Shutting down the mail server
This article will be updated regularly. October 30th, 2024
The mail server of the Institute of Computer Science will be shut down on March 31, 2025.
The email addresses <cms-account>@informatik.hu-berlin.de and firstname.lastname@informatik.hu-berlin.de remain and are assigned to your CMS account.
If your IT account is different from your CMS account (old accounts), the emails will be assigned to your CMS account.
If forwarding has already been set up, the old mailbox only needs to be checked for emails that have not been forwarded.
Note: The accounts at the Institute of Computer Science will remain intact and will not be affected by the shutdown.
Preparation and procedure for moving the mail servers:
1.0 Clean up, sort, delete
It is advisable to empty the trash, sort emails by year, etc.
2.0 Disable any redirects to the informatik address
Disabling any redirections to the address @informatik.hu-berlin.de. Check with external email providers (Google, gmx.de etc.)
3.0 Check whether the CMS account is still active
If you have not yet used the CMS account, please check whether it is still active. For example,
by logging in to webmail.hu-berlin.de. If you don't have an active CMS account, you must apply for one:
https://www.cms.hu-berlin.de/en/dl-en/beratung-en/antrag-hu-account-benutzeranmeldung
4.0 Set up a forwarding
Set up a forwarding in your IT mailbox that sends incoming emails to the address
<cms-account>@hu-berlin.de or firstname.lastname@hu-berlin.de forwards. (see instructions, german only)
Detected SPAM emails should not be forwarded.
4.1 Optional: Set up new email filter
If many email filters have been set up in the IT mailbox (Sieve), then these must be set up again manually in the CMS. There is a web tool for this at https://forward.cms.hu-berlin.de. (instructions ) (german only)
5.0 Setting up the CMS mailbox in the email program used
The CMS provides instructions for common email reader apps:
CMS intructions (german only)
6.0 Moving emails to the CMS mailbox
6.1 recommended: CMS tool 'imapsync'
The CMS provides a service that allows secure synchronization: https://imapsync.cms.hu-berlin.de ( quick start guide)
6.2. moving manually - not recommended
Individual emails or entire email folders can be moved from one mailbox to another using drag and drop.
Be careful with very large folders with lots of emails or large file attachments as this may also take longer.
6.3 local folders (Thunderbird) - not recommended
As an alternative, local folders can be used. In this case, the emails are stored in the file system (e.g.: in ~/.thunderbird/<profile>/Mail/Local Folders/).
FAQ
Q 01: Can email certificates still be used for encryption and signing?
A: That depends on your individual circumstances.
Wichtig: Never delete expired personal certificates in your email client’s certificate store.
Your certificate can be used indefinitely to decrypt an email. To sign an email, the sender address must match the one in the certificate; then it doesn't matter which mail server is used.
If you use an IT address that is different from your cms account, please check whether firstname.lastname@informatik.hu-berlin.de is also included as a valid address in the certificate.
Your personal certificate is never used to encrypt an email to a third party.
Q 02: After the shutdown, can you still send emails from the CMS mail server with the sender address @informatik.hu-berlin.de?
A: It will be possible to use an IT address as the sender via the CMS mail server if this corresponds to an email alias of the CMS account used. This is possible since 24/10/29.
Q 03: What happens if an address/alias that was previously unique in computer science is no longer unique within the entire HU?
e.g. Engelbert.Humperdinck@informatik.hu-berlin.de -->Engelbert Humperdinck.?@hu-berlin.dee
A: Email addresses must be unique. If the alias is already linked to other accounts in the CMS, an individual alternative must be found. CMS-E-Mail-Adressen
Q 04: What happens to functional email addresses?
A: Functional mailboxes must be requested from the CMS. Whether an alias to an IT address is possible must be checked on a case-by-case basis.
Q 05: What happens if my account username is different from my CMS username?
A: This mostly affects older informatik-accounts. The email adresse <firstname.lastname>@informatik.hu-berlin.de can technicly mapped to any CMS account, that belongs to you.
It is recommended that you start working with <firstname.lastname>@informatik.hu-berlin.de and enter this account on websites and other information sources. You may need to apply for and enter a second certificate for this email address.