Summary: Internat Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) is a service on the Lotus Notes email system that is needed for the planned conversion from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange. The current version of Lotus Notes IMAP has a bug that is impeding this conversion. UITS is continuing to work with IBM to resolve the problem with IMAP on Lotus Notes. Working with IBM, UITS has set up a separate IMAP server which we believe will rectify the problem and enable UITS to continue moving users to Microsoft Exchange. This "bug" with Lotus Notes IMAP has delayed the schedule of conversions from Lotus Notes to Mircosoft Exchange. Once the new Lotus Notes IMAP server is tested, UITS will update the University community on the Microsoft Exchange conversion schedule for the campus.
The University is in the process of moving from our current Lotus Notes email system to Microsoft Exchange email. University IT Services (UITS) has planned this move to be as easy as possible for the University community. Part of this plan involved acquiring a Lotus - Microsoft "coexistence" package from Microsoft that allows the Lotus and Microsoft systems to exchange information and to migrate users' data from Lotus Notes to Exchange. This coexistence package required UITS to upgrade Lotus Notes and enable IMAP, an Internet based email communication protocol that serves as the communication bridge between Lotus and Exchange.
As previously discussed here, here, and here, the new version of Lotus Notes with IMAP has a known bug that has caused performance problems. Specifically, the IMAP service in Lotus Notes has a "memory leak"; that is, the system memory usage grows the longer the system runs, eventually causing the system to crash. As more members of the University community use IMAP, these problems have grown more severe. IBM has provided several system patches in the past four months, but none have resolved the problem. As a temporary fix, UITS is restarting the email servers daily to clear the system's memory. Until the University is able to resolve this problem, however, we will not be able to move forward with our current plans to move users to Microsoft Exchange, since these plans rely on stable IMAP access to Lotus Notes.
IBM believes the bug in the Lotus Notes IMAP module will not occur in versions of Lotus Notes running on different operating systems. To address this need for IMAP support for our Microsoft Exchange project and ensure the stability of email for Lotus Notes users while we continue to work with IBM to resolve this issue, UITS has set up a separate server for Lotus Notes IMAP users. This server uses a different operating system than the other Lotus Notes servers (the new Lotus Notes IMAP server is running on Microsoft Windows while the other Lotus Notes servers run on Linux). The current IMAP users, including those in the Microsoft Exchange email "early adopter" program have been moved to the new server.
If this test is successful, it provides the University a way to move forward with the conversion from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange. Meanwhile, IMAP has been turned off on the "traditional" Lotus Notes email servers, so everyone else should see an improvement in the performance and reliability of their Lotus Notes email.
Meanwhile, users' needng IMAP access to Lotus Notes - for example, to support accessing their email from a cell phone or other handheld device - should call the Technology Help Desk at 973-275-2222; UITS will schedule moving users requiring IMAP to the new Lotus Notes IMAP server as a temporary way of providing IMAP access to email.
This problem with Lotus Notes IMAP has set back the planned campus conversion from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange. As the new Lotus Notes IMAP servers are tested, UITS will re-evaluate the current migration schedule and send an update to the University community.
Steve Landry, CIO