Network Operations Center -- 3/21/2006

Discussion:

Storage space is a limited resource, and email storage is no exception. We limit administrative users (faculty/staff) to 100MB in GroupWise, but freely expand that allocation upon request until 300MB is reached. At that point we need to make sure you are taking steps to "limit the damage" before we expand your allocation further.

There are several strategies that you can use to avoid overrunning your email storage quota:

1. Good spam handling.


• Use your Dowling email account for Dowling business. Don't enter your Dowling email address on shopping websites or other places where it might be harvested by spammers.
• Create a rule to delete tagged spam. Our systems block more than half the spam that tries to enter, but some will still get through. Of that, a large percentage gets tagged with the word "[spam]" by our spam detectors. You can setup a GroupWise rule to delete those messages.
• Read http://www.spamprimer.com/ for additonal tips.


2. Don't store attachments in the email system.

By far the most frequent cause of over-quota problems is attachments. While most email is 10K or smaller, attachments can be up to 1000 times larger. When you receive an attached file, such as a set of pictures, a PowerPoint presentation, or the results of a database query, don't leave it in your mailbox to count against your quota:

• Right-click the attached item,
• Save it to your My Documents folder or somewhere else on your PC's hard drive,
• Delete or Archive (see below) the email that contained the attachment.


3. Archive your email.

Archiving your email means removing it from the email server to local storage. It no longer counts against your quota, it remains one or two clicks away, and you can always put it back on the server if you need to. Please follow the instructions here.

4. Faculty seeking assignment submissions from their students may wish to investigate using Blackboard for that purpose. Please contact Tim Kelly in the Office of Instructional Technology Services (x3157) for assistance.