E-mail, contacts and calendar

Basically there are four ways to retrieve emails, contacts and calendar entries:

Webmail
Desktop Windows Groupwise Client
Other programs (clients) e.g. Thunderbird ...
Access with mobile Android/iOS devices

Webmail

Webmail is a very convenient application for decentralized management of one's electronic mail. It allows all the basic functions a user expects from an email client, such as reading, writing and deleting emails. It is also possible to schedule and manage appointments.

GroupWise Webmail-Server

Microfocus Groupwise

Groupwise is pre-installed for staff and professors. Students can download Groupwise below:

User login

Enter your username and password here in order to log in on the website

If only one command prompt appears: Click “Cancel”.
A small window “Novell GroupWise Startup” appears.
Enter your user-ID into the “user-ID” field.
Enter “po-user1.oth-aw.de” into the address field and the Port Number “1677” into the port field.
Enter the correct password and click OK.
After a successful login the address for your inbox is changed.

Now GroupWise works inside as well as outside of the University.

E-mails of students are not saved. Archival is really simple and works via an on board functionality of GroupWise. This can also be used to reduce the size of your used inbox.

For workers and professors the E-mails are automatically saved. In the event of a mistakenly deleted E-mail you can simply go to the “Archive/Backup” and should have access to your recently deleted mail.

The University has implemented an autoconfiguration for mainstream E-mail clients. With those clients supplying an E-mail address and a password should be sufficient.

For manual configuration please use the imap- or smtp- server.

smtp: smtp.oth-aw.de port 465 or 587 (SSL), port 25 (TLS)

imap: imap.oth-aw.de port 993 (SSL)

As for credentials please use your E-mail address and your password.

Important notice: SSL/TLS have to be active!

On some websites it is possible to send the viewed paragraph via E-mail.

It is important that you don’t use any OTH-AW.DE address as a sender if the recipient is also an OTH-AW.DE address.

In that case please use a private E-mail address or an imaginary E-mail, if possible.

No SPAM-filter is perfect, because the decision has to be based on multiple factors. The effectiveness is about 90%. This justifies the use of the SPAM-filter.

Immediately delete SPAM and never reply.

Do not click on SPAM-mails, do not forward SPAM-mails, do not call any numbers specified in SPAM-mails, do not buy anything from SPAM-mails.

You can report SPAM by appending and sending it to spam@oth-aw.de.

Please do use common sense.

The simplest way to do so is using the „Webmail” function of the University. The link can be found on the WWW-sites of the Computer Centre.

The size of the inbox is 1GB for students and 20GB for staff. It is recommendable to keep track of your inbox and to archive important mail.

The Computer Centre offers a service which is more precisely explained via "Smartphone Synchronisation".

The maximum size of an E-Mail including appendix is limited to 30MB.

Please mind that appendices grow about 30% when sent via mail. Hence why the appendix should accordingly be smaller than the maximum Size. If necessary it is possible to split the appendix using a zipping application.

Other Programs for e-mail, contacts and calendar

If you need/want to use another program to manage your mail, contacts and calendars (e.g. Thunderbird or Apple Mail, Apple Calendar, Apple Contacts, Lightning, Evolution, KMail), you can set this up using SMTP and IMAP access for Mail, CardDAV for Contacts and CalDAV for Calendars.

Server names

SMTP: smtp.oth-aw.de (Attention: Username here is the complete OTH mail address!)
IMAP: imap.oth-aw.de (Attention: Username here is the four-digit OTH user ID!)
CalDAV or CardDAV: xdav.oth-aw.de

Set up Apple Mail

Please open Apple Mail,

Click on Mail in the menu and then on Add Account.

Please select Other Mail Account ...

Please fill in the following window with your personal data and click on Register.

In the next window, please complete with the following information:

For the server for incoming e-mails, enter imap.oth-aw.de.

For the server for outgoing e-mails, enter smtp.oth-aw.de.

Click on Log in.

Complete the process by clicking on Done.

