Air Force Network migration begins next week

16 Feb 2011 | 375th Communications Squadron

After months of preparation, communications experts at Scott will begin the migration of all Scott-domain computers to the Air Force Network, or AFNet, next week.

The migration is scheduled to be completed by May 21, but the 375th Communications Squadron says the program is on track for completion in late April.

The first week to two weeks of the project will focus on the migration of test users, most of which are in the 375th CS and selected individuals from across the base, to test functional systems. The test portion of the migration will help determine and fix any unexpected issues before the rest of the base migrates.

Following the test portion, the rest of the base will be migrated, starting with the migration of computers and then e-mail accounts.

"The migration is essentially a series of coding that goes on behind the scenes that tells your computer and e-mail box what and where to communicate with," said Master Sgt. David Goodwin, client systems section chief. "Think of it as though one day you call Grandma on your home phone and the next day you call her on your cell phone; nothing has really changed, you're just talking to her through a different signal carrier, the same thing is happening with the migration."

Users will be migrated in blocks which are comprised of the various units on base. Each unit will be migrated together, for example, all members of the 375th AMW Staff will migrate during one block.

The migration will not affect account functionality; e-mail and computer access will be uninterrupted. The only thing users may notice interference with is the ability to see other schedules when requesting appointments. This will only pose an issue if a user, who has not migrated yet, is attempting to look at the schedule of an AFNET migrated individual and vice versa. Hence, users within the same organization will be migrated at the same time.

"For example: If a migrated-user is scheduling an appointment with a member who's computer has not yet migrated, they will be unable to see what time blocks the other has available," said Susan Shaw, a project manager for the 375th CS who is overseeing the migration. "The opposite is also true. Luckily this is an issue that can easily be worked around by collaborating with other meeting-goers over the phone or by e-mail."

After migration, a user's access to printers and shared drives will remain the same as will any computer settings.

During the migration, users are asked to please follow the on-screen prompts and perform the tasks requested. This will ensure an accurate migration.

"Both fortunately and unfortunately, many of the after-migration issues at other bases have been the consequence of user error," said Sergeant Goodwin. "It's fortunate in that the issues are able to be easily resolved, but it's unfortunate because the problems could have been easily avoided."

User tips for the migration
Keep your inbox clean; move items, especially those large in file size, to a .PST file. The more items in a user's inbox the more work and time it'll take to move those items.

Know who your unit's Information Assurance Officer, Trusted Agents, and Client Support Technicians are. These points of contact will be vital to communications support after and during the migration.

Since customer support is changing with the migration, the communications help desk phone tree options will change. The phone number, 256-COMM(2666), will remain the same but users will be pointed to a Enterprise Service Desk first for any Unclassified (NIPRNET) network and account-related issues.

Customers will continue to consult the traditional Scott AFB help desk for infrastructure issues like mass outages as well as for telephone, communications security and SIPRnet concerns.

Marine Corps Training and Education Command