Advanced Configuration - Exchange Compliance Archiver Agent

Table of Contents

Understanding the CommCell Console

Change the Target Mailbox

Configuring Archives by Date

Older than a Specific Date

After a Specific Date

Configuring Archives of All Mailboxes

Configuring Archives of Disabled Mailboxes

Configuring a Subclient

Filtering Subclients

Exclude Specific Mailboxes

Filter Mailbox Folders using Regular Expressions

Filter Specific Folders

Specifying Domain Information

Enhancing Mailbox Discovery Using CSVDE Filter

Disabling Compliance Archiving

Modifying an Agent, Archive Set, or Subclient

Deleting an Agent, Archive Set, or Subclient

Understanding the CommCell Console

The Exchange Compliance Archiver iDataAgent uses the following logical entities to manage archiving and recovery operations from the CommCell Console.

Agent

Defines the Exchange Server to be archived.

Subclient

Defines the items to be archived.

Change the Target Mailbox

The target mailbox is the mailbox to which archived messages will be recovered. This mailbox is often created specifically for compliance purposes.

If you would like to change the target mailbox from that which was initially configured after installation, you can do so as follows:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | Exchange Compliance Archiver.
  2. Right-click Exchange Compliance Archiver and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Target Mailbox tab.
  4. Click Configure.
  5. Click Discover.
  6. Check the destination mailbox to which messages will be retrieved in the Select column.
  7. Click OK.

Configuring Archives by Date

You can configure Exchange Compliance Archiver to only archive messages that are older than a specified date or after a specified dates described in the following sections.

Older than a Specific Date

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click <Client> and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Registry Key Settings tab.
  4. Click Add.
  5. In the Name box, type sDoNotArchiveBefore.
  6. In the Location box, type ExchangeArchiver.
  7. In the Type box, select STRING.
  8. In the Value box, type mm-dd-yyyy.

    For example, 02-25-2005, to archive messages older than 02-25-2005.

  9. Click OK.

After a Specific Date

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click <Client> and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Registry Key Settings tab.
  4. Click Add.
  5. In the Name box, type sDoNotArchiveAfter.
  6. In the Location box, type ExchangeArchiver.
  7. In the Type box, select STRING.
  8. In the Value box, type  mm-dd-yyyy. 

    For example, 02-25-2005, to archive messages after 02-25-2005.

  9. Click OK.

Configure Archives of All Mailboxes

The Exchange Compliance Archiver discovers and archives Journaling mailboxes defined through the Exchange Server. (The journal mailbox captures new incoming and outgoing messages.) If you want to archive messages that exist outside of the journal mailbox, i.e., messages that were sent and/or delivered before archives of the journal began or mailboxes configured using Premium Journaling then you must archive the non-journaling mailboxes on the server.

Once the option is configured, you will be able to discover all mailboxes and add them as subclient content to be archived.

  Make sure that the Delete Archived messages after successful archive operations option is not selected when configuring subclient content for this operation. Otherwise, all of the messages that are archived will be deleted from the mailboxes. This option should only be selected when archiving journaling mailboxes.

 Use the following steps to enable this option.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click <Client> and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Registry Key Settings tab.
  4. Click Add.
  5. In the Name box, type FindAllMailboxes.
  6. In the Location box, type ExchangeArchiver.
  7. In the Type box, select REG_SZ.
  8. In the Value box, type any character (for example, <xyz>).
  9. Click OK.

Configuring Archives of Disabled Mailboxes

By default, the Mailboxes whose user accounts are disabled from the Active Directory are not archived. To include them in the archive operation, follow the steps given below:

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click <Client> and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Registry Key Settings tab.
  4. Click Add.
  5. In the Name box, type nBackupDisabledMailBoxes.
  6. In the Location box, type ExchangeArchiver.
  7. In the Type box, select REG_DWORD.
  8. In the Value box, type a numeric value greater than 0 to enable archiving of disabled mailboxes.
  9. Click OK.

Configuring a Subclient

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | 
  2. Right-click the < Exchange Compliance Archiver>, point to All Tasks, and then click New Subclient.
  3. In the Subclient Name box, type a name.
  4. Click the Storage Device tab, in the Storage Policy box, select a Storage policy, and then click OK.
  1. Click the Content tab, and then click Configure.
  2. Click Discover. The mailboxes will be displayed.
  3. Assign the mailbox to the subclient by clicking the Subclient column and selecting one from the drop-down list.  Alternatively, you can assign all Mailboxes to one subclient in Change all selected mailboxes to box.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click OK.

Filtering Subclients

Exclude Specific Mailboxes

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | Exchange Compliance Archiver.
  2. Right-click the Subclient, and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Content tab, and then click Configure.
  4. Click Discover.
  5. Click Yes.
  6. Select the mailbox you want to exclude and, in the Subclient column, select Do Not Archive from the drop-down list.
  7. Click OK.

