by Kristen Mcintyre | Aug 1, 2023 | Home Page News, News
In April, we announced Google’s decision to end unlimited storage in Workspace (Gmail, Google Drive, etc.) for the education sector. As a reminder, though 90% of users do not exceed the new established limit, as a whole, UCI must work together to reduce storage by July 1, 2024 or face an interruption of service across all Google Workspace tools.
Soft Limits Are Here
- OIT is sending biweekly notifications to individual accounts who are above their limit. If you receive a notification, we encourage you to explore campus no- and low-cost alternatives such as OneDrive.
- Account holders with Active Directory credentials can view their assigned tier and storage used for their individual accounts, sponsored accounts and shared drives managed in this report (log in with ucinetid@ad.uci.edu to view). We expect to provide access to everyone within the next 45 days.
Hard Limits Are Coming
- We are progressively turning on storage limits for accounts and shared drives currently using less than their legacy tier.
- We expect to turn on storage limits for accounts and shared drives over their limits starting in December 2023.
- We will be sending out a survey to account holders over their limits so we can best prioritize how to help.
Alternatives
- We have published a self-service migration guide to OneDrive using Google Takeout and are developing instructions to move your email account to Exchange Online with Thunderbird or Outlook.
- We’re excited to announce that RCIC’s lab storage backup solution is in alpha testing. Please email hpc-support@uci.edu for more information and to get on their interest list.
- We are testing a migration of research workflow infrastructure into Microsoft Sharepoint that preserves embedded links. We expect to have more results to share in the next 2-4 weeks.
Shared Drives
- We will begin sending biweekly notifications to shared drive managers if their drives are above their limit.
- Many shared drives do not identify a single owner who can make decisions for the drive. We will be sending out emails requesting a UCI account owner. Shared drives without an @uci.edu account owner will be disabled and deleted.
Inactive Accounts
- We will be disabling employee, group and guest accounts that have not logged in for more than two years. If not claimed, they will be deleted later this year.
- Alumni and retiree accounts that have not logged in for more than 180 days will have their mail delivery points changed to Microsoft 365 and their Google Workspace accounts deleted.
To aid in this process, the Google Workspace Storage Changes project page has additional information regarding the new tiers, alternative, shared drives, project timeline and more.
Over the last three months, storage growth in Google Workspace has flattened as many of you have started cleaning up your account and moving your data to other campus-approved alternatives. As more of the campus community follows your lead, OIT is confident we will reach our target to keep Google Workspace working for us all on July 1, 2024.
If you have any questions, please email oit@uci.edu or call the Help Desk at (949) 824-2222. Due to the expected number of inquiries, we will be prioritizing our responses to those with accounts currently exceeding their limits. Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience.
by Kristen Mcintyre | Apr 6, 2023 | Home Page News, News
Google has announced the end of unlimited storage for Google Workspace. Effective July 1st, 2024, UCI’s unlimited storage will end. OIT will be rolling out a new tiered model to manage storage and costs going forward.
Your data is important. Our objective with this transition is to offer our campus community secure and cost-effective solutions for storing and preserving your data, all while maintaining your ability to work productively in service of the University’s teaching, research, and public service missions.
Currently, about 90% of campus is operating within their future data allowance. This strategy will address the remaining 10% while building a model for the future. As of March 2023, UCI is using 6 PB of storage, growing about 20% year over year. This is 5 PB over our limit. We need to reduce our storage level or the entire service–including Gmail–will stop working.
What Will Change?
- Account Limits: Every Google account will be placed into a storage tier. There will be options for those who require and qualify for a higher level of storage.
- Shared Drive Limits: Existing shared drives will also be placed into predefined storage tiers. The ability to create new shared drives will be available upon request if certain conditions are met.
- Account management: We will delete unlicensed accounts that are inactive for more than 180 days. Faculty, students, and staff are licensed users and will not be subject to account deletion.
What’s my new storage tier?
Existing accounts and shared drives:
- You will be legacied into a tier depending on your current storage level.
- Not all accounts or drives will fit within their tier. Tiers, and solutions available if you exceed them, can be found on the project page.
New accounts:
- 20 GB for registered students, staff, faculty, groups, guests
- 5 GB for all other accounts (e.g., alumni, retirees)
- 5 GB for shared drives (tiers still under construction)
Storage tiers will be rolled out in phases throughout 2023, giving each group ample time to plan accordingly for the changes after being notified. Additional information regarding this project, FAQs, suggestions for freeing up storage and more can be found on the project page.
by Sylvia Bass | Sep 17, 2021 | News
Google has announced they are changing its service and pricing models for educational institutions. These new models end unlimited storage for all accounts. UC Irvine expects to transition to these new pricing and storage models between mid-2022 and early 2023.
This post will contain general information regarding the changes, along with updated guidance for those using Google products who will need to make adjustments to their file storage practices.
FAQ
Why are these services changing?
There is a larger industry trend towards eliminating “unlimited” offerings for cloud-based services. This has its roots in the fact that, unlike 5-10 years ago, storage costs are no longer rapidly decreasing. In fact, they have leveled off or increased in recent years.
How is UC Irvine responding?
- Our primary goal is to offer our campus community secure and cost effective solutions for storing and preserving the important data that is the lifeblood of the University, while maintaining the abilities of individuals and teams to continue to work productively in service of the University’s teaching, research, and public service missions.
- We are actively engaged with the Office of the President and other UC campuses to establish a systemwide contract with Google that addresses security and cost concerns.
- We are taking a comprehensive look at the overall file storage and collaboration strategy for the entire campus.
How will UC Irvine make decisions about these services?
UCI Google Workspace is an important part of OIT’s Communication and Collaboration service offerings; any changes within our control will be a part of our ongoing discussions with campus executive leadership about the governance and funding of Google Workspace.
Why is the UC Irvine Google service changing?
- Google will eliminate the free and unlimited storage offering that they have provided to the K-12 and higher education community for nearly a decade along with their rebranding from Google G-Suite for Education to Google Workspace Education.
- They will now offer tiers of free and paid service offerings for education customers. Basic storage offerings range between 5GB and 20GB per license.
- None of these new tiers include unlimited storage, and that OIT will have until the end of June 2022 to adjust our services accordingly.
What do I need to do now?
Do
- Clean up. Delete any files, folders, or emails that you are confident you no longer need from Google. If you have records that are required to be retained* but that you do not need to access regularly, we ask that you consider transferring from Google to OneDrive for storage (*refer to UC’s records retention schedule). To get OneDrive, please start by requesting a UCI Office 365 account.
- Review: If you are storing P3 or P4 data, please review the guidelines before moving or deleting.
- Empty your Google Trash: Deleted files in Google are moved to the trash in Google. Just like on your computer, you need to empty the trash in order for the files to be fully deleted. If you don’t need the files there, please empty them.
Don’t Do
- Don’t move to personal storage. Please don’t move your data to a personal Gmail account. We are working to resolve this at the campus level. The OIT team is hard at work in conjunction with the other UC campuses to identify the best options and strategies to address this licensing change. We will continue to update the campus community with recommendations and support options.
