[HOWTO] Google Apps for Business

[ewok85]

There seems to be plenty of interest about using Google Apps for Business, how to set it up and what it can and can't do.

To this end I thought I'd share my experiences and help clear things up. There is a massive amount of information (pages, documents, videos) about all the different features and facets of Google Apps, getting through it all can be very intimidating.

Here is some reading:
Deployment Resource Center
Help Center for Admins
Learning Center for Users
Apps Status Dashboard <- You need this bookmarked
About privacy and security

1) Migration

Moving over from Exchange isn't too difficult - simply use the Google Apps Migration tool for Microsoft Exchange
http://www.google.com/support/enterp...amme_admin.pdf

Skip down to page 12 and read the exceptions - this is very important!

The process or migrating is pretty simple. The basic process is to create the Google Apps accounts (as well as adding Groups, mail aliases), fire up the tool, enter the various authentication details, and hit migrate. It will run at 1 message per user, per second, so if you have lots of messages, this will take a while.

The secret to the migration is to stagger it over several "rounds" - Lets say we start on a Friday - you would fire up the tool, and migrate all data up until Thursday (day 1) - the day previous. This might take a while, mine took about 3 days! Lets say it finished on Tuesday (day 6). You should now run the tool again to migrate the latest email you have missed - but because you are half-way through a day already, you migrate up to the previous day - in this day from Friday (day 2), to Monday (day 5). You repeat this until you are ready to switch over - the last migration is made after you have made the switch and confirmed mail is receiving on Google Apps.

Something to note is that the Migration tool can also upload PST files and integrate them into Gmail. This is something worth doing as you now have 25GB mailboxes, and PST files in general are horrid things.

2) Using Google Apps

Creating/Managing Users

I have a fairly small number of users, so I started by managing it all by hand - but very quickly this becomes a pain in the butt so I now use the Google Apps Directory Sync tool. Details here. A great introduction/use video here.

This tool is pretty simple - it will take information out of AD and create/update users on the GApps side - AD is never altered, and you can stack up rules and conditions to make it pretty reliable.

This is where the fun begins!

Obviously the best option is to use Google Chrome, and just access everything through a browser. But if you want you can use Outlook and the experience is almost exactly like using Exchange, with a few exceptions. Obvously, Public/Shared folders just don't exist. Others like importance flags and categories only exist on your local install of Outlook and don't get synchronised.

To make all this work you need the Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.

Here is a feature comparison showing what will import to Outlook, what you can use in Outlook, and what will sync (and thus be available on a different computer also using Outlook with the sync tool. Link. It doesn't look completely up to date as Tasks are now supported for sync between Outlook and Gmail...

The one big gotcha with the Sync for Outlook tool is that by default it limits the local OST file to only 1GB. IMO, this is great, but you will have users contacting you saying "my email is gone!" until they understand the how and why. This can be changed to 2GB, 4GB or unlimited if you wish.

Don't forget - PST files should be killed off and the contents uploaded to Gmail directly using the Migration tool.

Introduction to Gmail - Moving from Outlook

So if you are so inclined, you can continue to use Outlook and have an experience nearly exactly the same as Exchange, with the exception that Public/Shared folders are unavailable.

[yoink]

Sounds good, please do - one thing that I would find interesting is google plus usage - ie: can it be used for business - especially with Microsofts purchase of yammer recently.

[ewok85]

Originally Posted by yoink

Sounds good, please do - one thing that I would find interesting is google plus usage - ie: can it be used for business - especially with Microsofts purchase of yammer recently.

The hardest part of using Google Apps is working out how to use it - it's like being given a big box of tools - some of them are obvious, but some of the tools look tricky at first but can be used very creatively.

[TheWedgie]

Originally Posted by ewok85

The hardest part of using Google Apps is working out how to use it - it's like being given a big box of tools - some of them are obvious, but some of the tools look tricky at first but can be used very creatively.

Great guide so far - a question that's had me stumped for a while (also because it's not a pressing issue so I keep forgetting about it) - what's the best way to have a 'shared contacts list' for all the users in a company, however some users don't want these shared contacts syncing to their iPhone.

Basically they'd like a shared clients list that they generally only access via the webmail component.
Almost all the staff currently sync their iPhone contacts with their account, which makes the solutions I've been looking at rather tricky because they don't want all the extra contacts on their phone.

Quite happy with a 'it's not possible, STFU' as the answer though.

[thorpee]

I'm a happy Google Apps user myself, so much so that I setup a client on it. Only problem though is there is no way I could steer them away from Outlook. So I connected outlook to their email account using imap. Now they are complaining about how slow outlook is, and setting it up as a pop account is a no go as they need to sync sent items and folders on their iPhone/ iPad. Some mates that work in IT recommended Office365 to solve the speed/connection issue, anyone know if I can solve it without changing Google apps?

Edit: sorry just read all of your guide and saw the bit about Google apps outlook sync, will look into this.

[ECHO]

Originally Posted by TheWedgie

Basically they'd like a shared clients list

I have a customer asking the exact same question. I'm currently playing around with http://www.flashpanel.com/ - still not 100% if it will do what I want, but at least it does OTHER stuff too (and it does simplify GA quite well too)

Originally Posted by thorpee

Google apps outlook sync, will look into this.

