Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange

I recently took a contract to migrate a non profit from GoDaddy email to Google Apps. Despite a good deal of research and assurance from Google Enterprise support we ran into several problems, enumerated here.

The GAMME tool likes to run on a machine set to Greenwich Mean Time.  It will not run in Hawaiian Standard Time. In Win8 it will not run at all, Win7 gives and error message until the time zone has been changed.  The Irish Google support guys figured that one out.

Do not change the MX records until the mail migration is complete. If MX records are changed from GoDaddy's servers then the GAMME IMAP authentication will fail.  In hindsight this seems logical, at the time it was not obvious and was not documented.

The GAMME tools looks for a migration.txt with the format:

[ORIGIN ACCOUNT@DOMAIN.COM]#[PASSWORD], [DESTINATION ACCOUNT@DOMAIN.COM].

GAMME will only migrate mail if the destination account exists, it will not create a new account. I'm not sure what you're supposed to do if you can't change everyone's passwords. There's supposed to be support for using an admin's credentials instead of the user's but that was never successful. Documentation says to run it for no more than 25 users at a time, the realistic number is more like 3 or 4.  More than that and it would error out.

We ran GAMME against a particular user several times because their account had over 10,000 emails and kept failing. Each time we ran, the tool counted a different number of emails to migrate.  The user should have pruned before migration, but GAMME should be able to give a precise count.  There's no way to know if it got all that mail.

Google support indicated IMAP server type to use is Gmail.  That's if you're migrating from gmail to Google Apps. The most success was had with Cyrus IMAP migrating one or two users at a time.

Most accounts in GoDaddy were paid accounts which gives the users IMAP support.  Free email accounts in GoDaddy do not support IMAP, migrating them is not possible using GAMME.  Account must be elevated to a licensed account.



Folder structure was supposed to migrate and be translated into folders, this did not happen. Folder structure was lost.

There is no straight forward, accurate procedure for migrating from GoDaddy to Google Apps.  Many of the instructions from Google support were wrong or ended up being trial and error troubleshooting. Most of documentation is for an actual MS Exchange or Lotus Notes Domino server.

Google Enterprise support is often just as disorganized as others' support teams.  The Irish team seemed to be the most technically minded but you don't get to choose who answers your call. Each team we spoke with has a different approach.

I will continue to help institutions use Google Apps but I will never promise to migrate mail, it's just not worth the heartache and difficulty.

Google Apps for Relationships

GAfR. Same tools as Business and Education use I guess, but applied to my long distance relationship.

Hangouts for face to face time. Seeing each other's faces is critical. The most important piece.

Drive for project and organization. We're looking for a house, so I have a folder for that project.  Inside is a master document with all the houses I've looked at, my review and their prices. In that folder are collections pictures I take of the houses with the address. These could be moved to G+ albums, but it's easier to have them all in one spot for right now, they'll also be deleted once we settle on a house.

Calendar since we're in different time zone it's difficult to stay organized and keep track of each other.  I keep all my major events on their for the wife so she knows when to reach me.

Youtube. I recorded a video for Valentine's day.  The video editor leaves something to be desired but I'm still thankful for Youtube's existence.

Android, while it isn't part of Google Apps, is an amazing way for us to connect. We play Words with Friends. We are able to send pictures of our day to each other, we have unlimited texts and take advantage of it.

Youtube video editor

I'm really excited about Chromebooks.  I think they're what netbooks were supposed to be.  $200 right now for the Acer, 4.5 hrs of battery life, 18 second boot time, instant wake up. It's awesome.

So I'm evaluating it as a daily driver and replacement of my current laptop, an e6420 ATG behemoth.  It's heavy, powerful and has mediocre battery life.  I can run all kinds of things on it. So what. I spend most of my time on the web.

After a weekend of using a Chromebook I think they're amazing machines. I can see replacing them every year with a newer model. This really depends on not wanting to install anything locally, and being in the cloud as much as possible.

Things I would miss in a Chromebook:

• Steam
• Camera Control software for my DSLRs
• Torrents

Steam would be a loss for reals.  I could push Steam to the Latitude and make it the HTPC and play games on the TV. That might be OK.  I've given up games until I have a house, so right now I wouldn't even notice it. Plus Chrome has a few games, some that overlap with Steam like Plants vs Zombies.

