deep dive into email archiving products
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Deep Dive Into Email Archiving Products
Eleven Essential Attributes of Email Archiving Systems
Stephen FoskettContoural, Inc.
Introducing Email Archiving
Email Archive
Mail Server
Mail Server
Email Archive
Mail Server
Email Archive
Mail Server
Email Archive
Why Archive Email?
1. Manage Mail Server Growth• IT wants to control email system data growth• Key features: Stubbing and compact storage
2. Provide Compliance and Legal Hold• Legal or business needs a record of email• Key features: Completeness and search
3. Manage System Usage• Management and users want enhanced access• Key features: PST ingestion, flexible interfaces
Buying and Building Your System:What Do You Require?
• Business Requirements• Litigation Readiness• Regulatory Compliance• Cost Reduction
• Functional Requirements• Integration with clients• Message classification
• Technical Requirements• How will the system plug
into your architecture?• Capacity – mailboxes,
storage, activity• Performance and scalability
Key Technical Differences:Completeness
1. How Complete Is the Archive?• Can it guarantee that every message is
captured?• The “double-delete” problem• Gateway vs. scheduled sweeps vs.
journaling vs. log shipping2. Does it Record What People Do?
• Capturing what users do with a message (read, file, ignore, forward) is tough
• MAPI sweeps vs. log shipping
Key Technical Differences:Integration
3. Can it Ingest an Existing Mail Store or PST File?• Pull in pre-existing content from mail server• How hard/expensive to ingest PST content?• Will it retain the user’s folder structure?• Warning: You have to flag this stuff as possibly
incomplete and perhaps even unreliable!4. Can It Handle Multiple Email Systems?
• Multiples of the same type• Heterogeneous systems (Exchange, Notes/Domino,
UNIX, Apple)
Key Technical Differences:Content
5. How Does It Handle Non-Message Content?• Attachments, calendars, tasks, contacts• Email-specific vs. generalized (SharePoint, IM,
filesystems, databases)6. Can It Do Single Instancing Or
Deduplication?• Does it single-instance entire messages or
attachments separately?• Block deduplication can be added to the storage• What about single-instancing in general archives?
Key Technical Differences:Legal
7. Will Legal Be Happy With the Output?• What type of audit/access logs does it produce?• Can it create chain of custody reports? Bates
numbering?• How secure is the back end? (Encryption, SAS70
audits)8. Is Litigation Hold Functionality Integrated?
• If the archive supports litigation hold, how granular is it? (Object, message, folder, user, mailbox, mail store, etc)
• How flexible is the hold function? What about multiple holds?
Key Technical Differences:Search
9. How Is the Included Search and e-Discovery?• Try out the search in ways you might use it• Consider a real e-discovery request from legal• Can it search across mailboxes or repositories?• How quick and complete is the search function?
10.Can It Integrate with Third-Party Tools?• Can you plug in your own enterprise search or e-
discovery tool or does “integration” mean “export”?• What about account/access control, reporting,
logging, and audit tools?
Key Technical Differences:End Users
11.What Will End Users Think Of It?• Client integration – what will they see?
(search, toolbars, plugins, software install)• Web clients – Does it integrate with
webmail?• Off-line access – What happens when users
are on a plane? What if you lose connectivity?
• Mobile client use (BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, iPhone, Symbian)
Location and Purchasing Model
1. In-House• Need to purchase software and hardware• Invest in personnel to manage solution
2. Hosted• Located outside – a specialized system built for you, often
close (network distance)• You often must pay for software and hardware• Includes day to day management services
3. Managed Service• Located outside – often very far away• Part of a larger system providing service to many• Includes day to day management services
Getting Stuck
• IT looks into e-mail archiving• Archiving project put on roadmap• IT reaches out to legal for policy• Legal hasn’t reached a consensus• Compliance and records management enter a
discussion• Steering committee is formed (is e-mail a record?)• Steering committee meets• Steering committee meets• Steering committee meets…
Getting Un-Stuck
• Email archiving is not an “internal project” for IT, records management, or legal• Everyone has to get involved• Business objectives must drive solution selection
• Create a business case!• Who will benefit?• Make it a priority• Show that it will get done
• Money shouldn’t be the primary consideration!
Target Your Proposal
Buying and Building Your System:Getting It Up and Running
• Policies are critical to function• What categories of messages?• How to categorize?• How long to retain?• Can you automate deletion?
• System can come before policy, both are needed• Policies involve every part of the business• Have to ask the right questions• Education of end users is critical• Don’t wait to get the archive running
Audience Response
• Questions?• Storage magazine article, webcast,
whitepapers• Contact me:
• Stephen Foskett• Contoural, Inc.• [email protected]• http://blog.fosketts.net