<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> </head> <body> <p><strong>Exchange Server Archiver Frequently asked questions (FAQ)</strong></p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Can end-users search both their inboxes and archive store at once?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Yes. An integrated search box enables end-users to search both their archived and non-archived emails in one go.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Will end-users know that their mailboxes have been archived?<br /><strong>A.</strong> The Outlook Add-in delivers a transparent end-user experience with message preview and instant retrieval. An integrated search box enables end-users to search both their archived and non-archived emails at once. The only minor differences between archived and non-archived mailboxes are the appearance of the integrated search box and the icons next to archived email changing slightly.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> What storage technology is being used for the archiver service? Is it possible to use a SQL Server database? Or are the messages being stored flat in the file system?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Messages and attachments are stored on the filesystem, so there's no need for a separate SQL Server (or equivalent) license. It also has the advantage that you can use Microsoft's Indexing Service to provide searching facilities. Both message bodies and attachments are single-instanced, so if a message has been forwarded from one person to another, only a single copy will be stored, saving space.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> How can I test Exchange Server Archiver?<br /><strong>A.</strong> You can choose an archive mode that leaves the original messages and attachments on your Exchange server and only copies them to the Archive Server (Copy entire message or Copy attachments only). Therefore you can evaluate it with no risk to your data.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Does Exchange Server Archiver do Compliance? Can ALL messages be saved even if they are deleted?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Most compliance solutions create a data management nightmare by making duplicate copies of emails in the Exchange stores. Exchange Server Archiver not only solves data management issues but it also allows you to save all messages even if they are deleted.</p> <p>To do this you can set up a journaling mailbox in Exchange, and archive that with an 'Always' condition (i.e. everything gets archived every time the schedule runs). Other mailboxes could have their conditions set to something more reasonable (messages older than a month, for example).</p> <p>You would need to occasionally clear out the small 'stub' messages the archiver would leave in the journaling mailbox. That way, all messages will get archived from the journaling mailbox for your reference, and then in due course, they'll get archived from users' mailboxes as well. Since we single instance messages with the same content, the storage overhead of effectively archiving everything twice in the end shouldn't be too large.</p> <p>Find out how to do journaling at msexchange.org.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> If an archived email is deleted on the user level does it get deleted on the archive level? Is a deleted email still accessible?<br /><strong>A.</strong> No, it doesn't - once messages are archived, they remain there. If you need to expire old messages, you can achieve this by creating a new store every however often (e.g. month, quarter), archiving new messages to that store, then disconnecting old stores after the required amount of time. If you've deleted a stub from Exchange, you can still access the archived messages by using the UAA Service's search.</p> <p>A deleted email is still accessible - the User Archive Access Service provides an archive search facility, so users can still locate and retrieve archived messages even if they've deleted the stubs from Exchange. Likewise, the search provided by the Outlook add-in can also find messages for which the stub has been deleted.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> How is Exchange Server Archiver licensed?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Details to come.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Is Exchange Server Archiver scalable?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Exchange Server Archiver is fully scalable and able to expand quickly. There is no upper limit to the number of mailboxes that can be archived.</p> <p>The architecture of Exchange Server Archiver easily allows you to add large numbers of new mailboxes and/or additional Exchange servers. If you are an SME with 100 mailboxes or a large global organization with 10s or even 100s of 000s of mailboxes, Red Gate s Exchange Server Archiver is a simple solution to optimizing your Exchange Environment.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Do I need a SQL Server to store the archive?<br /><strong>A.</strong> No. Exchange Server Archiver stores the messages and attachments on the filesystem, so there's no need for a separate SQL Server (or equivalent) license. It also has the advantage that it can use Microsoft's Indexing Service to provide searching facilities.</p> <p>Both message bodies and attachments are 'single instanced', so if a message has been forwarded from one person to another, only a single copy will be stored, saving space.</p> <p>Exchange Server Archiver gives you complete flexibility in your choice of hardware for storage. For example it could be on disk or an old server. The choice is yours.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> How many archiving modes are available?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Four:</p> <ul> <li>Copy attachments only</li> <li>Copy entire message</li> <li>Copy and remove attachments only</li> <li>Full archive</li> </ul> <p>For more information see page 3 of the Technical Overview document.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Can existing PST files be imported into the archive?<br /><strong>A.</strong> End-users can re-import PST files into their mailboxes. The imported emails and attachments can then be archived in the normal way.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Are the archiving rules customizable?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Yes, the rules are completely customizable. You can archive by email size and date received, the parameters chosen by the Exchange Admin.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Can the archiving rules be tailored to individual mailboxes?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Different rules can be set for individual mailboxes. For example all emails over a month old for one subset of mailboxes, over a day old for another subset of mailboxes.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Once archived, can email and attachments be altered in any way?<br /><strong>A.</strong> No! Once archived, documents can not be altered.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> What Server specification is required for storage?<br /><strong>A.</strong> There is no particular server specification required  all you need is disk space large enough to store what you want to archive. You will need Windows indexing service and .NET2.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> What type of compression is achieved?<br /><strong>A.</strong> After archiving a 50GB Exchange store, only 2GB of data remained in Exchange, with the archive store containing 30GB of compressed data.<br />There are two figures that Outlook gives you when you ask for your mailbox size - 'Local Data' and 'Server Data'. The Local Data tab refers to the size taken up in the offline copy of your mailbox on your local machine (stored in a .OST file), whereas the Server Data tab shows that actually stored in Exchange. For larger messages, these two figures are pretty similar, but if you have a lot of very small messages, the inefficiencies in the .OST file format start to show - a two line message will still consume about 7KB in the .OST file, but maybe only 1KB in Exchange. If you've had lots of messages archived, the discrepancy between the two figures will start to get larger, since the archived stubs are generally very small indeed.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Does Exchange Server Archiver basically require just another server box with a public IP for the Outlook clients to connect to as well as connecting to the Exchange server s AD? Could I install the web service on my Exchange server itself instead of investing into building another server?<br /><strong>A.</strong> Yes! Outlook connects via a web service that could be installed on your Exchange server or elsewhere - if it is elsewhere it needs to be visible to Outlook.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> Are there some administrative level tools to search the archives and message stores for emails in response to a  discovery request? <br /><strong>A.</strong> There is an 'admin search' feature through the UAA Service web site that will search all the archive stores (not the stuff that isn't archived, though), with the same criteria options as individual users can search their mailboxes.</p> <p><strong>Q.</strong> How does Exchange Server Archiver behave in Outlook Anywhere?<br /><strong>A.</strong> The Outlook add-in uses HTTP / HTTPS to communicate with one of the Exchange Server Archiver components (the User Archive Access Service), so as long as that is available outside your LAN, it will work fine.</p> </body> </html>