Yep, this is the easiest way to do it (and will also sync calendars/contacts I believe)

[TheWedgie]

Originally Posted by ECHO

I have a customer asking the exact same question. I'm currently playing around with http://www.flashpanel.com/ - still not 100% if it will do what I want, but at least it does OTHER stuff too (and it does simplify GA quite well too)

Cheers will check it out, although their 'features' page ends up in an infinite loop of redirections, haha.
I won't need any other management stuff, there's only 8 users in this company, and I'm one of them, and 4 of them pretty much only use email as redirections to other addresses.

[ewok85]

Originally Posted by ECHO

Yep, this is the easiest way to do it (and will also sync calendars/contacts I believe)

Yup - mail, contacts, calendars, tasks.

[NSanity]

what happened to the GoogleApps equivalent of Public Folders.

I swear i saw a video posted in this forum in another thread - is it just a beta/coming soon?

[ewok85]

Originally Posted by NSanity

what happened to the GoogleApps equivalent of Public Folders.

I swear i saw a video posted in this forum in another thread - is it just a beta/coming soon?

First off - public folders should go DIAF, its a dumb idea which usually gets abused.

They have been doing some upgrades to Google Groups - up until now it has only been a clunky way to make mail distribution lists, but some of the new features like Collaborative Inboxes are actually quite neat, but it is seperate from Gmail and thus isn't sync'able with Outlook.

Here: http://learn.googleapps.com/groups

And specifically here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uzYQIRS0Ks

[ewok85]

Sorry I haven't updated - I have some visitors at work and I've just been flat out. Loving all the questions - I have so much more to write and link.

What I have coming:

Outlook to Gmail survival guide
Calendars
Google Docs/Drive
Google Groups (a hidden feature?)
Google+, Google Talk, and Google Chrome (also known as Google Clusterf*ck)
Managing Google Chrome for the "best" experience

If anyone has anything interesting they've found (flashpanel - very cool), I'd really like to hear it.

For example - this: http://code.google.com/p/google-apps-manager/

Google has a very bad habit of releasing weak products, but also providing incredible API's. In some cases you end up with a dearth of half-arsed, but expensive, solutions to fill the gaps, and occasionally you get something truely wonderful and free. GAM is a nice, simple, command-line tool that lets you change Google Apps settings - one of my favorites is being able to update Gmail Signatures from the command line - useful when management decides you need to add something special, or if you just need to fix a signature someone has messed up.

[Lukenet]

Hey ewok85, Nice work!

I am currently rolling Google Apps for Business out in my business (from SBS Exchange) and learning quite a bit along the way.. I have a few things I would be happy to contribute. I post them up over the coming week or so.

[mitsimonsta]

I have been dealing with Google Apps in a corporate setting for 4+ years. My previous employer migrated to the platform on the free model (we had 200 mailboxes on that account). I now work in IT Consulting and Managed Support, and have about 20 clients on Google Apps of various flavours.

Some things I have found:

• The free version is only good for families or very small businesses such as SoHo or small retailers that need a few email addresses. I personally run my email on GA_Free but will bring that back to my own
• Never run Outlook (IMAP) over GA_Free.
• Google Apps Sync for Outlook only runs on the paid version (or Education version).
• Don't confuse Google Apps Sync for Outlook with Google Calendar Sync - that only does the calendar syncing into Outlook.
• If the client is dead-set an Outlook user, then don't spend the $50/yr/mailbox on Google apps, spend $75/yr/mailbox on a hosted Exchange solution. There is Office365, but we find support is hard to deal with so we use Apps4Rent who are responsive via phone, email and live chat. They also provide Hosted Sharepoint at a good price.
• If you do decide to run Google Apps, and you want to use Outlook, then pay your $50/yr and use the Google Apps Sync for Outlook. All the problems go away.
• GA_Free runs best with Thunderbird on PC (+Lightning & Provider for Google Calendar extensions), or just directly into Mail.App on a Mac. From Snow Leopard-onwards, just logging into Google Apps via Safari should pick up and configure Mail.App, iCal, Addressbook and iChat automatically.
• Deleting an email from an iPhone tends to archive it rather than delete it or move to /Bin. Maybe there is a setting to fix this??
• When creating an account, go in and configure POP as OFF, IMAP as on, delete any 'extra' labels. I then turn off the 'importance' markers, and also turn off showing the following in IMAP: All Mail, Starred, Important. The extra Sync time incurred in Outlook with All Mail alone is makes the IMAP sync even worse than the crap it already is.
• Configure your mail client to not send a copy of sent mail to Sent Mail. Any mail sent via the SMTP server is automatically copied, so you are in effect transmitting it twice.

There's lots more. Will update when I think of them.

[ewok85]

Originally Posted by mitsimonsta

Deleting an email from an iPhone tends to archive it rather than delete it or move to /Bin. Maybe there is a setting to fix this??

From the iPhone go to http://m.google.com/sync and login to the account.

From here there are three very important features -

Enable "send mail as"
Enable "Delete Email as Trash" (what you want)
Select multiple calendars for sync to the iPhone calendar app

[karnophage]

Great to hear other admins experiences with the product. We're also in the Gapps reseller boat with about 30 clients on it, some big, some small.