Zimbra at Goshen College

The migration of mail and calendar data in early July was successful and the campus is now live on Zimbra for email, calendar and collaboration.  ITS staff have been busy helping resolve migration-related issues and assisting departments in mapping their mail and calendaring needs onto the new system.  If you were out of town during the transition or just have questions about what happened, it may be helpful to be aware of the following:

Retirees who are using Eudora, Apple Mail or some other email program:

The email migration should not effect you and you can continue to use your email as you have been.

Users who are forwarding their GC email to another email account:
This email migration should not effect you and you can continue to use your email as you have been.

Employees and Students who are using Thunderbird, Apple Mail, or Webmail (roundcube or iloha), and Retirees who have switched to Thunderbird IMAP:

• You can continue to use Thunderbird or Apple Mail (Mac Mail) if you wish. Just understand that there are some integration features between mail and calendar that you will not be able to do in Thunderbird and Apple Mail.
• To view your email via a web interface, use https://mail.goshen.edu as the address. All of your old email messages have been migrated to this new location. Note: Employees who wish to continue to use Thunderbird or Apple Mail on their office computers may do so.
• You will need to retrieve your address book and import it into the new mail system. To do this, follow the instructions here: http://www.goshen.edu/zimbra/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Transfer Note: Any employees who are using Thunderbird or Apple Mail and choose to continue to use those email clients on their office computers, do not need to import their address book into the new mail system, unless you want your address book available when using email via the web.
• If you are missing any email or mail folders, please contact Ryan Rittenhouse immediately at .
• The vacation message feature in GC Online will be replaced with Zimbra's vacation message feature. If you currently have an active vacation message that you are using, you will need to set it up in Zimbra mail. Follow the instructions at http://www.goshen.edu/zimbra/Zimbra_Help/Zimbra_Mail_Help#Vacation
• Email forwarding now takes place through Zimbra, rather than GC Online. If you need to forward your GC email account to another email account, go to http://www.goshen.edu/zimbra/Zimbra_Help/Zimbra_Mail_Help#Forwarding
• Any web browser bookmarks that you have made for getting to webmail will need to be change to https://mail.goshen.edu
• If you had filters set up in Thunderbird, they may be broken. If so, you will need to re-set them up. ITS recommends that you set up filters in Zimbra instead, that way they will be in place whether you use Thunderbird or Zimbra mail.
• Employees who were converted from Eudora to Thunderbird may continue to use Thunderbird to manage email. Mac users may continue to use Mac Mail to manage their email. It is not required that you switch to Zimbra on your office computer.

Mac users using Apple Mail
Some Mac users who are checking their email using Apple Mail may encounter problems the first time opening their email following the cut over to the Zimbra mail server. If you notice that some or all folders for your Goshen email account are not appearing in Apple Mail, the problem is due to a change in the IMAP Server Path Prefix.

• For faculty/staff with Macs in their offices, we are taking steps to prevent this. If you encounter this error, please contact the ITS HelpDesk.
• For those with personal Mac computers who are encountering this problem, please see our knowledge base article at Problems with Apple Mail following Zimbra cutover which includes instructions for fixing the problem.

Handhelds and SmartPhones: Due to rapidly changing technology, we cannot give a definitive list of makes and models of devices we support. However, in general ITS will support any device running Windows Mobile 6 or higher, Palm OS 5 or higher, and iPod Touches or iPhones. Please note that all mobile devices must have an internet connection and that ITS is not responsible for any fees incurred due to data usage. Serial Palm devices (PDA's that sync through a cable) and Blackberrys will NOT sync with your GC mail or calendar and are NOT supported by ITS. Support for mobile devices is limited to ensuring that compatible devices will sync with Zimbra. Anyone who needs help with the setup of their device will need to make an appointment with ITS. Please call the Help Desk at ext. 7700.

What is Zimbra?

Zimbra is a web-based collaboration suite.  "Web-based" means Zimbra is accessed through a browser, and "collaboration suite" means Zimbra is a set of programs that work together in an integrated fashion.  For the user, this means you can anytime, anywhere, and from any computer or internet-capable device access your email, calendar, to-do list, and more in one easy-to-use program.

Why are we switching to Zimbra?

Zimbra has many advantages over our current system of Thunderbird for faculty/staff email, Oracle for calendar, and Roundcube for webmail.  Some advantages are:

• Because Zimbra combines calendar, mail, and more, you only have to learn and use one program instead of three.
• Zimbra can be accessed anywhere from any computer or internet-capable mobile device.
• Zimbra includes features such as multiple calendars and to-do lists to help make organization easy.
• Zimbra was built with collaboration in mind, and comes with easy ways to share calendars, to-do lists, documents and more.
• Zimbra has a vibrant community of users and developers and is constantly being improved.

Who will be using Zimbra?

Everyone.  Whether you are faculty, staff, or a student, or using a Mac, PC, or Linux, you will have access to all of Zimbra's features.  Student access to calendars and cross-platform compatibility are two of the big advantages of switching to Zimbra.

When will we be switching?

Everyone will have access to Zimbra starting on July 4, 2009.  On July 12, access to Oracle will be disconnected and the switch will be complete.

What do I need to do to get ready?

For information on what you need to do to get ready for the move to Zimbra, visit our Getting Ready page.

How will I use Zimbra?

Its easy!  On or after July 4, just go to mail.goshen.edu, or on the OnCampus page, click on Webmail (under Quick Links).  This will send you to the Zimbra login screen.  Log in with your GC username and password and you're set!

Wait! I have more questions!

If you have a question that wasn't answered here, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions or Zimbra Help pages.  If you can't find an answer there, feel free to contact ITS at extension 7700 or .