Migration of departmental email system to CalMail

On April 6 (as currently planned), the Mathematics Department will switch its email system to the campus' email system, CalMail. This is being done in order to free up departmental staff time for other duties, and because increasing volumes of spam, clever spammers, and changes in the way that email is used are making it increasingly difficult for us properly to manage an email system in-house.

Advantages for users are that the CalMail system will be more reliable than the departmental mail system, spam should be more effectively reduced, and disk storage for mail on the CalMail server will be substantially larger. (Note, however, that pine/alpine may automatically move incoming mail from the server to your home directory, so this advantage might not affect pine/alpine users. However, this behavior does not seem to apply to IMAP.)

The main change for users is that the way that you read incoming mail will change. The extent of this change depends on which mail client you use for reading mail.

• Users of mutt, alpine (formerly pine), Thunderbird, Apple's Mail.app (also known as Mail) and other IMAP-capable mail readers will see minimal changes. Although Eudora may work, its use is strongly discouraged. In fact, Eudora has been abandoned by its developers and does not meet the minimal security standards required by IS&T, so you should not be using it on campus at all. Please see this article on Eudora-to-Thunderbird migration from IS&T knowledge base. Also have a look at Tom Holub's blog with additional discussion and links to LSCR howto pages. Apple's Mail.app has built-in support for migrating from Eudora.
• Users who read mail using the department's SquirrelMail web interface will need to point their browsers to CalMail instead.
• The Unix mail program does not directly support the IMAP protocol. Users can either switch to one of the above mail clients, or make some changes in how you read mail. See the wiki page on CalMail conversion and Unix mail.
• The mail client dtmail will no longer be supported. (This is the client that you get when you click on the mail icon in the Solaris CDE environment). Users of dtmail will have to switch to one of the mail clients listed above.
• Users of emacs RMAIL will be responsible for managing the transition on their own. Probably RMAIL per se will not work, except via VM ("View Mail"). For documentation on VM, see the following link.

Watch this space for further information on procedures to follow during the transition. (e.g., see the question on setting your CalMail password, below).

Questions and Answers

Here are answers to some questions you may have about the transition.

How should I configure my email client?

See Email Calmail Settings

Will my math.berkeley.edu email address go away after the transition?

No, you will still have the same math.berkeley.edu email address as before. The only difference is that incoming and outgoing mail will be handled by CalMail servers instead of by Math Department computers.

Will I need to create my own CalMail account?

No, you will not need take steps on your own to create the CalMail account. Note that if you go to CalMail's web site and create an account for yourself, you will have a different email address, username@berkeley.edu, instead of username@math.berkeley.edu. Of course, you can do that, but it is probably not what you want to do, since you will then have two independent CalMail accounts after the transition.

New accounts have already been created for most users, including all staff and faculty. You may access them now. Note that your login on Calmail includes the text @math.berkeley.edu. If you find that you do not have an account, either we were unable to obtain a Calnet UID for you, or you do not have a valid Calnet ID.

What if I already have a Calmail account?

It will continue to operate, independent of this new account. You might want to arrange to forward mail from one to the other.

Do I already have a CalMail password?

No, not unless you have independently created one. Your CalMail account username@math.berkeley.edu may have already been created, or if not, will be created for you soon, but will not be receiving any email until after the transition.

How do I create my new password?

Once your new account has been established, you should use a web browser and go to the Change Password link, on the left side of the Calmail home page. That will allow you to authenticate via Calnet ID, and return you to the password page. Enter your Login, which will be username@math.berkeley.edu, and then create a new password.

Will the "quota for incoming mail" still be in effect after the transition?

The existing mail quota system will no longer be in effect. Incoming mail will no longer be stored in the directory /var/mail presently used for incoming mail and subject to the 25 megabyte departmental quota. Mail will either be stored in your home directory, where it will be subject to your usual quota, or on the CalMail server, which has its own quota of 1GB per user. (In the unlikely event that even 1 GB is not enough for you, you can send a request for an increase to request@math.berkeley.edu.)

What will happen to the current contents of my inbox?

Nothing will happen to your inbox on the Math server without your explicit action. You should move the contents of your inbox (the file /var/mail/username) to your new account, using your IMAP mail client. Instructions will be provided for various clients. You may also have mail folders stored in your home directory. The departmental imap server, as well as some mail clients, may immediately move incoming mail into the file mbox in your home directory. Most people store mail in folders within their home directories. The transition will not affect the mbox file, other mail olders, or anything else within your home directory. These can be moved at your leisure, after you have set up the password for your CalMail account - see Move_mbox_Calmail.

What about mail forwarding?

It will be possible to forward mail from your CalMail account, either keeping a copy also on CalMail or not. Forwarding will no longer be managed by editing a file .forward within your home directory, however. Instead, you will need to log in to the CalMail web page to set this up. By default, your .forward settings will not be transferred to the new account; however, we can do that for you if you specifically request it.

What about outgoing mail? Will the process of sending mail change?

When sending mail from one of the Math Department workstations or servers, you will not see any difference. If you've configured your own email client for remote access, you'll need to change the server settings, specifically the SMTP server, which should be calmail.berkeley.edu.

What will happen to the mailing list(s) that I manage?

Managed mailing lists (i.e. Mailman lists) will be moved for you. The list address will not change. Currently, Calmail doesn't provide Mailman archiving, but that may change soon.

What if I don't have a valid Calnet ID?

Unfortunately, without a valid Calnet ID, we cannot create an account for you on Calmail. If you recently left the Math Department, we can arrange for mail forwarding to your new account for a limited time. Send a request to request@math.berkeley.edu. Likewise, send a request if you feel that you do (or should) have a valid Calnet iD.

HELP! I can't understand this stuff. How can I get a person to help?

There are a number of people that can be contacted for help. Please DO NOT call these people and say that you haven't bothered to read the documentation that so many of us have worked to prepare. Your appeal for personal help will be greeted much more sympathetically if you at least indicate that you have read this page. In fact, if you have read it, you may not actually need to contact anyone. However, if you do: First, you can contact the Calmail support team directly - consult@berkeley.edu, or 510-642-8500. Next, you can send email to request@math.berkeley.edu, or contact the unix support staff of LSCR, which includes Steve (2-8570) and Igor (3-8747). Staff can contact ohlone. Faculty can get help from the LSCR faculty support team - fac_support@ls.berkeley.edu. A couple of faculty members, Arthur Ogus and Paul Vojta, are volunteering to help individual faculty by personal request.