Camera Control would be a significant loss but a seldom one, I've only used it a few times but it's really really cool.

Torrents I could push to the server, no problem there.  It even has a web management interface.

There's a serious push from Google for Chrome and Chromebooks. Chromebooks are getting cheaper and more powerful and support isn't going away anytime soon. There's supposed to be a touchscreen model this quarter. Lenovo is piloting a ruggedized model. Some of the nicer Chromebooks get 8 hours of battery life and have 3g access for when I travel.

I'm getting tired of worrying about backups. I saw people at this conference last weekend typing their notes in Word on a Macbook Pro. $1,600 for taking notes and using the web. My anxiety level went up because I was so worried about their HDD dying, their laptop getting stolen or destroyed and them losing work. That just goes away with Google Apps.

Anyway, like I said, I'm evaluating it as a real replacement.  Last night I tried to delve into the Youtube video editor.  It's easy enough to edit together video but audio is another problem.  You can't upload straight audio tracks.  I guess that's to keep users from using copyright songs, but it's annoying.  I wish more music was Creative Commons.  Like maybe 10 years after it's released make it CC and let anyone use it.

So to get this into Youtube I have to edit it on my machine using Windows Movie Maker and then upload it. I'll still get a take down notice because of the music, even on private videos. I'm not sure how people manage to get around that.

GAFYD pau

Big changes for GAFYD accounts, they're moving to be more like regular Google accounts. Bazuzi.com.com was eligible for the early adopter program and we enlisted. Most of the services I mentioned last time are available now.

Tonight I finally finished sorting all my mail, ~2,500 emails are labeled and archived. I transfered my Voice number (804.3Bazuzi) and my Youtube channel now corresponds. I'm still waiting for Buzz and a few other minor services but for the most part everything is working.

Now to amplify the Bazuzi.com offerings to the family. I'm debating a wiki for recipes, a page for my wedding and a few of the family interviews. Anyone else done something like this?

Migrating from Gmail to GAFYD

I started moved from using Gmail to Google Apps For Your Domain. Here are a few resources if you decided to make the move yourself.

Migrating mail:

https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=21288

You lose labels if you do it through the web. If you use Outlook it should be flawless, but you need Education(must be a school) or Premiere edition ($50/user/year)

I'm sorting through my thousands of emails relabeling everythign now, using the keyboard shortcuts for the first time and it makes pretty quick work of it.

An excellent resource for migrating from Gmail to Google Apps by someone who's done it. The background is a poor choice and hurts my eyes. http://base6.com/2009/06/15/migrating-from-gmail-to-google-apps/

Contacts, you can export them and import them easily; keeping groups as well.

Calendars can be also exported and imported.

Here is the show stopper for me: the missing features. Last night I was looking for some missing features and came across a thread in Google's Help forum about Buzz in GApps:

Beyond Buzz and Voice, the list is long: Reader, YouTube linking, Google Profiles, Analytics, Latitude, Wave, iGoogle even Google Groups into which you and I are posting right now... these are all services that only work with a Google Account, and don't work (or are mostly broken) with Google Apps accounts.

The poster talks about how Gmail is a free service and gets all the new features and integration and paying Premier members of GApps have to fight for them. This is ultimately what swayed me. As far as I can tell the only advantage for me was signing in and seeing Bazuzi instead of Google in the top left, which, with the new Bazuzi logo from Jan, is pretty cool. I'd then have to wait for all the other features to trickle in. Migrating all those things, and getting friends and family to start following me at a different address along with competing with my gmail address for unique addresses and accounts(already claimed my Google Profile with Gmail) was going to be frustrating and fragment my audience.


I'm sad I won't be using the family domain to log in, but that's it. I still give out my email address as MyFirstName@MyLastName.com and that's pretty cool.

Gmail as default email client

I'm using W7. This will probably work on Vista as well. Thanks to Kevin for helping me figure this out using Buzz (which turns out to be a little more productive than Wave (which I thought Wave was designed for)). Buzz allows many of our friends to read our conversation but I thought others might want to see it also.


