Enterprise IT Migration Overview & FAQ

Transcription

1 Enterprise IT Migratin Overview & FAQ The fllwing cmmunicatin is targeted t AgriLife emplyees lcated in Extensin and Research centers thrughut the state. This cmmunicatin shuld be distributed t everyne in the center t facilitate preparatin and rientatin fr the upcming and file services migratin. Everyne shuld be aware f the Enterprise IT effrt underway t cnslidate and standardize and ther IT services thrughut the Texas AgriLife Extensin Service, Texas AgriLife Research and the Cllege f Agriculture and Life Sciences. The services being ffered thrugh the effrt include: Exchange , Calendaring and Directry Service Enterprise File strage with redundant real time ffsite data replicatin Micrsft Lync: Text Chat, Audi/Vide Chat and Desktp Sharing and Web Cnferencing Enterprise Anti Virus (Sphs) Centralized Web & Applicatin Server Hsting State Cmpliant Wireless Access Pints with integrated Lgin and guest access Upgraded Wide Area Netwrk Bandwidth (Internet) Deplyment f Firewalls at each Center (required by Texas State Plicy) In preparatin fr mving centers t the new Enterprise IT services a variety tasks must first be reslved and cmpleted. These cnsist f: Wide Area Netwrk (Internet) Bandwidth Upgrades Secured and envirnmentally safe lcatin fr lcal servers (required by Texas State Plicy) Physical deplyment f new Micrsft Enterprise Servers, Firewalls and netwrk equipment at each center Cmpletin f AgriLife Retentin Rules and Standard Operating Prcedures AgriLife IT is currently in the prcess f cmpleting these required tasks with a planned cmpletin by early t mid May Centers with n staff IT persnnel have begun early migratin effrts and are assisting AgriLife IT with the deplyment f hardware and netwrking upgrades. The next key phase is t frmally schedule migratin timeframes fr centers, including thse in prcess and thse where effrts have nt begun. AgriLife IT will be wrking with center directrs, district extensin administratrs, and center based IT staff t begin this scheduling prcess and finalizing the deplyment f hardware in the centers. Please lk fr further cmmunicatins frm yur Center Directr r DEA as plans are finalized fr yur respective lcatin. The fllwing prtins f this cmmunicatin are prvided t answer cmmn questins regarding the migratin effrt. Additinally an Emplyee Migratin Preparatin Guide has been develped t cmmunicate specific duties each emplyee are required t perfrm prir t migratin.

2 Frequently Asked Questins Wh will be migrating t these new services? All emplyees f Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas AgriLife Extensin Service and the Cllege f Agriculture and Life Sciences will be migrating t the new Enterprise suite f services. What is the reasn fr the new Enterprise Services? In recent years bth AgriLife agencies and the Cllege f Agriculture and Life Sciences have been fund t be nn cmpliant with Texas State and Texas A&M System IT plicies, rules and prcedures. The Enterprise IT services venture is a remediatin effrt cmmunicated t System Auditrs as the methd we will use t reslve nn cmpliancy and deficiencies in ur IT peratins. The Enterprise IT services ffer a new level f service quality, stability and redundancy within the AgriLife agencies and the Cllege f Agriculture. The gal is t create new high levels f efficiency, security, cllabratin and cst savings thrugh standardizatin and centralizatin f services. These benefits are already nticed by thse migrated t the new services and IT staff wh prvide supprt. What services are emplyees required t utilize? The Vice Chancellr and agency Directr s ffices have advised that Enterprise IT services are t be used by all emplyees. N alternative systems will be supprted. The verview mentined new Retentin and Standard Operating Prcedures. What are the specifics? After several mnths f effrt and review by a representative grup f faculty, staff, prgram directrs, center directrs, and agency leadership a set f retentin and standard perating prcedures (SOP) where apprved fr implementatin with the new platfrm. Each agency and the cllege have unifrmly adpted the retentin and SOP s in rder t prvide fr a high quality, standardized and fiscally respnsible service peratin. Links t each are as fllws: AgriLife Extensin Service Retentin and Standard Operating Prcedures AgriLife Research Retentin and Standard Operating Prcedures Cllege f Agriculture and Life Sciences Retentin and Standard Operating Prcedures When will each center be migrated? Each center will be prvided with apprximately 4 weeks ntice prir t the migratin effrt. In sme centers the lcal IT resurces have begun sme effrts t migrate users t the new system. The gal is t cmplete the migratin effrt statewide by July What issues r service disruptins might be expected during the migratin? Migratin f each center may take 1 t 2 weeks f cncentrated effrt. During this time emplyees sharing calendars r file flders may experience perids f interruptin fr these shared elements. The gal is t minimize these interruptins by migrating lgical grupings f emplyees.

