UVa Student/Alumni Email Transition

Answers to Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs)

FAQs about the UVa Student/Alumni Email Transition

About the Migration

Who's Affected

Accessing Your New Account

About the New Services

Answers to Frequently-Asked Questions

About the Migration

I got a notice that my account is about to be migrated. I've heard from others that this can flood your personal email account with hundreds of messages. How do I avoid this?

If you have a forward set on your UVa email to forward your University email to a personal, non-UVa email account, we strongly recommend you remove this forward immediately. If you do not remove it before your account is migrated from the Central Mail Service (CMS) to your vendor of choice, the migration will send all your UVa CMS emails to your personal account rather than your new UVa Gmail or Microsoft Live account. You can always place the forward back after your migration is complete, if you like.

Will my email address change?
No, your UVa email address in the form of UVa computing ID@virginia.edu (e.g., mst3k@virginia.edu) will remain exactly the same. Once you transition to the new service, you will have one additional address given to you automatically: your computing ID followed by @email.virginia.edu (e.g., mst3k@email.virginia.edu). You may use these two “primary” addresses interchangeably. (You may also have up to 2 UVa email aliases, as well, if you like.)
Will I lose my alias? How many aliases can I have?

If you currently have a UVa email alias (e.g., miketurner@virginia.edu), it will continue to work until you graduate and leave UVa. (As has always been the case, email aliases ending in @virginia.edu expire when their owners graduate and leave UVa.)

Students are no longer able to create new aliases that end with @virginia.edu, but can still request up to 2 aliases ending in @email.virginia.edu (e.g., miketurner@email.virginia.edu). Up to 2 aliases may be managed (kept, changed, or deleted) in that domain for life. You can create, change, and delete email aliases using the UVa Email Address Management System.

Will my stored messages and folders migrate automatically to the new service?

Yes, students and alumni who have followed instructions to queue their account for migration will have their existing messages and folders on the CMS automatically moved to their vendor of choice. After Tuesday, August 19th, 2008, all students who have not yet selected a vendor for migration will automatically be placed in the queue for migration to UVa Gmail.

Note that you may find the display of your messages somewhat different from the CMS once on UVa Google email or UVa Microsoft Live. For example, your email folders on the CMS will appear as “labels” instead when migrated to UVa Gmail.

Why is the University making this change?

The migration of student email accounts to third-party providers is a big win for students and alumni. It enables students to keep their UVa email account after they graduate—something the University has wanted to offer for a long time, but has not had the resources to provide. The private vendors also offer a suite of tools and functionality that integrate with email, which will enhance the email experience. The email interfaces are also considerably more modern and user-friendly.

Moreover, because email is a core business for these providers, and because they serve vast numbers of users, they are much better able than UVa's email system to scale up to increased demand, and adjust to changes in load. That translates to more reliable, robust email for students and alumni.

Have any other universities done this?

Yes. UVa joins a growing list of institutions that are using third-party email service providers—including Indiana University, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, and Arizona State—who have offered either Microsoft Live@edu, Gmail with Google Apps, or both to their students.

When will the transition happen? How will it work?

The transition is really a 2-step process. First, you queue your account for migration so your existing CMS mail is in line to be migrated to Gmail or Microsoft Live@edu. (You can get an account with one or both vendors to sample their services, but must choose only one vendor for migration.) Then, existing CMS mail will be migrated to your vendor of choice. After Tuesday, August 19th, 2008, all students who have not yet selected a vendor for migration will automatically be placed in the queue for migration to UVa Gmail.

 

More detail about these 2 steps:

  1. Students and alumni were invited to request an account with the vendors in phases from April through June 2008. Note: After you select a vendor for migration, you'll have to decide how you want to use your new email account until the migration of your existing CMS mail to your vendor of choice is completed. You may opt to:

    • Continue receiving new email in your CMS account for now, with no new mail delivered to your new account, until your CMS mail is migrated to your new account (this is the default selection); or
    • Begin receiving new email messages in your new account now, and access your older email messages on the CMS, until your CMS mail is migrated to your new account.
  2. The migration of your existing CMS email to your new vendor of choice. Migrations are processed in the order in which students made their resquests, with those who were among the first to be invited at the top of the list for migration, and later groups following.
Can I have an account with both vendors?

