What e-mail protocols do you support?  Please check all that apply.
     IMAP
     POP3
     SMTP
     Webmail
     Lotus Notes
     Microsoft Exchange
     Other: 

What server software product(s) do you use to provide these services?

What hardware and OS platforms are you using for these servers?

How long have you been a system administrator?
     0 - 6 months
     6 months - 1 year
     1 - 3 years
     3 - 5 years
     More than 5 years

How long have you been responsible for e-mail administration?
     0 - 6 months
     6 months - 1 year
     1 - 3 years
     3 - 5 years
     More than 5 years

How would you describe your job responsibilities with respect to the e-mail environment described above?
     I administer the e-mail environment for myself
     I administer the e-mail environment for my company's internal users
     I administer the e-mail environment for external customers or service users outside my company

How long have you been working with the specific e-mail environment described above?
     0 - 6 months
     6 months - 1 year
     1 - 3 years
     3 - 5 years
     More than 5 years
 

Please list any professional certifications you hold that are relevant to the e-mail  environment described above (for example, MCSE, Lotus, SAGE, etc.).

How many e-mail users do you support?
     0 - 25
     26 - 100
     101 - 500
     501 - 2,500
     2,501 - 10,000
     More than 10,000
     I'm not sure

What is your approximate daily incoming e-mail volume, in messages?
     0 - 1,000
     1,001 - 5,000
     5,001 - 10,000
     10,001 - 50,000
     50,001 - 100,000
     100,000 - 1 million
     1 million - 10 million
      More than 10 million
     I'm not sure

What is the longest scheduled e-mail downtime your users will accept during regular hours without a significant number of complaints? (Consider downtime as any time users are not able to read, receive, or send e-mail.)
     1 - 5 minutes
     6 - 15 minutes
     16 - 60 minutes
     1 - 2 hours
     2 - 6 hours
     6 - 12 hours
     1 - 3 days
      More than 3 days
     I'm not sure

Does your e-mail environment have "off-hours," or periods of time where downtime can be scheduled without affecting users, or affect a smaller fraction of users?  If so, how long are these off-hour periods during a typical weekday and a typical weekend day?
     There are no off-hours in my environment
     There are off-hours in my environment:
            off-hours per weekday (0-24)
            off-hours per weekend day (0-24)

What is the longest scheduled e-mail downtime your users will accept during off-hours without a significant number of complaints?
     There are no off-hours in my environment
     1 - 5 minutes
     6 - 15 minutes
     16 - 60 minutes
     1 - 2 hours
     2 - 6 hours
     6 - 12 hours
     1 - 3 days
      More than 3 days
     I'm not sure

What is the longest unplanned e-mail downtime during regular hours that your users will accept without a significant number of complaints?
     1 - 5 minutes
     6 - 15 minutes
     16 - 60 minutes
     1 - 2 hours
     2 - 6 hours
     6 - 12 hours
     1 - 3 days
      More than 3 days
     I'm not sure

What percentage of users must be affected before an e-mail problem requires immediate attention?
     1 - 5%
     6 - 15%
     16 - 30%
     31 - 50%
     More than 50%
     I'm not sure

Within the last 3 months, how many unique e-mail problems have you experienced that led to user complaints?
     0 - 2
     3 - 5
     6 - 10
     11 - 25
     More than 25
     I'm not sure

On a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least and 5 being the greatest, what proportion of your e-mail administration duties are in direct response to user requests?
     1 (none)
     2 (few)
     3 (some)
     4 (most)
     5 (all)
     I'm not sure

When resolving problems with the e-mail system, do you typically spend more time on problem diagnosis or on carrying out repairs?
     1 (all diagnostics)
     2
     3
     4 (even split)
     5
     6
     7 (all repair)
     I'm not sure

Describe up to three of the most common tasks you perform that require interaction with the e-mail server?  (Do not consider tasks such as user phone support that do not involve changes to the e-mail server.)

Common Task 1 (if applicable):

Common Task 2 (if applicable):

Common Task 3 (if applicable):


 

Please describe any incidents you can recall within the past 3 months in which e-mail was lost or e-mail service became unavailable or degraded (if applicable).

Were those incidents a result of administrative intervention or due to failures of hardware, software, or network components (if applicable)?

Describe any e-mail administration tasks you performed in the last 3 months that were particularly challenging (if applicable; an example might be the task of installing an e-mail SPAM filter).  If the execution of any of these tasks resulted in lost e-mail or service unavailability, please explain.

How long after a challenging task are you typically confident that the task or fix is complete and working correctly?
     Immediately
     A few minutes
     A few hours
     A few days
     A few weeks
     More than a month
     Never
     I'm not sure

Is there anything else you could add that you feel would help us understand the challenges of day-to-day administration of an e-mail server?

If you want to expand on your answers to any of the questions on this survey, please do so in the space below.

Thank you for your participation in this survey!