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DIY instructions for IMAP clients - Activate Solis - Set up Solis account - Migrate IMAP folders - Set Fysica forwards - Remove Fysica account - FAQ

Email migration

 
Revision 31 March 2008 –

IMAP migration: per last weekend, all remaining IMAP mailboxes have been migrated from your Fysica to your Solis email account for you.
So all you have to do is add your Solis account to your email client (step 2 below), and verify that indeed everything is there. After that, you can remove the Fysica account from your client (email programme).
The forward for incoming mail, from your Fysica to your Solis account, has also been set for you.

Pine users: instructions for Pine users are available about how to configure their Solis email account.

Revision 13 March 2008 –

  • Solis and Fysica mailbox quota are 1 GB storage and 10 MB attachments, contrary to earlier reports of mailbox quota being 2 GB.

  • When migrating your email messages and folders from your Fysica to your Solis account (step 3 below) use the copy action (generally a right button mouse option) to copy your messages and folders. Your original messages then remain on your Fysica account, so they can be retrieved when something goes wrong.
    (A `move' action may remove the messages from your Fysica account, potentially resulting in loss of messages when something goes wrong.)

  • Before copying your email messages and folders, consider deleting or purging the contents of your `Deteled Items' and `Junk mail' folders.

  • Maximum attachment sizes will be raised to 20 MB with the next upgrade of the Solis email servers, due at: –unknown date–.

Introduction

7 March 2008 – Email services of Utrecht University are in the process of being centralized.

For members of the Sterrekundig Instituut Utrecht this means that their email address will change from Y.O.U.R.Name@astro.uu.nl to Y.O.U.R.Name@uu.nl.

Effectively, we migrate from the email servers of the Department of Physics and Astronomy to those of the University, a.k.a. (also known as) Solis mail.

Below are instructions for setting up your email client to work with the UU Solis mail servers. They are for people using IMAP clients only. So if you are using MS Exchange, or POP(3) mail, this doesn't apply to you.

If you haven't got a clue as to what this is all about, contact Ed van der Zalm or Sake Hogeveen to assist you in migrating your email account.

DIY instructions for IMAP clients

These Do-It-Yourself instructions are for people who have originally configured their email programme (a.k.a.: email client) themselves, to send and receive email through the servers of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, henceforth called your `Fysica email account'.

The crux of the migration process is to set up your new Solis email account alongside your existing Fysica email account. Do not remove your original account until after you've gone through the whole process.

Here are the migration steps:

  1. Have your Solis email account activated.
  2. Set up your Solis email account.
  3. Copy your IMAP folders from your Fysica account to your Solis account.
  4. Set a forward on your Fysica account.
  5. Remove your Fysica account.
While you are in the migration process, until step 4, email will be coming in through your Fysica email account.

Step 1: have your Solis email account activated

Your registration at Utrecht University, as a staff member or as a student, comes with a Solis-ID by default. To access your Solis email account, you will need the username and password associated to your Solis-ID.

When you have a Solis-ID, a Solis email account has also been set up for you. It just hasn't been activated, meaning that you cannot use it yet.

When you are ready for the email migration process, have your Solis email account activated, by sending an email to Sake Hogeveen, S.J.Hogeveen at uu.nl.

When you have received the confirmation that your email account has been activated, you can proceed with step 2.

Step 2: set up your Solis email account

The procedure explained here assumes you are using an IMAP email client that can handle multiple email accounts.

Setting up the Solis email account simply means adding a new account. Here are the details:

  • Incoming email: IMAP, server name: solis-mail.uu.nl.
    (You can select Secure IMAP, using port 993, rather than port 143.)
  • Outgoing email: SMTP, server name: solis-mail.uu.nl (needs password).
    (Solis mail offers no Secure SMTP for outgoing mail, for reasons unknown to mankind.)
    (You can also select mail.phys.uu.nl, which will remain operational.)

You will have to enter the username and password associated with your Solis-ID while configuring the Solis email account, or when your email client connects to the Solis email servers.

Step 3: copy IMAP folders from your Fysica to your Solis account

IMAP email clients allow you to organize your email into folders. These folders reside on the mail server, which is why you can access them from anywhere in the world, not only from your own laptop, but also via web browsers on public computers in internet cafés, or in university libraries.

IMAP email clients also allow for local folders (sometimes called "Personal" folders). These reside on your computer, and are generally used for archiving older email, when your IMAP folders on the server reach their quota (maximum size for Fysica and Solis mail accounts: 1 GB).

This step is about moving the IMAP folders, that you have created on the server of your Fysica account, to the Solis IMAP server. As such, this is the actual `migration' step.

Before copying your email messages and folders, delete or purge the contents of your `Deteled Items' and `Junk mail' folders.

