Faculty and Staff: Exchange Email Upgrade This Fall

By Dennis Reed Jr

Published October 10, 2014 This content is archived.

Exchange 2013 logo.

During the fall 2014 semester, the email system used by most UB faculty and staff (UBmail Powered by Exchange) will be upgraded from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013. Faculty and staff who check their email on the Web will see a new interface, and IT staff who manage departmental Windows machines will need to review group policy settings related to connectivity.

“I like the new Outlook Web App interface. ”
Eric Stimson, Systems Analyst
School of Public Health and Health Professions IT Services
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Dennis Reed Jr of ITPC.

Dennis Reed Jr (UBIT Staff) has been a Web developer, graphic designer and writer for UBIT since 2011. Before coming to UB, he was the webmaster for Buffalo State's E. H. Butler Library, and an adjunct professor in the college's writing program. Watch for him around Buffalo with one of his musical projects.

What Faculty and Staff Need to Know

Brief outage of Exchange during the upgrade

At some point during the fall semester your IT staff will notify you that you are being moved to Exchange 2013. The move will be done outside of business hours, and there will be only a brief disconnection.

"Public Folders" availability during the migration

People who use the Windows Outlook email client to check their email will not experience any interruption in Public Folder availability.

People who use the Outlook Web Access (OWA) at (exchowa.buffalo.edu) or the Macintosh Outlook client may experience a brief period when their Public Folders are not visible, since the 2013 OWA will not be able to access the 2010 Public Folders. To minimize the downtime, these customers will be migrated last, in close coordination with their IT support staff. Once everybody is migrated, IT staff will restore Public Folders in the Outlook Web App and the Macintosh Outlook client.

New look and new features for the Web email interface

After your upgrade, you will notice some improvements in the Outlook Web App (exchowa.buffalo.edu): 

No change to personal mobile devices settings

UBIT is not aware of any mobile device that will need additional configuration. If you are having problems, please contact the CIT Help Desk or get help from your department.

IT Staff: Preparing for the 2013 Exchange Upgrade

During the fall 2014 semester, Central Production Exchange will be upgraded from 2010 to 2013. The upgrade will be a three-stage process:

  1. Changing connection point for clients to be the Exchange 2013 front end servers
  2. Changing the mail flow to go through the Exchange 2013 system
  3. Moving the individual mailboxes for your department to Exchange 2013

Other important points for IT staff to know:

  • MAPI is no longer supported in clients that connect to Exchange 2013.
  • For Node departments that do not use group policy (GPO) that sets connectivity, you do not need configuration changes in Outlook prior to the upgrade.
  • Once the individual mailbox is moved to Exchange 2013, Autodiscover will change the settings to use Outlook Anywhere.
  • For those Node departments who use group policy that sets connectivity it is recommended to remove the group policy.