or e-mail address (first.last@oberlin.edu)? Change LDAP encryption algorithm to be consistent with Google’s in order to share passwords among systems. Does Google support handheld devices?
Google Pilot: Questions and Issues CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Spam – Will users need to look in a spam folder? • How to provision group accounts? • Account names - Couldn’t use apostrophes in accounts/addresses – manually change 23 addresses • No logs available
Expanded Pilot CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Early 2008, other IT professionals on campus - record issues, concerns, and questions • Everyone positive • Some concerns about privacy • CTO, Dir. Networking/Operations/Systems, and E-Mail Sysadmin Visited Google Officesin Michigan • Discuss security, reliability, customization, migration process
Moving Forward CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Go-ahead from higher administration • CTO submitted memo to campus describing need, benefits of Gapps for Ed, plan • Significant annual cost savings • Greatly increased storage space • Reliable performance; secure; supportive of web, POP and IMAP clients • Full collaborative suite
Moving Forward CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Held open meetings to get buy-in • Special meeting for Dean of Students and Dean of Studies • Concerns about computer forensics relevant to judicial process
Legal Agreement CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Google Agreement to College’s lawyers for review • Minor modifications • Submitted final mark-up to Google in March 2008 • Final agreement in May 2008
Plan of Action CAA/OC/Resnet09 • All Client Services staff to OCMail for testing & doc • Assign specific browsers & e-mail clients to record results – screen shots, etc. • One person in charge of documentation & training • Training for early adopters – continue to refine training materials • Update Wiki continuously
Plan of Action CAA/OC/Resnet09 Develop OCMail branding Migrate ObieMail Address Books Migrate other CIT staff, then other early adopters Develop user notification and education process (web, e-mail, posters, etc.)
Plan of Action CAA/OC/Resnet09 Define coordination with other tools and data – Blackboard, Content Management System, calendar of events, Banner data, logins Add other Google Apps (OCApps) tools at later date (Winter Term – Jan. 2009)
Branding CAA/OC/Resnet09 Logo to grab people’s attention – let them know this was something new and exciting - OCMail Message from staff member: “First, congratulations to everyone after all of the hard work it must have taken to get us to this point! Second, LOVE the logo.”
Customization CAA/OC/Resnet09 Oberlin College look and feel
Customization CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Customized Start Page = OCApps • E-mail • weather • Google News • word-of-the-day • Added links to password- changing program and OnCampus
Forecast: Partly Cloudy OCApps CAA/OC/Resnet09
Migration Process CAA/OC/Resnet09 Started sign-up (opt-in) for all 07 July 2008 E-Mail to all - info on website - posters Training sessions Complete “how-to” details on Wiki Online training doc Migration required before Fall Break, 18 October 2008
Interim environment IronMail Spam Filter Mail Server Mail Server Clam AV (anti-virus) User Access via: * Mac Mail * Thunderbird * OCMail (web) User’s Inbox Google Server CAA/OC/Resnet09
CIT Website CAA/OC/Resnet09 Basic news and info
CIT Wiki CAA/OC/Resnet09 Complete how-to instructions& FAQs
Sign-Up As of 04-23-09: 4462 total; 45 not yet accessed. CAA/OC/Resnet09
Issues CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Mail Transfer: • All users needed to login to desktop client to transfer mail • Needed to create new account for OCMail • Moving large quantities of messages could be slow or could timeout • Desktop Clients: • Account Settings • Username (ObieID@oberlin.edu)
Issues CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Password Changing • Needed to continue using existing mechanism, NOT OCMail (Google) • LDAP Integration • Did not enable Contact Sharing due to FERPA & desire to preclude use for mass mailings/spam • Delays/Timeouts
Other Considerations CAA/OC/Resnet09 Vacation message On or Off – no way to set actual dates No longer able to block replies to Phishing messages Only one forwarding address allowed Added disclaimer to Start Page re: add-on “gadgets”
Getting People to Migrate CAA/OC/Resnet09 • By 10 October 2008: 487 faculty/staff/org/dept/special accounts + 868 student accounts yet to be migrated • Some expired accounts • Lots of “away” people • Big push at the end • Directed e-mails • One-on-one assistance • Increased number of training sessions “I forgot that I had to change over until tonight, and I just submitted the change-over request, but the website says that it had to be in by 11am today, I think. Will I have a problem with my email now?” [17Oct]
After Migration Date CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Continued moving accounts past Fall Break • Old mail server accessible to Help Desk and all Client Services staff until end of Fall semester • Fewer/shorter delays once OC e-mail server removed from service • Improved spam filtering
New Environment User Access via: * Mac Mail * Thunderbird * OCMail (web) Google Server User’s Inbox Password Changing: Using OC ObieID SelfService Tool CAA/OC/Resnet09
Results CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Opportunity for users to clean up mail • Opportunity to have users set up password recovery questions • Opportunity for users to have all mail – including what was in local folders • Greatly increased quota (7319.198634GB as of 23 April 2009) • Opportunity for us to clean up accounts
Results CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Gmail already used by many • “Conversations” – some like, some don’t • Must open spam folder to view • Password-changing – user education • Anxiety mainly with set-up and moving of mail • Most people positive • President’s Office gives thumbs up
Keys to Success CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Exceptional back-end Systems support • Exceptional Client Services staff • Help Desk Manager, Help Desk Coordinator, student staff, Client Support Analysts • Offer of individual, one-on-one assistance
Keys to Success CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Notification early and often, via multitude of mechanisms: • E-mail • Web – CIT website, OnCampus announcements • Online news: “The Source” • Student Newspaper, “The Oberlin Review” • Solid documentation: CIT Wiki, paper docs
Extended Forecast: More Cloudy OCApps CAA/OC/Resnet09
Further Into “The Cloud” OCMail OCCal OCTalk OCDocs OCSites OCApps CAA/OC/Resnet09
OCApps CAA/OC/Resnet09 • PHASE 1 – by mid-October 2008: • OCMail – e-mail • PHASE 2 – Start 20 January 2009 (CIT staff, early adopters) • OCCal – online calendars • OCTalk – chat feature • OCDocs – doc creation and sharing • OCSites – website & Wiki development
OCApps CAA/OC/Resnet09 • PHASE 3 – starting Spring Break ‘09 • Move Senior Administration calendars from Meetingmaker to OCCal – online calendars • Sync Blackberry’s and iPhone’s with Google provided Sync features • Add additional offices
What’s Next CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Advertise other Google Apps – during Fall semester • Conduct training sessions • Continue to develop (e.g., OCCal resources, use of calendars on campus)
OCApps Policies CAA/OC/Resnet09
What’s Next CAA/OC/Resnet09 • Continue to develop (e.g., OCDocs, encourage use of docs for document sharing) • Continue to develop (e.g., OCSites, incorporate some Sites into main Oberlin web sites) • Explore chat for campus use (e.g., OCTalk)
QUESTIONS? OCApps CAA/OC/Resnet09
Session Evaluations CAA/OC/Resnet09 http://www.resnetsymposium.org/rspm/evaluation/ Chester Andrews: chester.andrews@oberlin.edu http://www.facebook.com/chester.andrews Twitter: chandrews
Credits CAA/OC/Resnet09 Original Presentation: Cindy Sanders, NERCOMP, January 2009 Modified presentation: Building Stronger Collaborative Relationships Across NITLE Institutions: An IT and Library Staff Collaboration Retreat, Centre College, Danville, KY; April 2009 Clouds:http://www.troyh.us/photos/Nature%20&%20Art/slides/04938%20Partly%20cloudy%20sky.html