FAQs

Q. Where can I install Archive Attender®?

A. Archive Attender contains three main components: an application console, a Windows NT service and an Internet Information Server (IIS) website. Unless access to archives through Outlook Web Access (OWA) is required, no Archive Attender components need to be installed on the Exchange Server. The product may be installed on any computer in the network with access to the Exchange Server and the archive locations. If OWA is being used to provide external access to emails and users require access to the archives through OWA, the IIS website portion of the Archive Attender application must be installed on the front-end Exchange Server (the one that serves as the external host for OWA).

Q. Does Archive Attender use a back-end database?

A. Archive Attender uses no database for its storage. All necessary configuration information is stored as xml and in the registry and all emails are stored as zipped MSG files.

Q. How does Archive Attender access the Exchange Server?

A. Archive Attender uses MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) to connect to Exchange Servers and access the messages contained within them. This requires the installation of Outlook on the computer where the Archive Attender Service is running.

Q. Where can I archive the messages and attachments?

A. Archive Attender can move content to any storage device that is accessible using a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path. That includes SAN devices, NAS devices, file servers, worm drives, DVD drives, etc.

Q. Can I search the archived data?

A. Archived data that has been indexed is available to be searched. If an index wasn’t created at the time that the message was archived, one could be built at a later time. Anyone with access to the Archive Attender console will have the ability to search the indexed portion of the archives based on keywords within messages and attachments, received date of the message, the message sender and several other criteria. Users will be able to search their own archives using similar criteria.

Q. What permissions must the archiving service have?

A. The account used by the archiving service must have full administrative rights to the computer where Archive Attender is installed, full rights to all the mailboxes on the Exchange Server from where data is to be moved and read/write access to the storage locations where data is to be archived. Please be aware that domain administrator accounts are denied rights on the Exchange Server by design. For questions about providing adequate permissions, please refer to Microsoft Knowledgebase articles Q821897 for Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Q262054 for Microsoft Exchange Server 2000.

Q. What pieces of Archive Attender should I backup?

A. Please be aware that Archive Attender does not maintain redundancies of the archived data and is imperative that you maintain regular backups of the archives and configuration details.

The data that must be backed up to facilitate smooth recovery from disasters are the archive locations containing the archived content and the Archive Attender configuration details stored in the Services directory in the Archive Attender installation directory (the default path to this directory is C:\Program Files\Sherpa Software Group\Archive Attender for Exchange\Service.

Q. What do I do if the computer running Archive Attender crashes?

A. In order to restore Archive Attender, re-install the application and point it to the location where the archived messages are stored. All the pointers to the data will be regenerated and the archived data will once again be accessible. To restore the settings, user information, policies and other configuration details, replace the Service folder in the Archive Attender installation directory (default is C:\Program Files\Sherpa Software Group\Archive Attender for Exchange) with one restored from a previous backup.

Q. In what format are the messages and attachments exported?

A. All content archived out of mailboxes and PST files are stored as compressed MSG files. Microsoft Outlook is the default application for files of type MSG.

Q. Can I archive from multiple Exchange Servers?

A. Yes, you can. You may also install multiple copies of the Archive Attender® application to share the processing load. However, each installation functions as an independent entity and would need to be configured and managed individually.

Q. What versions of Exchange are supported?

A. Archive Attender can archive messages from Exchange 5.5, Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003.

Q. Can the administrator restore messages from the archive?

A. Yes, the administrator can restore messages out of the archive into an Exchange mailbox or into a PST file.

Q. Does Archive Attender work with Exchange journaling?

A. Yes. An Archive Attender policy can be configured to periodically connect to the journal mailbox and move either all or a filtered list of messages into the archive.

Q. How can users access messages from the archive?

A. Archive Attender provides two options for users to access their archived messages, both of which are controlled by the administrator. The first option requires the administrator to configure the policies that archive messages to leave behind stubs in place of the messages moved into the archive. These stub messages contain a link within the body of the message to access the original message in the archive. The second method for users to access their archived messages is by being given permission, by the administrator, to search their archives. Enabling this option creates a folder in the user’s mailbox, which contains a web interface for the user to search his/her archives.

Q. Can users archive their own messages?

A. Using the Archive Attender console, administrators have the ability to provide users the option to archive their own messages. User initiated archiving is performed using the Categories feature within Outlook. Once configured, users may categorize messages they would like to archive using the custom *Archive Message category. Archive Attender periodically scans mailboxes of authorized users to archive all messages tagged with the custom category.

Q. What are the system requirements for Archive Attender?

A. The console requirements are:

• Windows 2000, XP Professional or 2003
• Dot Net Framework 1.1
• Dot Net Framework 2.0
• Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0 or higher (can be installed from the Microsoft operating system disk)
• Microsoft Outlook 2000 or greater or Exchange 5.5 or higher
• Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
• Approx. 10MB - 60MB footprint on installation

For the users to view their data in Outlook, they must use Outlook 2000 or higher.