Please read the paragraph on currently known issues. We currently support ONLY MacOS (Yosemite, El Capitan and newer). In principle, however, it should work analogously with all CalDAV and CardDAV clients. Either as easy as with MacOS (e.g. KDE Calendar) or a bit more "bumpy" (e.g. Evolution, Thunderbird-Lightning). How you can find out your CalDAV/CardDAV paths is shown below.

Calendar

Create a new CalDAV account in the Mac calendar with Add calendar account.

Select the automatic configuration with your e-mail address (....@oth-aw.de) and password. Alternatively, you can also select the manual configuration with the server: "xdav.oth-aw.de", your CC account with password.

Contacts

Create a new CardDAV account in Mac Contacts with Add Contacts Account (you need to scroll all the way down).

Select the automatic configuration with your e-mail address (....@oth-aw.de) and password. Alternatively, you can also select the manual configuration with the server: "xdav.oth-aw.de", your CC account with password.

Log in with a web browser on the following website with RZ account & password: xdav.oth-aw.de. Click on "current-user-principal" (right). Now you will see (under your name) the links to your address books (click on "addressbooks") and to your calendars (click on "calendars"). These paths will also work in programmes that do not support automatic configuration (e.g. Evolution). Calendars beginning with a "." (dot) are system calendars and are used in CalDAV for internal communication (appointments in/out, notifications, etc.).

However, please understand that we do not provide support for these accesses!

If you have serial appintments in your calendar that were created with old GroupWise clients (BEFORE 14.0.2) OR individual appointments from the series have been changed, then not all appointments may appear on your Mac calendar.
Multiple address books do not appear on the Mac - this is a limitation of MacOS - on an iPhone connected via CardDAV all address books appear.
GroupWise distribution lists do not appear in the address book - this is a MacOS limitation - Apple Contacts does not support groups yet.
Shared calendars (from other people to you) do not support push updates (i.e. you may have to wait up to an hour for an update (or press Command-R).
Substitution access is not available - and probably never will be, as this is not part of the CalDAV/CardDAV concept.
Support for MacOS-X "tasks" is not (yet) available.

Synchronisation of Mobile Devices

You want the convenience of Groupwise on your smartphone

Your e-mails always at hand
Your contacts always at hand
your appointments up to date

Then activate the data synchronization for your RZ account online and configure your smartphone.

When does synchronization with GroupWise make sense for you?

You have a data flat rate with your cell phone provider.
You want to use your OTH e-mail, contacts and calendar data in GroupWise effectively via your smartphone.
You do not yet have any other synchronization of data to your cell phone.

You want the convenience of Groupwise on your smartphone
Your e-mails always at hand
your contacts always at hand
Your appointments up to date

Then activate data synchronisation for your RZ account online and configure your smartphone.

When does synchronisation with GroupWise make sense for you?

You have a data flat rate with your mobile phone provider.
You want to use your OTH e-mails, contacts and calendar data in GroupWise effectively via your smartphone.
You do not yet have any other synchronisation of data on your mobile phone.

By registering, you agree that the data synchronisation service is activated for your RZ account. No additional data is collected through registration. Log files are generated during use. This data is necessary to maintain error-free operation and is automatically deleted after 15 days. You can unsubscribe at any time (by e-mail to rechenzentrum@oth-aw.de, or by telephone +49 (9621) 482-3233). The data synchronisation service is automatically deactivated after 60 days of inactivity. No data is lost and the service can be reactivated at any time.

No costs are charged for our service by the Computer Centre of the Amberg-Weiden University of Applied Sciences. However, for synchronisation "Over the Air" (OTA) you need a reasonable data tariff, preferably a data flat rate. Caution is advised when synchronising abroad. There are usually additional costs here for which we unfortunately cannot accept any liability.

As a rule, no data will be lost if you properly set up our data synchronisation service. However, before using the function, the Computer Centre explicitly advises you to back up all data on the mobile phone to prevent unintentional data loss.

Many mobile phones only allow the use of a single ActiveSync account, so existing data can be overwritten when setting up the data synchronisation service of the Computer Centre.

