Many of you already are aware of the problems with NAU faculty and staff e-mail service. ITS is moving forward with a replacement system that will solve the problems we currently are experiencing. Unfortunately, the new system will not be online in time to get us through the remainder of this semester. ITS is adding new hardware to the old system and making other changes that should give us the few more weeks of service needed.
In addition to these changes, ITS would also like to let you know what you might do to help nurse the old system to the end-of-semester finish line. The following steps help reduce the load on the old system:
- Set your mail client to check for mail less frequently: 15 minutes or more is good. Each time your mail client “asks” the server for your mail, it increases the workload on the server and slows down performance for everyone.
- If you check your mail from multiple computers and/or handheld devices during the day, try to limit mail checking to one device at a time. For example, when you leave your office, close your mail program (make sure it’s closed and not just minimized) and make sure your home computer isn’t also requesting mail all day while you are gone.
- Avoid sending messages to mailing lists during busy hours. Monday morning is the most problematic time.
- Anything you can do to reduce the size of your inbox is helpful. While this isn’t always practical, much of the slowness experienced is the result of the e-mail server manipulating a large number of huge inboxes. Sort your inbox by message size. You may find a few very large files that can either be moved to another folder or deleted to drastically reduce the size of your inbox.
- When deleting mail, it helps reduce the load on the server if you select all the messages you want to delete and then push the delete button rather than deleting each piece of mail individually.
- When mail is really slow or you can’t connect to your inbox, the best thing to do is close your e-mail program and try again later. This will help the server recover and gives priority to those who may have urgent situations.