Copy your folders from your Fysica to your Solis account:

  • Both IMAP accounts, Fysica and Solis, should show up in the mail folder list of your email client.
  • Copy the folders you have created in your Fysica account to your Solis account (mouse action copy is generally a right button option). Please make sure all your folders, and the email messages in them, are copied properly. See the FAQ below for Solis email quota exceeded.
If you have any mail in your Fysica Inbox, that you haven't organized into folders:
  • Copy email messages from your Fysica Inbox to your Solis Inbox.
If your email client only has or shows one Inbox folder:
  • create a temporary folder in your Solis account,
  • copy email messages from your (Fysica) Inbox to this temporary folder,
  • after completion of step 4 below, copy the contents of your temporary folder to the Solis Inbox.

Step 4: set a forward on your Fysica email account

After configuration of your Solis account (step 2), and the migration of your IMAP folders (step 3), email is still coming in through your Fysica account.

You can set a forward on your Fysica email account, so mail coming in at your old email address (***@astro.uu.nl or ***@phys.uu.nl), is forwarded to your new Solis email address: ***@uu.nl.

You can set the forward via the form accessible through the web page: fowarding FYSICA email.

Step 5: remove your Fysica email account

When you are satisfied the migration process went properly, you can remove your Fysica email account from your email client.

Your Fysica IMAP account will be maintained for some time, so you can revert to it, should you have overlooked a folder or an email message in the migration process.

This completes the mail migration process

Below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions.

FAQ

Lost Solis-ID or password
When you have lost your Solis-ID or password contact Sake Hogeveen,
s.j.hogeveen at uu.nl, to help you recover or reset it.

Change Solis password
You can change the password associated to your Solis-ID at the Solis U-gids:
  • click "Eigen gegevens" (in the top row)
  • login with your current Solis-ID credentials
  • at the bottom of the new page click "Wachtwoord wijzigen"
  • type your new password: "Nieuwe wachtwoord"
  • enter it again: "Herhaal wachtwoord"
  • click "Verander"
It may take 20 minutes before your new password has trickled through the system.

Solis password doesn't change
New solis passwords should meet the requirements outlined in the "Wachtwoord wijzigen" page. If your password doesn't change, try a different one. The rules governing permissable passwords seem to be more strict than outlined.

Solis mail quota
Solis mail boxes are 1 GB in size. Attachments can be 10 MB.
For the exchange of larger datasets, e.g. with collaborators, please check: Intercon.

Fysica and Solis email forwards
You can set a forward for incoming email on your Fysica account via the fowarding FYSICA email page:
  • to your Solis address, but also to any other email address you own: your hotmail, gmail, or any other email address;
  • Fysica forwards last five years;
  • Fysica forwards cannot be changed after your account has been deactivated (a few months after the mail migration).
Incoming email on your Solis account can also be forwarded to any other email address you own, via the "Eigen gegevens" link (in the top row) in the Solis U-gids.
  • Solis mail is available until 3 months after your registration as UU staff or student ends;
  • Solis forwards last until one year after your registration as UU staff or student ends.

Solis account quota exceeded
While migrating your email, from your Fysica to your Solis account, you may get error reports like "unknown network errors", etc. This is likely due to your email quota being exceeded at your Solis account. Exceeded quota limits are properly reported when logged into the Solis mail web client: solis-mail.uu.nl.
The Fysica and Solis account email quota are both 1 GigaByte, so there should be ample room for your email migration. However, if you are moving or copying email messages which are stored locally on your computer or laptop, without you being aware of this, then you may exceed your quota unexpectedly.
The remedy is to carefully check your email folders: in most email clients there is a clear distinction between folders stored locally and folders stored on the server.

Solis mail Filter rules
IMAP mail servers allow filter rules to be set on and applied to email and folders on the mail server. Filter rules can be set through your email client, or through the Solis mail web client solis-mail.uu.nl.
Note 1: Server side filter rules on your Fysica account are NOT copied to your Solis account. You will have to recreate them in your Solis account.
Note 2: the option for setting email filter rules only shows up in the Solis mail web client when using MS Internet Explorer as your web browser.

Archiving email
There comes a time when your 1 GB email box fills up to its limits. It is good practise to archive older email messages and folders from time to time.
For most email clients, this is done by creating local email folders, which reside on your laptop or workstation. Email may be archived by moving it from folders on the server, to local folders.
Several email clients have semi-automated archiving procedures, which move email from folders on the server, to exact local copies of those folders, when the messages in them are older than a number of months, to be set by you.
For archiving options of your email client, check its Help documents.
Be sure to make archived email folders part of the backup routine of your laptop or workstation.

Original writeup: 7 March 2008
Latest revision: 31 March 2008