@cornell.edu: CIT's advice: Avoid deactivation; upgrade e-mail before Dec. 2

Early in October, Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) sent the first of three e-mails to approximately 11,000 members of the Cornell community to let them know that the server hosting their e-mail accounts is about to be retired from service. All of these e-mail accounts must be moved to a new server to avoid being deactivated.

On Dec. 2, 2003, all e-mail accounts and mail on postoffice (this one is not numbered) and on postoffices 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be moved to postoffice 10. CIT, however, strongly recommends that these e-mail users upgrade their own e-mail accounts prior to Dec. 2.

Why? 1) Ease: We want this process to be as painless as possible for all of our customers. 2) Convenience: All customers choose to upgrade their e-mail when the time is right during the next two months. 3) No delay of service: When CIT upgrades postoffices on Dec. 2, all e-mail accounts on the old postoffices will be rendered inactive until their owners call the CIT Contact Center (HelpDesk) at 255-8990 for instructions on how to reactivate their accounts.

To find out which postoffice you're on now, go to http://directory.cornell.edu/dsgw/bin/lang?context=cupb (Cornell's Electronic Directory) and enter your NetID (for example, ewe2). Your current postoffice is shown in the "Mail Routing" line.

What are your options? Once you have migrated to the new postoffices (6, 7, 8 or 9), you will have the advantages of virus protection software, spam labeling and better performance. If you'd like your e-mail to function basically the same as it does now, choose Eudora with POP. http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/email/eudora/simple.html.

If you'd like more from your e-mail, choose Eudora with IMAP. It's a new way to store and organize all of your mail on CIT's system. If you use multiple computers, IMAP is helpful because it keeps track of whether you've read messages, replied to them, deleted them or sorted them into mailboxes. http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/email/eudora/setupimap.html

What happens when your e-mail account is upgraded?

• On Dec. 2 (while the server upgrade is occurring), you won't be able to send or receive e-mail. Messages sent to you will be delivered as soon as the upgrade is completed.

• After the upgrade, you'll be able to access your e-mail with WebMail http://webmail.cornell.edu/ or the uPortal.Cornell e-mail channel http://uportal.cornell.edu immediately, and with Eudora as soon as you make some changes on your computer (see http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/email/eudora/simple.html).

• If you use Outlook, Communicator, Entourage or another e-mail tool, you'll need to set it up to use SSL (or TLS) to continue accessing your e-mail.

• All messages you've stored on CIT's e-mail system will be kept.

• Travelers Mail and the old WebEmail no longer exist. The new WebMail http://webmail.cornell.edu/ and the uPortal.Cornell e-mail channel replace both; neither of these options, however, are designed to be your primary mail option.

More than 24,000 people have already upgraded their e-mail. Find out how at http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/email/migrate.html. Need help? Call or e-mail CIT's Contact Center (HelpDesk) at 255-8990 or helpdesk@cornell.edu. If you're a faculty or staff member, your department's technical support providers also can help.

@cornell.edu is written by Leslie Intemann of Cornell Information Technologies.