10
Please re-enable the EAS and MAPI/EWS columns in the domain users view
Problem reported by Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS - 2/10/2023 at 12:54 AM
Resolved
I think that removing the EAS and MAPI/EWS columns from the display of a domain's user list is a problem for whoever has to manage it.
This in particular for the EAS, which being paid for the number of licenses, it can be useful to have an overview of which users are using it.

In the image you can see the difference between the old version and the beta.
I understand that for a few users (as in the example below) it is not a problem to pass them one by one to see who is using what, but in the case of a domain with MANY users this becomes a problem.





Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)

21 Replies

Reply to Thread
3
Jay Dubb Replied
Definitely agree.  We have 1,600 EAS licenses, but more than 1,600 mailboxes, and it REALLY helps to be able to visualize the accounts AND what features are enabled for them, so we can redistribute licenses where they are needed the most. 

We definitely USE this view (in your screenshot) quite regularly.

3
Sébastien Riccio Replied
+1 for the same reasons
Sébastien Riccio
System & Network Admin

0
Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hi all, 

This information is still accessible within SmarterMail; it's just been relocated. This change is actually part of a new feature that we think you'll all be happy about. 

In the new User Connections page, you can see the protocol activity / service access for all users on the domain/server. This new page allows you to:
  • view the total number of MAPI/EWS and EAS mailboxes assigned
  • view the user's last login date for each protocol, allowing you to determine if the protocol is necessary for that user
  • view the user's most recent authenticated IP address for that protocol
  • view all of the user's authenticated IPs from the last 30 days
  • enable/disable access to each protocol
  • drop active connections per protocol
  • Use the 'Resync User Protocols' functionality 
  • discover which users are inactive 

This functionality, and the MAPI/EWS and EAS counts found in the Domains grid, should allow System Administrators to keep track of those mailbox assignments and activity. Please check out that page and let me know your thoughts! 

Andrea Free
SmarterTools Inc.
877-357-6278

www.smartertools.com

0
Seph Parshall Replied
Screenshot of what Andrea is describing please
0
Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hi Seph, 

Here are some screenshots of the System Administrator page. (The Domain Admin's page will be the same - just limited to their domain users.)


On the All tab, Modify Protocol Access allows you to change the Service Access settings for multiple users at once. 

On the individual protocol tabs, you can enable/disable just that protocol: 

Andrea Free
SmarterTools Inc.
877-357-6278

www.smartertools.com

0
Seph Parshall Replied
Thank you!
2
Jay Dubb Replied
Maybe I'm overlooking the obvious, but how does a "connections" screen show what accounts have EAS licenses applied if they're not connected... or if an EAS license has been assigned to a mailbox but that box has never been logged in?
 
2
Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied
Jay is right... This doesn't give us enough info to easily manage EAS licenses 
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)
0
Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Jay, Gabriele, 

ALL users on the domain/server will show in these pages; a user doesn't have to login via the EAS or MAPI/EWS protocols in order to appear. Therefore, you should be able to manage the mailboxes in the same way you did on the Users tab - just in a different location. When you go the the EAS or MAPI/EWS tabs, the users will be sorted by IP Connections, showing active connections at the top. However, you can sort by the Enabled column in order to see which users have it enabled. 

The added benefit of having this page is that you can see the last login date for EACH protocol (versus only seeing the protocol that was last logged in on the Users page). Therefore, you should always be able to see which users have EAS or MAPI/EWS enabled for their account as well as determine whether a user still need a protocol enabled or not.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other concerns or questions. This is all great feedback. 

Andrea Free
SmarterTools Inc.
877-357-6278

www.smartertools.com

2
Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied
Sorry Andrea, but for me this complicates the management of EAS licenses A LOT.

In current (old?) SmarterMail I can simply go to DOMAINS and all the info and options to manage EAS licensing are there.

In beta (new) SmarterMail I have to go back and forth to different pages and options to have all the infos and tools that I need to manage it.

I have tried it in my test enviroment and found it much more uncomfortable and confusing.

I still think the best way to manage EAS licenses is to bring back EAS column in DOMAIN view
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)
0
Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hi Gabriele,

Thank you for your feedback. You mentioned: 
"In current (old?) SmarterMail I can simply go to DOMAINS and all the info and options to manage EAS licensing are there.
In beta (new) SmarterMail I have to go back and forth to different pages and options to have all the infos and tools that I need to manage it."

While managing the MAPI/EWS and EAS assignments as a system administrator, what pages do you find yourself switching between, and what information are you pulling from each? 

Thank you,

Andrea Free
SmarterTools Inc.
877-357-6278

www.smartertools.com

1
Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied
Let's try an example...

Let's say I have a few hundred clients, each with their own domain and 100-200 email accounts each.

Each customer has mixed accounts, some with MAPI active, some with EAS active, some with both, and some with nothing.

At a certain point I realize that the EAS licenses I have are used up even if from the accounting of paying users I should actually still have some free ones (I can see this from SETTINGS --> LICENSING by comparing it with my accounting of paying users).