My netbook already launched GMail when I click on mailto links but my desktop did not.Somewhere along the line I'd set the netbook to do this, but I couldn't figure out how.

Google suggests using Notifier but if you're using Chrome perhaps you're already using an extension for that. Notifier isn't a resource hog, but I don't need over redundancy.

This MS Help site: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-the-default-e-mail-program
Tells you to go here:
Control Panel\Programs\Default Programs\Set Default Programs
To designate default actions for programs and file types.
There you can set Google Apps defaults, including MAILTO links on the web. You still need Google Apps installed, but that gives offline email which is something I want and already use.  
While you're at is, why not install Google Pack (which includes GApps) and let it handle package management for you? You can ignore the Spyware Dr w/ AV and install Security Essentials which is free and runs on XP and above Windows clients. 

Google contact

I've been collecting contact methods from Google.

I got a:

• a phone call from them when signing up for Google Apps for Your Domain
• postcard for registering a business on Google Maps
• text message for signing up for Voice
• They even mailed me stickers

Pretty soon we'll go on a date.

ToDo: Make to do list

How do you keep track of your to dos? I'm a fan of to do lists, but I think that a hard copy of a to do list is not nearly dynamic enough for my needs. I like something I can access from work, my pda, home and any other internetted computer. A widget that works on my google hompage would be nice too.
Google does make a To Do list and there are tonnes if you search. I guess my needs in order of importance

mark items as completed but not removed from the list
ability to share specific items with specific people
Works with Google start page
easily synced with an offline pda

And just for kicks, here's my to do list this weekend:

• Buy car washing soap
• wash car
• put NIN sticker on bumper
  
• burn CDs / DVDs for friend
  
• assemble tattoo

What's on your list this weekend?

Paradigm Shift

I have a new email address. I'm guessing everyone that sends me email reads my blog as well so this can be my big coming out party. We'll see.

My new address is: myfirstname [at] mylastname dot com got it? Mind you this is not mylegalfirstname@mylastname. If this is too complicated for you or you don't know my last name leave a comment and I'll get back to you. This is also a great opportunity and excuse to send me an email and say hi if it's been a long time since we've talked. I would love to hear from you. YES YOU

Here are some statistics from my current email:

• I am currently using 1977 MB (68%) of your 2887 MB. ::flex::
• I have 2671 emails archived
• I signed up for gmail on 08/24/04

Here's why I'm switching addresses:

This thanksgiving when I'm in NC with my paternal family, I along with my brother will be pushing the entire family to switch to a family based online presence managed by me and him. This isn't exciting to anyone else and that's fine.

We're using Google Apps, which gives you free hosting among other things like gmail, docs and calendar to share with everyone in the domain. This is just about perfect for a small business or family to keep in contact. Of course with free hosting it's perfect for anyone that wants a small domain of their own.

If anyone is interested in running their own site, Google Apps is what I recommend, it's a great place to start. If you read all the instructions and would still like some help, give me a shout and I'll be happy to lend a hand.

Missing Shirts

About 6 months ago I realized I'd lost all of my good shirts. This was around the time when I moved from Seattle back to Richmond, drove to Florida, drove back and then moved to Hawai'i. I'm not terribly surprised they got lost but I'm still very sad. The fact that I'm missing so many of them leads me to believe they're together somewhere.
If I stayed at your house and left them with you, you would make me incredibly happy to return them to me and I'll be happy to ship something to you in return. Here is a list of the shirts that I no longer have but wish I did:



I realize that looking at this list without context might leave you in the dark. If any of my gentle readers need illustrations of these shirts, I can probably dig up a picture.

Google Docs lets you publish documents to your blog, how sweet. So I did. I also provided a link on the right column. It points to this document which lists things that I want. Just in case you're ever wondering what to buy me, now you can know. I also like flowers and hand written letters.

Remote controlled vehicle
subscription to 2600
ZombAID T Shirt
Cordless drill
any used technology. Digicam, PDA, mp3 player, cell phone
Gigabit Router

PSA

Backup your data today. Right now. No one ever plans their drive failure, it just happens. To everyone. If you have a flaky computer, you move a lot, you only have a laptop that you travel frequently with or your data is irreplaceable you should consider off site storage.


