jeff mckinney exchange to mirapoint migration january 11, 2006 securing email: exchange to mirapoint...
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Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Securing Email: Exchange to Mirapoint
Jeff McKinneyUniversity of Maryland
Dept of Electrical & Computer Eng.
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Email at UMD Central IT
50,000+ users All students & many faculty/staff users
Individual departments/colleges ISR, ECE – hundreds of users Many others
Historically many email systems Moving toward single central system
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
ECE/ISR Environment – Previous Email Infrastructure
Exchange 2000 Server Active Directory on Server 2000 Outlook XP/2000
Users 500+ email users Most underutilizing Exchange features
Email Basic calendaring
Many large mailboxes – problem for central IT Limited local IT Resources
3 FTEs including me Many responsibilities beyond email
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
General Issues Unstable environment
Weekly problems - misconfigurations Difficult & time consuming to troubleshoot
Impacting email and calendaring University environment – email client choice
Physical hardware old Running out of storage Cost of Exchange
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Security Issues Patch Tuesday testing requirements
Delay patching while testing Significant changes each month
Many security related configurations General purpose OS & feature heavy Exchange Email being rejected due to RBL listing Cumbersome Anti-Spam & Anti-Virus
Integration / Administration issues Hacking Issues
Worms, trojans, etc. Rebuild or restore on multiple occasions
Time consuming and disruptive to users
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Options Invest further in Exchange
Upgrade hardware Add storage Upgrade software Improve test environment Improve configuration & audit regularly
Alternative solutions Simplify IT & reduce costs Most users don’t need all Exchange functionality Need primarily only basic calendar & email Must work with Outlook Need improved Anti-spam & Anti-virus
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Mirapoint Experience with other campus units Rich user experience & branding Secure & Simple
Default configuration secure Very little to configure (or misconfigure)
Options are available but few changes required Checkboxes to force SSL No shell access, only mail services running Smoothly integrated & powerful anti-spam & anti-virus
Reliable Relatively few critical patches
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Simple Configuration Example
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Migration November 2004 Used Mirapoint ProServ for migration Flash cut after test migrations
Full reconciliation post-migration No data lost
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Outlook & Client Support Implemented standards-based approach (IMAP, POP, XML)
No email related issues & minor client config issues re: calendar
Retained group calendar functionality
Mirapoint proven as viable alternative to MS Exchange for enterprise-class users
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Results Pre-Mirapoint
Server related email issues weekly Critical patches monthly, complex testing IT support 30%+ of an FTE
Post Mirapoint – Nov 2004 – Nov 2005 No server related email issues – it just works Critical patches quarterly/semi-annually Simple patch testing – appliance IT support < 5% of an FTE Calendaring is improving
Next Steps Coordinate with central IT Move to main campus Mirapoint setup?
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Questions??
Jeff McKinney
Exchange to Mirapoint MigrationJanuary 11, 2006
Copyright Jeff McKinney, 2006. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.