3 What exactly will change n each emplyee s cmputer? There are three basic changes. The first is the client will change frm GrupWise t Outlk. The secnd change is relative t jining each cmputer t an Active Directry Dmain. This makes it such that the username and passwrd yu use t lgin t yur machine is identical t thse fr . This als allws emplyees have access t the advanced enterprise file service features fr failver, redundancy and file recvery. The third change is emplyees will have easy access t new services and sftware as the enterprise IT venture expands. Fr example the Lync chat, vide and audi cnferencing services will be easily activated nce a cmputer is jined t the dmain. I use a Mac cmputer. Hw will I access n the new system? AgriLife IT recmmends that each MAC user btain a cpy f Office 2011 fr the MAC. This sftware requires that yu have Versin 10.5 r 10.6 f the Mac perating system. During the migratin preplanning perid we will identify MAC users and determine what steps need t be perfrmed t prepare yur systems fr access t the new system. What devices and interfaces will be supprted n the new mail system? Micrsft Outlk 2007 and 2010 are supprted n Windws platfrms. Office 2011 Outlk fr Macintsh systems is supprted. Additinally a rbust web interface will allw yu t access yur frm any Internet cnnected cmputer. This will be the preferred methd f interactin fr hme use, eliminating the need t install Outlk sftware. All smart phnes (iphne, Andrid, Windws Mbile (6.5, 7.X), and Blackberry) have native supprt with Micrsft Exchange. If yu have ne f these devices they will be linked t yur new accunt during the migratin prcess enabling access t , calendaring and cntacts. IMAP service is als supprted fr lder phne devices r with ther generic clients. AgriLife IT des nt recmmend IMAP due t limited capability and inherent cnnectin issues Tell me mre abut LYNC and what des it ffer? Micrsft Lync is a pwerful cllabratin / cmmunicatins tl prviding text, audi, and vide cmmunicatins. In additin Lync ffers features such as desktp sharing and business cnference meetings. AgriLife IT has engineered the service s that nn emplyees can participate in web cnference meetings when invited. What shuld individual faculty and staff be ding t prepare fr the migratin? There are tw tasks yu shuld prefrm befre the migratin. Fr the fllwing general actins are required. Please see the Emplyee Migratin Preparatin Guide fr specific methds f rganizing and cleaning yur accunt. 1. All emplyees shuld cleanup unwanted and flders frm their live accunt. This includes cleaning ut yur SENT and TRASH flders and generally remving any unwanted frm all flders. The less yu have t migrate the faster yur migratin will ccur and the less prbability that issues will be ccur.

4 2. Emplyees shuld als cleanup s within their archives as required. If an emplyee des nt have archived mail, r des nt need t retain any stred in the archive n actin relative t the archive is required. 3. After a general cleanup and at least 5 days prir t migratin all emplyees using GrupWise shuld activate GrupWise Caching. In the pre planning stage, either yur lcal IT resurce r AIT will prvide instructins n perfrming this actin. Fr data stred n the Nvell File Server (r ther file server types) the fllwing is required f all emplyees: 1. Please begin rganizing all files and flders and remve any unwanted r unnecessary data files. There shuld be n persnal files stred n the file server, persnal music, vide r phtgraphs shuld be remved. 2. Emplyees will be asked t verify which shared flders they need access t prir t the migratin. Please review all flders yu currently have access t and be prepared t prvide this infrmatin during the pre migratin planning. What items within my current accunt WILL NOT be migrated? In rder t help expedite the migratin prcess the Agency Directrs have authrized that certain infrmatin will nt be migrated fr emplyees thse currently using GrupWise. Exceptins include: Emplyee s using an existing Micrsft Exchange Accunt and Outlk Client Centers r departments that exclusively have their internal IT resurces perfrm migratins withut utside assistance frm AgriLife IT. The fllwing applies t all emplyees using GrupWise and nt in ne f the abve exceptins: 1. In the GrupWise Archive n migratin will be perfrmed n the INBOX, SENT, TRASH, CALENDAR r CONTACTS flders. If exists in these flders that an emplyee wishes t retain they shuld cpy the t separate persnal flders in under the Cabinet flder. If an emplyee des nt have an archive r wishes t retain any in their archive they need nt perfrm any actin. 2. Fr all ther flders in the GrupWise archive nly mail within the last tw years will be migrated. beynd tw years frm the date f migratin by default will nt be migrated and will nt be accessible nce migratin is cmplete. If an emplyee has a legitimate need t keep beynd tw years they need t btain written authrizatin frm the center directr, DEA r Agency Directr and prvide that permissin t AgriLife IT prir t the migratin prcess. If an exemptin is apprved: The migratin f that archive will nt be prcessed the day f the migratin.

