Sending Mail From A Google Group

Google groups are a great way to address a group of folks under a single e-mail address.  They can be used for announcements and discussions.   At SCVi Charter School, we use them for two basic purposes.


1) A way to address many users under a single e-mail.Having a group with many users allows you to address many people at once. You don't  have to worry about whether you CC'd or BCC'd them, you simply send to the group and everyone will get it.  It is a very useful way for a Facilitator to address parents or for a a club to addres it's members.
 
2) A way to have multiple people read the same mail accountThere are times when multiple people want to be able to read messages going to a single mail address. They can all be given access to a group where they can read mail sent to the group, or even send mail as though it comes from that address. Since groups allow you to send mail as the group, it is o a way to show a mail as coming from a "generic" address such as "school-mascot@scvi-k12.org". Many folks may read, or send mail from the address, but it always appears to come from the same user.

This posting walks you through sending mail from a group instead of as an individual. This assures that replies go to the entire group instead of just one person. Anyone who is a owner of a group can do this. Here is how it is done.

1)  Go to the group page. 

You can see all your groups at SCVi by going to your groups page.

https://groups.google.com/a/scvi-k12.org/forum/#!myforums

As you can see here, I am currently a member of 4 groups and they are all listed on this page.  You can select the group you want to send mail from.

 2) Start a new topic

Once  you have selected the group you want to read, select "New Topic".

3) Choose to post as the group.

You'll notice that there is a "By" option for who should send the message. You can choose to send on behalf of the name of the group you are reading.

4) Send your message!

Your message will appear to come from the group instead of from an individual. Folks can then log in to the group and continue the discussion.  Here is the discussion I sent. You can see that it shows as being sent from "technology" instead of from myself.

But Wait,. There's more. 

If you have a group that you ALWAYS want ALL messages to show as coming from the group instead of as an individual user, you can set up the group this way.  First go to the Manage section (button in upper right hand corner):

Then under Settings:Email Options set the Post Reply option to "To the entire group."

Setting Up Your iDevice To Read Google Mail

Like many other schools and businesses, SCVi uses Google for Mail and Calendar hosting.  As a school, we get this for free!!  For folks using an iPad, iPod, or iPhone, setting up Google Mail for the first time can be a bit confusing.  These instructions walk you through it step by step.

1.) Click on the "Settings" App Icon

2) Choose Mail, Contacts, Calendars

3) Scroll down and choose "Add Account".

4) Select Microsoft Exchange as the server type.

5) Enter in account information

• Email          : Your First.Last@scvi-k12.org address. 
• Server         : m.google.com
• Domain       : Leave Blank
• Username   : Your SCVi Google Email again
• Password    : The password for your Google Mail
• Description : Put what you would like to see when this shows up in your list of accounts. For example: "SCVi Google".

6) Read your mail!

You should now see your SCVi Google mail listed as an option in your list of accounts.

SCVi's Internet and Phone Service Wiring

This posting explains the physical infrastructure that provides Internet and Phone service to SCVi. It was written to help Staff, Parents, and Voluteers understand SCVi's hard wiring for future troubleshooting or upgrades.

SCVi currently has two internet providers, Telepacific and Fireline Broadband.  Each has different physical infrastructure.

Fireline

Fireline connects to the school through a microwave dish on the roof.  We currently have 10 Megabits of internet service through this connection.

This is powered through a P.O.E injector in the data center.  The P.O.E. injector sends power up to the transceiver that is mounted on the back of the microwave dish to power it.  It is connected with an ethernet connection so that network traffic can be provided to our gateway router.

Overall, they have been a reliable provider.  There have been three times when this connection has gone down.

1. A fire on Mt. Wilson interrupted service. - Fireline let us know and restored things when the fire had cleared.
2. The P.O.E. injector failed.  Fireline's technicians promptly came and replaced it.
3. Config problems at central office. Fireline immediately resolved the issue after we called them and notified them. 

Telepacific

Telepacific connects to the school through the outdoor electrical room. This is the room in back of the school that says "Electrical Room F.A.C.P. Inside" on the door. We currently have 10.5 Megabits of internet service through this connection.

There are 8 different connections that come in to the school. They each have a small control interface locked inside a box.  There are two separate boxes for the 8 interfaces. One box has the voice connection and one data connection. The other box has 6 data connections.

These then travel through a large cable to the communications panel inside the Roof Access electrical room upstairs near the main stairwell.   Note, there are also two POTS lines that run from the outdoor electrical room to specific places in the building. One is being used for the elevator, the other is currently unused.

The 7 data connections are bound together in the data center.  This provides a single output that can then be connected to our gateway router.

The phone line goes to the call manager.

This table summarizes the circuits.

Connection Type	Circuit Number	Purpose
PRI (Phones)	13-HCGS-732952-PT	Provides phone connection for VOIP Phone system
Data 1	13-HCGS-746439-PT	Bonded to form 10.5 Megabit Data connection
Data 2	13-HCGS-792043-PT	"
Data 3	13-HCGS-792044-PT	"
Data 4	13-HCGS-792045-PT	"
Data 5	13-HCGS-792046-PT	"
Data 6	13-HCGS-792047-PT	"
Data 7	13-HCGS-792048-PT	"

Overall, Fireline has also been a  reliable provider.  The only time we lost service was due to a wire being unplugged in the outdoor electrical room. 

Overview

This diagram explains the entire system.

Cisco Router Versions

The PRI connection from Telepacific connects to a Cisco 2821 call manager.  

CVI-CM#show version
Cisco IOS Software, 2800 Software (C2800NM-IPVOICEK9-M), Version 12.4(24)T1, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc3)
Cisco 2821 (revision 53.50) with 196608K/65536K bytes of memory.
Processor board ID FTX1022A1X0
2 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
9 Serial interfaces
1 terminal line
1 Channelized/Clear T1/PRI port
2 Voice FXO interfaces
4 Voice FXS interfaces
1 cisco service engine(s)
DRAM configuration is 64 bits wide with parity enabled.
239K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.
250880K bytes of ATA CompactFlash (Read/Write)

The internet connections go into a Cisco 2801 gateway.

 Cisco 2801 (revision 6.0) with 195584K/66560K bytes of memory.
Processor board ID FTX1116W1Z1
3 FastEthernet interfaces
1 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Module
DRAM configuration is 64 bits wide with parity disabled.
191K bytes of NVRAM.
62720K bytes of ATA CompactFlash (Read/Write)