noticeboard.ru.ac.za

2008/01/13 - Mailing List Changes
guy
Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:21:59 +0200
As part of the recent upgrade to our mail server, some changes were made to the way we host mailing lists. Most significantly, the e-mail address associated with each mailing list has changed: the suffix "-l" has been dropped from the local part of each mailing list's e-mail address, and the domain name has been changed to "lists.ru.ac.za". For example, the list that used to be known as "toplist-l@listserv.ru.ac.za" is now "toplist@lists.ru.ac.za". The same changes also apply to the list's administrative addresses: what was "toplist-l-owner@listserv.ru.ac.za" is now "toplist-owner@lists.ru.ac.za". This change is in line with international trends for mailing lists.

In the same way, the web-based administrative interface has been moved from http://listserv.ru.ac.za/mailman to https://lists.ru.ac.za/mailman. Note that we now make use of a secure (https://) web page for list administration. You may need to install the University's CA certificate in order to use the new interface.

Mailing list archives have also moved from http://listserv.ru.ac.za/pipermail to http://lists.ru.ac.za/pipermail. In this instance, the use of a secure connection is optional -- either http:// or https:// will work.

The old e-mail and web addresses will continue to work for some time, but their use is now deprecated. This means you can continue to send e-mail to, for example, toplist-l@listserv.ru.ac.za but you should start updating your address books, etc to reflect the new list address(es). List administrators are encouraged to notify the subscribers of their list(s) of this change. The old @listserv.ru.ac.za addresses will be discontinued at the end of June 2008.
guy
Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:46:23 +0200
The following has just been sent to all mailing list administrators:

QUOTE
You are receiving this e-mail because you administer the example mailing list.

Over the weekend we upgraded the University's mail server. As a result of this upgrade there have been some changes to the mailing list you administer that we want to make you aware of.

Most significantly, the e-mail address for posting to your mailing list has been shortened. It used to be example-l@listserv.ru.ac.za; it is now example@lists.ru.ac.za. (The "-l" suffix on the local part has been dropped, and the "listserv" has changed to "lists"). All other list-related e-mail addresses have changed in the same way. For example, the list owner's address is now example-owner@lists.ru.ac.za.

As a list administrator you'll need to know that the administration pages for your list have also moved. You can now access them at https://lists.ru.ac.za/mailman/admin/example. Note the https:// at the front -- we now make use of a secure site for list administration. If you get a security warning from your web browser when trying to access this site, it is because you don't have Rhodes' CA certificate installed. You'll need to install this to make the error go away, and you can find instructions for doing so at http://help.ru.ac.za/cacert.

The archives for your list (if any are configured) are now available at http://lists.ru.ac.za/pipermail/example

The old example-l@listserv.ru.ac.za and http://listserv.ru.ac.za/mailman/example style addresses still work and will continue to do so until the end of June 2008. This should allow people adequate time to update all references to the old addresses, and to inform people of the changes. Their use, however, is deprecated and you should consider changing to the new addresses as soon as possible.

Since each list is used in a slightly different way, we're going to leave announcing these changes to your mailing list up to you as the list administrator. If your list is announce-only, you might choose to do nothing. If your list is often posted to by members, you might want to let them know of the changes that affect them.

You may already have noticed a side effect of this change. The mailing list software normally automatically handles failed deliveries. However, in the case where e-mail was sent before the change, and failed after the change, the software can't process the bounce message. You will see these as posts to the mailing list from mailer-daemon@ with a subject mentioning delivery failure. These should stop within the next week once all the pending mail has been processed. In the mean time your moderators can safely discard these messages.

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Information Technology Division, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
mailto:support@ru.ac.za tel:+27.46.603.8288 http://www.ru.ac.za/it/
post.5528631