Poor reception can cause connection problems for which the data centre cannot accept any liability. Failures of the data synchronisation service may also occur due to maintenance work. As a rule, however, the service runs stably.

1. Registration:

After you have successfully registered your account via our web form (scroll down to Activation of sync), you can start configuring your smartphone. Since your data must first be synchronised, it can take up to half an hour until the service is active.

NOTE!!

With some devices there may be warning messages that the certificate is not in order. This is because there is a new certificate from Telekom, but it has not yet been installed. Further information at: www.oth-aw.de/informieren-und-entdecken/einrichtungen/rechenzentrum/ssl-zertifikate/

2. Set up account:

Gehen Sie zu Alle Programme -> Einstellungen -> Konten und Synchronisation -> Konto hinzufügen -> Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync

Normally, your smartphone will automatically fetch all the necessary data once you have entered your OTH email address and password.

If you tap on manual setup, you can enter your user data yourself:

Username: CC identifier / OTH email address

Password

Server address: depending on "workload" you will be registered for gms1.oth-aw.de, gms2.oth-aw-de or gms3.oth-aw.de (will be entered automatically during autoconfiguration)

Go back to All Programs -> Settings -> Accounts and Synchronisation -> Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and tap on "Synchronise now".

The synchronisation is now successfully set up.

1. Registration:

After you have successfully registered your account via our web form, you can start configuring your smartphone. Since your data must first be synchronised, it can take up to half an hour until the service is active.

NOTE!! On some devices you may receive a warning message that the certificate is not correct. This is due to the fact that there is a new certificate from Telekom, but it has not yet been installed. Further information at: www.oth-aw.de/informieren-und-entdecken/einrichtungen/rechenzentrum/ssl-zertifikate/

2. Set up an account on the iPhone / iPad:

Under "Settings" - "Mail, Contacts, Calendar" - "Add Account..." click on "Microsoft Exchange" and enter your OTH email address and password.

As a rule, your smartphone automatically fetches all the required data, only the user name may not be transferred correctly (e.g. CC identifier: 98A2). In future, the email address should also work as the user name.

Username: CC identifier / OTH email address

Password

Server address: depending on "workload" you will be entered for gms1.oth-aw.de, gms2.oth-aw.de or gms3.oth-aw.de when logging in (automatically entered during autoconfiguration).

Select what you want to synchronise on your iPhone / iPad:

Mail

Contacts

Calendar

During the first synchronisation, your device will ask you whether you want to keep the existing data. Please keep an eye on that!

3. Handling:

Synchronisation is two-way. When you create data on your iPhone, it is synchronised into your GroupWise account and vice versa.

Activation of sync

Read and accept the notes on data protection, cost risk and data loss. Specify your RZ account for which you want to activate data synchronization, confirm with your password.

E-Mail-Verteilerlisten für Wissenschaft und Forschung

DFN offers universities a service for distribution lists for science and research.

You can register here and create and/or subscribe to distribution lists.

Documentation and FAQ can also be found on the pages of this service.

E-mail, contacts and calendar

Webmail

Microfocus Groupwise

User login

Other Programs for e-mail, contacts and calendar

Server names

Synchronisation of Mobile Devices

Activation of sync

E-Mail-Verteilerlisten für Wissenschaft und Forschung

Support request

Submit a ticket

User login

How to configure the GroupWise client

Are my E-mails getting backed up?

Which server settings should be used with third party mail clients?

Why is it not possible to send messages from third party websites to the University?

Unwanted (SPAM) mail in your University E-mail inbox

Can I read my mail without using an E-mail application?

How large is the Inbox?

Can the inbox be viewed via smartphone?

What is the maximum size of an E-mail?

Server names

Set up Apple Mail

Set up Calendar and contacts in MacOS

How do I obtain the direct CalDAV / CardDAV paths?

Known issues

General information

Data protection

Cost risk

Data loss

Reliability of the service

Setting up Android Synchronisation

Setting up Synchronisation on iPhone / iPad

Submit a ticket