Yes, you may have a UVa email account with both Microsoft and Google. However, you first have to queue your account for migration to one vendor before you can request an account with the other vendor to test out its services. (If, after testing, you discover that you want to change which vendor you've selected, you can do so.)

So, you may opt to use both vendors, but only one account will contain your migrated CMS email messages and folders. And you can control how your email is routed to both accounts through use of the UVa Email Address Management System.

Can I change my mind and switch vendors before I'm migrated?

Yes, you can change your choice of vendor anytime until your migration begins. Simply return to the vendor migration choice page and select the other vendor. Once mail migrations begin, only your latest request will be processed.

Can I switch vendors after I've migrated to one service?
You can. However, your existing email messages and folders will not be automatically migrated again. After the one-time migration of your existing email on the University's Central Mail Service (CMS) to the vendor of your choice, no more auto-migrations will be offered. So if you switch vendors, you are responsible for moving messages between them, and setting up any necessary auto-forwarding.

Who's Affected

Does the change affect all students at UVa?

All current students on the UVa Central Mail Service (CMS) will have the option of getting an account with the commercial services. After Fall 2008, all incoming students will have an account with one of the vendors automatically pre-provisioned for them. (These new students will have the option to switch vendors if they want to change from the vendor to which they've been randomly preassigned.)

UVa schools that provide student accounts on their own servers, such as Darden and Commerce, will continue to make their own decisions about student email.

What will change when I graduate or leave the University?

Your email address(es) will continue to work after you graduate. If you have email addresses at both @virginia.edu and @email.virginia.edu, they will still work. (But, your email aliases @virginia.edu will expire when you graduate).

Once you are no longer a student, the only difference you will notice is that your account will display advertisements beside your messages.

If you leave the University before you graduate, you forfeit all your UVa email, as has always been the case.

Will UVa faculty and staff be allowed UVa email accounts on Google and Microsoft?
Gmail and Microsoft Live@edu accounts are primarily offered to students and alumni. However, accounts are also available to faculty and staff who provide technical support to students.
Will current alumni, who use the forwarding-only service, have access to the new email services?
ITC is making provisions for alumni presently using the forwarding-only service to take advantage of the Google and Microsoft offerings. More details will be made available by the Alumni Association.

Accessing Your New Account

Can I consolidate my non-UVa email account and my UVa Google/UVa Microsoft Live@edu email account, or set a forward from one to the other? 

While there is no way for personal accounts to be merged with University accounts, you can consolidate your accounts. Please use the help within UVa Gmail or UVa Microsoft Live, or use a search engine to learn how to do the consolidation.

Another option is to forward your University email messages to your personal account. To do this, use UVa's Email Address Management Tool to add your personal email account as a deliverable address, and then use the Tool to forward your University email there.

Where do I go to access my new email account?

The simple answer is go to www.mail.virginia.edu. If you have just one account, that will take you straight to your inbox. If you have more than one, you'll be presented with a “switchboard” so you can choose which account you want to log into.

Alternatively, if you have a Virginia Gmail account, you can also go to directly to www.mail.virginia.edu/google. Note that going straight to google.com or gmail.com will not work.

And if you have a Virginia Microsoft Live@edu account, you can go directly to www.mail.virginia.edu/microsoft. (Or, you can also go straight to www.mail.live.com. You must supply your UVa login and password when going to this site.)

Will I be able to access my account using an email program via POP or IMAP?

Yes. Gmail supports both POP and IMAP. Microsoft Live@edu supports POP. Instructions for each are below.

UVa Gmail users: To configure your email program to use IMAP or POP with your UVa Gmail account:

UVa Gmail: Change your Gmail password:

  1. Click Settings at the top of any page.
  2. Choose the Accounts tab.
  3. Click Change Password.
  4. Click button for Yes, reset my password.
  5. Log out and exit UVa Gmail.
  6. Log back into your UVa Google account.
  7. Respond to prompts to reset your UVa Gmail password to match your UVa email password.

NOTE: Your Gmail password MUST match your UVa email password.

UVa Gmail: Configure UVa Gmail for POP or IMAP:

  1. Click Settings at the top of any page.
  2. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
  3. Enable POP or IMAP.
  4. Click Save Changes.

