Outlook / Exchange Server Mailbox Archiving

[K50 DEL]

Apologies for this being a dry topic, but I could use some advice.

As part of a project at work, I have to spec, evaluate and implement a mailbox archiving procedure.
Central to this is the definition of "old mail"

Anyone have any idea what a standard archive practice would be?
I'm looking to consider - what's old mail, what mail should be considered non-critical

Finally does anyone have any experience of the technical side of archiving.
I have plenty of storage space available, and administer approx 250 users.

Thanks

[agent006]

We archive by default after 30 days, and 90 days for laptop users (archive isn't easily available out of the office). We use EAS, and while the client can be a bit flakey, it's a good system.

Although this is from the viewpoint of archiving purely to save space on the exchange system.

>> Edited by agent006 on Wednesday 27th July 20:32

[jon h]

I am looking at installing Zantaz EAS as an Exchange archiving tool. At this stage it looks pretty good, although not the cheapest tool on the block. This archives mail leaving a "stub" in a users outlook folder which the system seamlessly retreives when the user clicks on it. Very configurable, allows the entire archive to be searched, Well worth a look.

Jon H

[K50 DEL]

jon h said:

I am looking at installing Zantaz EAS as an Exchange archiving tool. At this stage it looks pretty good, although not the cheapest tool on the block. This archives mail leaving a "stub" in a users outlook folder which the system seamlessly retreives when the user clicks on it. Very configurable, allows the entire archive to be searched, Well worth a look. Jon H

Thanks for this, have E-mailed them asking for more details and a likely costing for our scenario.
Have just found an interesting (not particularly positive though) review of the software on the web that quotes the costs as $84 per user for a 200 user system + the engineer to install it!!
Not sure the boss will like that cost, but there we go!!

[sjg]

I look after Groupwise systems, but I believe Exchange offers the same functionality.

We set it up just with quotas on mailbox size. Users can easily see what space they have left and "check mailbox size" brings up a dialog showing items by size making it easy to find the largest redundant ones. They can delete or archive them. There's also an add-on for the client which can strip attachments from messages, which is going in our standard build very soon.

When people get close to quota, it starts warning (usually set at 90%), and strongly urges them to use the above tool. When it fills, new mail still comes in but the user can't send. People who think they need more space than the standard quota can ask for it, but incredibly few do.

I find this works well and in places that previously haven't had any limits on size, users quickly get used to doing a few minutes of housekeeping every so often, and learn to delete the original message when someone sends them a big file as an attachment. While some hoarders still build big archives, most keep things pretty streamlined.

The trouble with auto-archiving after a certain amount of time is that many (especially heavy users) just end up with gigabytes of irrelevant rubbish in an ever-expanding archive.

[maddog-uk]

We use Symantec enterprise vault www.kvsplc.com/Products/www?c=product&refId=322, fomerly known as KVS / Veritas vault etc. Its the market leader. If you are a regulated business or work in legal etc then its pretty well the standard.

We looked at EAS but Enterprise vault was better for our scale of business.

However, Microsoft is entering the business (according to the press) so you should watch out for Exchange 12 onwards.