E-mail Administration Survey Recovery-Oriented Computing Research Group University of California, Berkeley

Results from the First Trial

You can see a PowerPoint presentation detailing some of our preliminary results by clicking here.

Summary
For those without PowerPoint, or for those not wishing to download the entire presentation, here is a brief summary:

• Number of responses:  68
   
• Common tasks (151 provided total):
  • Configuration:  56%
  • Upgrades/patches:  12%
  • Tool development:  1%
  • Repairs:  15%
  • Backup and restore:  3%
  • Monitoring and testing:  10%
  • User education:  <1%
  • Other:  3%
     
• Challenging tasks (68 provided total):
  • Filter installation:  37%
  • Tool development:  6%
  • Configuration:  13%
  • Platform change/upgrade:  26%
  • Architecture changes:  7%
  • User education:  4%
  • Other:  6%
     
• The acceptable unscheduled downtime during regular hours was less than an hour in most responses.
   
• The percentage of users affected before immediate action is required was 1-5% in most responses.
   
• Most responses had fewer than 5 unique problems.
   
• The diagnosis vs. repair time tends toward more time spent diagnosing in most responses.
   
• Trends in the comments:
  • High user expectations, especially as e-mail is often a critical service.
  • Spam is a tremendous headache, and the same is true for viruses and worms.
  • New technologies are useful, but more are needed.