5 The emplyee s GrupWise mail cache and archives will be sent t a central prcessing team t accmplish the archive migratin. Depending n the scale it may take several days, weeks r mnths t perfrm the migratin. Once prcessed, the migrated archive files will be prvided t the user in the frm f an Outlk.PST file readable by the Outlk mail client.

6 Emplyee Migratin Preparatin Guide In preparatin fr the migratin and file server migratin emplyees are required t perfrm the fllwing steps. Preparatin As nted in the AgriLife Retentin and Standard Operating Prcedures dcuments: AgriLife Extensin Service Retentin and Standard Operating Prcedures AgriLife Research Retentin and Standard Operating Prcedures Cllege f Agriculture and Life Sciences Retentin and Standard Operating Prcedures Each emplyee will be limited t a 2GB mailbx flder and a 1GB archive flder. Therefre it is required that prir t migratin yur live mailbx be less than 2GB. The fllwing steps allw yu t review yur current mailbx size. Steps t take: 1. Check yur bx size in GrupWise a. Select the Tls menu b. Chse the Check Mailbx size ptin frm the drp dwn c. The size f yur current bx will be listed in MB (megabytes) Yur bx size must be less than 2048 MB t be migrated nt the Exchange platfrm. Remember the smaller it is the easier the migratin. 2. Regardless f size, review bx cntents and either transfer r delete cntents using the fllwing parameters as a guide. a. Delete all ld, unused flders in yur cabinet b. Delete ld, unneeded items in all flders c. Preferably Delete sent items lder than the last 2 3 days d. Delete all ld, unneeded items in yur mailbx e. Review remaining flders such as trash, junk mail, wrks in prgress, etc. and delete any ld, unneeded items NOTE: As a general rule n items lder than ne mnth shuld be left in the sent r deleted items flders. 3. Review and cleanup archive and understand what s will nt be migrated: Fr yur GrupWise archive, n migratin will be perfrmed n the INBOX, SENT, TRASH, CALENDAR r CONTACTS flders. If exists in these flders mve the t separate persnal flders in the Cabinet flder. If an emplyee des nt have an archive r des nt wish t retain in their archive they need nt perfrm any actin. Fr all ther flders in the GrupWise archive Cabinet nly mail within the last tw years will be migrated.

7 beynd tw years frm the date f migratin by default will nt be migrated t and will nt be accessible nce migratin is cmplete. If an emplyee has a legitimate need t keep beynd tw years they will need t btain written authrizatin frm the center directr, r DEA r Agency Directr and prvide that permissin t AgriLife IT prir t the migratin prcess. If an exemptin is apprved: The migratin f that archive will nt be prcessed the day the day f the migratin. The emplyee s GrupWise cache and archives will be sent t a central prcessing team t accmplish the archive migratin. Depending n the scale f messages it may take several days, weeks r mnths t perfrm the migratin. Once prcessed, the migrated archive files will be prvided t the user in the frm f an Outlk.PST file readable by the Outlk mail client. 4. Review the main Address bk a. Remve any ld, unneeded cntacts r grups 5. Identify yur preferred/marketed address assciated with this bx a. This is the address yu advertise (this appears as yur Reply T: address n yur sent ) b. This might be yur TAMU address (name@tamu.edu) r it might be yur AgriLife address (name@ag.tamu.edu) File Server Data Preparatin Currently yu may be using file servers in centers t stre business related data files and dcuments. Over time there may have been a buildup f files that are n lnger necessary r general rganizatin may have degraded. Rather than mve data frm the ld file servers t the new file services in this state each emplyee shuld perfrm the fllwing actins. This will greatly reduce the time t transfer data files as well as perfrm any verdue and necessary cleanup actin. Ultimately this will create a clean and efficient envirnment mving frward. Steps t take: 1. BE AWARE: Review all current files and flders n any file server accunts yu have and btain an up t date status f which directries and files yu have access t. 2. CLEANUP PERSONAL DATA FILES: Remve any unwanted files. This includes any persnal files that are nt business related (i.e. music files, phts, r persnal files nt related t specific jb tasks) 3. ORGANIZE PERSONAL FOLDERS: The next actin is t rganize and cnslidate files as necessary int prperly labeled file flders. This will essentially cmpact and rganize grups f files making the migratin f the data mre efficient. 4. SHARED GROUP FOLDERS: If yu have access t a shared grup flders please wrk with thers sharing the flder t perfrm apprpriate cleanup and rganizatin and crdinate with yur lcal IT manager n dcumenting these flders and access (AIT will facilitate fr centers with n lcal IT Manager).