Amazon's Simple Storage Service. $.15/gig
GDrive works for small amounts of data.
If you're really good friends with me, you can ask for an account on my ftp.

2nd only to losing your spouse, losing your data is the worst feeling.

The WOW never started

After a week without internets this is my first post.

I installed Vista ultimate last night. I have an Averatec laptop with a 1.8 Turion which is a 64 cpu. My brother sent me 2 install discs, a 32 and a 64 bit. My plan was to put 64 bit on the laptop and 32 bit on the desktop when it arrives.

The 64 bit didn't install correctly. It crashed twice during the install and upon examination of the disc I saw several scuffs and a dime sized section that is severely scratched. I switched to the 32 bit disc and was on my way.

And by on my way I mean it didn't have device drivers for my wifi card, video card and another "PCI Simple Communications Controller." I don't know what that is and neither does windows update. The Averatec website says that the Vista video driver for this model would be available in March which was last month. It's still not out. Averatec doesn't allow much communication without the serial number and the sticker on the bottom has rubbed out and is completely white. When I called they said I'd either need the s/n or the original reciept that shows when I bought it to tell whether it's still under warranty. They will be getting a letter as soon as I can find a way to write to them that doesn't require entering my serial number

Now's a good chance to encourage any readers I have to backup all their serial numbers, window/game CD keys and any other annoying and rarely used but incredibly important information in a Google Docs file. You don't have to remember to back it up, it's always available and linked with your gmail account.

Back to the wonders of Vista:
It looses my wifi card every once in a while. I've had it installed for about 24 hours now and it's lost it 4 times so far the fix is to restart.

The Microsoft USB mouse I use gets lost as well after about 20 minutes of use. Plugging it in to a different USB port does nothing. The fix is to restart.

Videos don't play properly. The video is choppy and lags behind the sound. When I play it in VLC it still is a little bit choppy but at least in sync. The fix. I don't have one yet.

I've been playing Diablo II for the last 2 weeks becaus it's the only game that'll run on my laptop. Well after Vista, it doesn't play because it can't run Direct3d or DirectDraw. Vista was supposed to be great for games. The fix is to run the game in Windowed mode.

The scroll bar on touch pad has been extended to about 3/5ths of the entire touchpad. It means that while I'm navigating the computer I end up scrolling up and down incredibly fast highlighting and deleting anything that I was working on. The fix? Reinstall XP.


I really wanted to end this post with "Reinstall XP" but i couldnt' figure out where to put this bit. The security features in Vista are pretty annoying. When I download an .exe from the web, I open it from Firefox's browser.
1st Firefox asks me if I want to run an .exe
2nd Windows asks me if I want to run an .exe
3rd Vista asks me if i want to run and .exe

When my desktop arrives it may be time to give the old open source community another chance at my laptop.

Internets

Back online. We've been here almost two weeks and it finally got installed today. Haven't been able to do any speeds tests but that would silly right now. Both Hobbes and I are downloading and catching up on everything we've missed out on. The two weeks before we left we were most in Florida or on the road so to have a chance to actually sit down and cruise the net is a long time coming.
The downtime I spent reading the help files for several of the programs I installed prior to leaving (how exciting). Because Google is really big on integration of their services, I can now publish photos on the web via Picasa. So my photos will be hosted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/bazuzi/
I will probably update the pics as often as this blog.


Currently Spinning: Bassline Pressure-mixed by Mj Cole\01 Wind Ya Neck In , Bucci Bag (A Cappella).mp3

Adsense

I applied for Adsense to put google ads on my blog. Why not? If any of the suckers that read my blog accidentally click one of them, well then I just made a nickle!

Here's what they wrote:
Hello batman,

Thank you for your interest in Google AdSense. Unfortunately, after
reviewing your application, we're unable to accept you into Google
AdSense at this time.

We did not approve your application for the reasons listed below.

Issues:

- Adult content
---------------------
Further detail:

Adult content: Currently, only Google ads that we classify as
family-safe are available through the AdSense program. We've found your
site to be predominantly adult or mature in nature. Therefore, we're
unable to display relevant ads on your site. Please review our policies
(https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_US) for a complete list
of site content not allowed on web pages.