February 14th, 2004 by Dana Roode
Continuing our efforts to keep the UCI campus network a safe and productive environment, NACS has extended its virus blocking and spam labeling (”tagging”) services. Originally limited to the primary campus mail servers (which process email addressed to users “@uci.edu”), these services are now in operation on our central email systems: EA, E4E, pop.uci.edu, imap.uci.edu, and smtp.uci.edu. This means that messages sent directly to users on these machines (bypassing “@uci.edu”) now enjoy these protective measures.
Messages delivered to you that have been identified by the new services as spam will include the following headers:
X-NACS_ES-MailScanner-SpamCheck:
X-NACS_ES-MailScanner-SpamScore:
You must make a change to your email software’s configuration to detect the new headers and take advantage of the additional mail filtering. Please see the online documentation at http://www.nacs.uci.edu/email/header_filters.html for more information. Check back there periodically, because the information on that site will be refined as we gain experience and as we receive your feedback. Please let us know how these new services are working for you.
February 14th, 2004 by Dana Roode
NACS has merged its network security activities into the Central Computing Services group, which has been renamed Central Computing and Security (CCS). UCI’s Network Security Coordinator Mike Iglesias, and network security staff member John Lenning, are now a part of CCS. John Mangrich has also been reassigned to the group, and serves as CCS Manager.
In addition to UCInet network security duties, CCS designs and operates UCI’s central computing services, including the “EA” system for undergraduates, “gradEA” for graduate students, “E4E” for faculty and staff, “Orion” (enhanced services for faculty and staff), USENET news service, campus FTP service, and the server hosting UCI’s web site.
Other staff in CCS are:
- Joseph Farran, Cluster Architect
- Ted Gielow, UNIX Systems Administrator and Lead Programmer
- David Mussoff, UNIX Systems Administrator
- Minh Vo, UNIX Systems Administrator
- John Ward, Enterprise Services Architect
Garrett Hildebrand continues his role as NACS Network Planner, and is currently working with Cal(IT)2 to address their leading-edge research network needs.
February 14th, 2004 by Dana Roode
Email continues to be one of the most important technology tools at UCI. At the same time, email abuse in the form of spam and viruses can transform the simple act of browsing your mailbox into an annoying and frustrating exercise. In response to this growing problem, NACS has broadened its existing spam labeling and virus blocking program to cover more ways email reaches campus users.
In addition, we have recently upgraded the systems dedicated to processing email at UCI. Our POP servers now benefit from additional hardware, as well as software upgrades developed within NACS that have measurably improved performance under peak loads. Similarly, we’ve upgraded our IMAP servers and are working on software changes in those systems as well.
NACS expects that these changes will result in visible improvements in performance and end user experience. We would be happy to hear what you think.