In the old version of SmarterMail:

1 - I go to MANAGE --> DOMAIN
2 - scroll through the list of domains checking how many licenses are assigned to each one
3 - I open the domain that has more EAS licenses assigned than the paid ones
4 - I check the list of users and remove the EAS licenses from users who must NOT have them in that domain.
5 - I correct the maximum number of EAS licenses assigned to the domain and save
6 - double-check the total EAS license of the modified domain to be sure. If there is still an error go back to step 3
7 - I continue to browse the list of domains to see if others have anomalies

all without moving from MANAGE --> DOMAIN



In the new version of SmarterMail:

1 - I go to MANAGE --> DOMAIN
2 - scroll through the list of domains checking how many licenses are assigned to each one
3 - I find the domain that has more EAS licenses assigned than paid ones
4 - I move to MANAGE --> USER CONNECTIONS
5 - I click on the EAS column
6 - in the "search" box I insert the name of the domain that interests me in order to see only the users of that domain.
7 - I check the list of found users and remove the EAS licenses from users who must NOT have them in that domain.
8 - I go back to MANAGE --> DOMAIN to check that now the total number of users with active EAS of that domain is correct
9 - I open the domain, correct the maximum number of EAS licenses assigned and save
10 - I check the domain again to be sure, hoping that everything is OK, otherwise I have to go back to point 4
11 - I continue to browse the list of domains to see if others have anomalies


If I'm not wrong, the new version forces me to go back and forth between various places in the interface and also to do more click and operations to check and fix everything
By doing more passes, you waste more time and have a greater chance of generating errors.
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)
2
Jay Dubb Replied
I showed this thread to others internally, and after reviewing-- and a discussion-- the unanimous consensus is nobody likes the relocation.  We now have to visit 2 different screens to get the holistic overview of each mailbox, that we used to get all on 1 screen.  Seems like we're going backwards.

Right now we can see account, display name, enabled/disabled, whether they have EAS and/or MAPI/EWS, last login, how much disk space.... all on a SINGLE view... and we frequently and routinely use that screen for that expressed purpose.

Now we're going to have to click back and forth between screens.  None of us are feeling the love on this one.
1
Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied
Any news an bringing back this very useful feature?
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)
1
Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied
NOTE: this issue is NOT RESOLVED.

Please change the status...
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)
0
Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hi everyone, 

We reviewed your feedback and concerns, and while we were brainstorming a solution, we realized that the domain-level User Connections and User Statuses pages were missing from the domain's edit view. (All of the options that Domain Administrators can see in Domain Settings should be available for System Administrators to see when editing that domain, but User Connections and User Statuses weren't added as tabs to the right of the domain's Options tab.) 

In the system administrator view, we added those domain-level pages when you edit the domain. This keeps the layout consistent and prevents you from navigating to two separate areas when managing those Exchange protocols. 

To reference Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS's concern: 
"In the old version of SmarterMail:
1 - I go to MANAGE --> DOMAIN
2 - scroll through the list of domains checking how many licenses are assigned to each one
3 - I open the domain that has more EAS licenses assigned than the paid ones
4 - I check the list of users and remove the EAS licenses from users who must NOT have them in that domain.
5 - I correct the maximum number of EAS licenses assigned to the domain and save
6 - double-check the total EAS license of the modified domain to be sure. If there is still an error go back to step 3
7 - I continue to browse the list of domains to see if others have anomalies
all without moving from MANAGE --> DOMAIN" 

This should now be possible once again. In step 4, when you are checking the list of users to see the EAS assignments, you'll simply use the User Connections tab instead of the Accounts tab. 

Please let me know your thoughts and if this helps to alleviate your concerns. 

Andrea Free
SmarterTools Inc.
877-357-6278

www.smartertools.com

1
Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied
This seems to be better than before, I'll give it a try.

THX Andrea
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)
0
Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied
I have tested it in my BETA enviroment with my collegues and, even if it's a slightly better, in our opinion  this won't do / isnt' enough..

So, again, please re-enable the EAS and MAPI/EWS columns in the domain users view...
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)
0
Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hi Gabriele, 

Could you please elaborate? When managing the EAS and MAPI/EWS assignments, what information do you feel is missing from the User Connections page? 

Thank you, 

Andrea Free
SmarterTools Inc.
877-357-6278

www.smartertools.com

2
Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied
Sorry Andrea, our mistake...

We tried with our test server with a copy of our data and this in the "User Connections" screen did not let us see which users have EAS or MAPI/EWS activated...


Then this morning we tried again and we realized the reason is that the test server in question has the EAS and MAPI licenses disabled...


We did some tests with the active licenses and now we have better understood how the new schematic works, and I'd say it's good and actually solves the problem...


Sorry again for the misunderstanding!

Have a nice weekend!!!
Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins at SERSIS
Currently manages 3 SmarterMail installations (1 in cloud for SERSIS which provides service to a few hundreds 3rd party Mail Domains + 2 on premise to customers)
1
Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Gabriele, that's great news! Thank you for your update. I'm glad we could work together to find a solution for your concerns. 

Kind regards,

Andrea Free
SmarterTools Inc.
877-357-6278

www.smartertools.com

Reply to Thread