Migration Status

Ugh, this is a difficult mail to write.Those migration accounts we created, the ones that took so much time moving mail automatically from cliff (old server) to zimbra (new server)… the accounts we spent so much time creating in an effort to make this transition easier for everyone, but ended up just making things more confusing…I’ve seen enough reports on these from our users to say that the larger ones are quite likely incomplete.I don’t know why at this point, and our time is probably better spent helping y’all get moved over than troubleshooting why something that we’re not going to do again went wrong.But it does mean a change in the story and how to proceed.Please see http://wiki.mcs.anl.gov/IT/index.php/Mail#Status_of_old_mail for instructions on how to make sure your mailbox is complete.I’m really very sorry about this mess.  When we undertook this migration strategy, it was after careful consideration.  I’d read up on how a number of other organizations went about migrating to a new mail service, and the general trend was to stand up the new server, and on a particular date, switch delivery to the new account.  Then, let users migrate their mail during a migration period.I was going to go that route, but I got convinced by the allure of a number of migration tools that made it seem we could handle the heavy lifting in this process for you.  Well, it turns out that those tools were not suited to as deep and complex a mail environment as ours.  In the end, with my 20/20 hindsight, I can say the best strategy would have been my gut instinct.Especially since that’s basically what we’ve fallen back to right now.So, please check your inbox for any holes that may exist.  The general reports I’m seeing seem to indicate that March and April’s mail are the ones most likely to be missing.  In that case, it should exist on the old account, and it can be migrated over.As promised in previous notices, when this process is said and done, all the existing mail files on the old server will be archived to tape, just in case.  But the old mail server will be online for at the very least a month, if not more, since we still have other services to migrate off of there.Thank you all again for keeping the torches and pitchforks away.  We’re doing our best to help everyone in a timely manner without letting panic set in.  And, when this is all done, I’m having a big party, and you’re all invited.