UVa Gmail: Use the following settings for the configurations of your email program on your computer:

  • Username: your computing ID@virginia.edu (e.g.: mst3k@virginia.edu)
  • POP Incoming server: pop.googlemail.com or pop.gmail.com
  • IMAP Incoming server: imap.googlemail.com or imap.gmail.com
  • Outgoing server: smtp.googlemail.com or smtp.gmail.com
  • Note: Connections to both incoming and outgoing servers must be encrypted.

UVa Gmail: Detailed instructions for what value goes where in your email program can be found by clicking the Configuration Instructions link on the UVa Gmail Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab. You need to read these instructions for your email program, using the values shown above, making certain to follow all the steps provided by the UVa Gmail help—some email programs require port settings and the UVa Gmail help has the correct values for these.

Microsoft Live@edu users: To configure your email program to use POP with your UVa Microsoft Live@edu account, use the following settings in your email program:

  • Username: your computing ID@virginia.edu (e.g.: mst3k@virginia.edu)
  • POP Incoming server: pop3.live.com
  • Server port: 995
  • Outgoing server: smtp.live.com
  • Server port: 25
  • Secure connection (SSL) required

Live@edu users can also manage their email and contacts via Outlook by installing Outlook Connector, a free software download from Microsoft.

About the New Services

How do I choose which service is right for me?
Read about the services provided by each service provider on their websites (see Gmail with Google Apps and Microsoft Live@edu), and feel free to request an account with one or both vendors to sample the services of the vendors. You will have to select only one vendor when you queue your account for migration, though.
Do I have to change my UVa email?
Yes, eventually all UVa students and alumni from the classes of 2006, 2007, and 2008 will all be moved off the University's Central Mail Service (CMS) and onto email service with a UVa-contracted vendor. The University is making this change because it will benefit both students (by providing a more modern and user-friendly email interface, as well as the capacity to maintain UVa email for life) and ITC (by freeing up server space and memory for other UVa computing processes).
How big will my quota be?
View Gmail with Google Apps or Microsoft Live@edu for information on quota size.
Will I get a lot of spam using the new service?
No. Both Gmail and Live@edu use state-of-the-art technologies to defeat spam.
Will my privacy be protected once I'm on using a vendor service?

Both of our vendors are committed to protecting your privacy. To find out more about their respective policies and safeguards, please visit the following links:

Where can I go for help with the service I select?
The ITC Help Desk will help with transition issues, and will try to provide support for basic questions. For questions ITC cannot answer, you should work with the service provider you selected.
Can I delete my account?

We can make your account inactive if needed. If you would like it deactivated, please email postmaster@virginia.edu, explaining that you want your account deactivated and noting your service provider (UVa Google, UVa Microsoft, or both).

Does the contract with Microsoft for Live@edu include Exchange Labs or just Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail?
UVa's current contract with Microsoft is for Microsoft Live Hotmail, as Exchange Labs was not in production when the contract was signed. ITC is open to consideration of moving to Exchange Labs after it has matured.
When I send a message to myself from my UVa Google account to my UVa alias address, it never appears in my UVa Google inbox. How do I fix that?

To makes messages sent to your UVa email alias appear in your Virginia Google inbox:

  • Go to http://www.mail.virginia.edu.
  • If necessary, authenticate through Netbadge using your UVa Computing ID and UVa password.
  • Click on UVa Gmail with Google Apps.
  • Click the Settings link.
  • Click the Accounts link.
  • In the Send Email As: section, click Add another email address.
  • Follow the instructions provided to add your email alias address to UVa Gmail.

Note: if you have more than one UVa email alias, you will need to do the above for each alias that you have.

I was migrated and my UVa Google account shows fewer messages than my UVa CMS account. How do I get all of my messages migrated?

UVa Google shows you the number of message conversations you have — a conversation (sometimes called a thread) is a group of messages that have the same recipients and subjects. The CMS counts each message individually. The number of UVa Google conversations often differs from the number of CMS messages.

If you believe that you are missing one or more messages, please contact the ITC Computing Help Desk at (434) 924-3731 and provide the following information from the existing message in your CMS account:

  1. what folder the message(s) are in, and
  2. the message-id, or to/from/date/subject of the message(s)

you believe exist on the CMS but not on your UVa Google account. The Help Desk will be able to do a referral to our migration engineers who can then examine your accounts to determine what has happened and what needs to happen.

© 2008 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.

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