Filter Mailbox Folders using Regular Expressions

You can also apply regular expressions or wildcards patterns to filter folders in mailboxes from data protection. For example, you may want to exclude all Sent Items folders that are not essential for recovery. The pattern you enter will be applied to all content defined for the subclient.

wildcard examples 

example

description

Sent*

 To filter out a folder which begins with Sent, specify the name of the folder and the asterisk * wildcard with no delimiters.

Sent Items\test*

 To filter out a subfolder called test, specify the full path including the leader \ backslash.

*\test*

 To filter out any path that ends in a folder name, use the full path including the leader \ backslash and the asterisk * wildcard for the first level.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | Exchange Compliance Archiver.
  2. Right-click the Subclient, and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Filters tab.
  4. Click Add next to Exclude the folders that contain the following patterns.
  5. Type the regular expressions or wildcard patterns, each on a separate line. For a comprehensive wildcard list, see Wildcards.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click OK.

Filter Specific Folders

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | Exchange Compliance Archiver.
  2. Right-click the Subclient, and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Filters tab.
  4. Click Add next to Exclude the following folders.
  5. Select the desired mailbox user, and expand the folders to select the folders that you want to exclude from archive operation, and then click Add.
  6. Click OK.

Specifying Domain Information

It may be necessary to specify additional domain names for Archives in the following circumstances:

To ensure complete protection in these circumstances, perform the following.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the Exchange Compliance Archiver client, and then click Properties.
  2. Click the AD Server tab.
  3. To include a domain name, click Add.
  4. In the AD Server box, type the domain name. You can enter an IP address or the fully-qualified domain name of the Active Directory Server. Depending on the circumstances discussed above, the domains to include should be:
    • The schema master, or
    • Each domain controller in your environment
  5. Click OK. The domain name will appear in the AD Server List.
  6. Repeat the previous step for each domain name that you wish to include.
  7. Click OK.

Enhancing Mailbox Discovery Using CSVDE Filter

A Comma Separated Value Directory Exchange (CSVDE) filtering option is provided to increase performance for auto-discovery operations in cases where the discovery process may take a long time to complete.

A CSVDE filtering example is provided below, which will filter out system mailboxes residing on the SERVERNAME server from discovery operations for these agents:

"(&(msExchHomeServerName=*/cn=SERVERNAME)(!(CN=SystemMailbox{*)))"

  Use of this option requires expert-level knowledge of CSVDE, which is a Microsoft tool used for extracting and filtering information from Active Directory. Familiarity with constructing LDAP queries is beneficial for successful filtering. Incorrect use of the CSVDE filtering option can result in failed discovery and data protection operations. For more information on CSVDE, refer to documentation from Microsoft Corporation.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the Exchange Mailbox Archiver client, and then click Properties.
  2. Select the Use CSVDE For Discovery checkbox, and then specify the desired CSVDE filter in the Use CSVDE for Discovery box.
  3. Click OK.

The next time a discovery operation is run, the user-specified CSVDE filter will be used.

Disabling Compliance archiving

Use the following steps to disable compliance archiving.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the Exchange Compliance Archiver client, and then click Properties.
  2. Click the Activity Control tab.
  3. Clear the Enable Compliance Archive checkbox.
  4. Click OK.

Modifying an Agent or Subclient

There are several configurable properties available for your agent that can be modified from the agent or subclient level as per your need.

It is recommended that that you do not modify the properties of a subclient when a job is in progress for that specific subclient. If a job is in progress, either wait for the job to complete or kill the job from the Job Controller.

The following table describes the properties that can be configured from the agent and subclient levels.

Option Description Related topics
Change the Profile Name You can modify the profile that is associated with the appropriate Administrator Mailbox.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computes | <Client>.
  2. Right-click the  Exchange Compliance Archiver, and then click Properties.
  3. In the Profile Name box, type the profile name.
  4. Click OK.
  
Change the Mailbox Name You can modify the name of the mailbox that is associated with the appropriate Administrator profile.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computes | <Client>.
  2. Right-click the  Exchange Compliance Archiver, and then click Properties.
  3. In the Mailbox Name box, type the mailbox name.
  4. Click OK.
  
Change the Exchange Server Name You can modify the name of the Exchange Server that is installed on the client computer. However, the Exchange server name should not be the same as Client or Host Name.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computes | <Client>.
  2. Right-click the  Exchange Compliance Archiver, and then click Properties.
  3. In the Exchange Server Name box, type the Exchange Server name.
  4. Click OK.
  
Change the Exchange Version You can select and modify the version of the Exchange Server from the list.

You can modify the name of the Exchange Server that is installed on the client computer. However, the Exchange server name should not be the same as Client or Host Name.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computes | <Client>.
  2. Right-click the Exchange Compliance Archiver, and then click Properties.
  3. In the Exchange Version list, select the Exchange server version.
  4. Click OK.
  
Change User Account Details You must have Exchange administrator privileges to access the Exchange Server and perform Archive and restore operations.

In the case of Archive and restore operations from the CommCell Console, the user credentials to access the Exchange Server are provided initially when you installed the Agent. You can modify the user credentials from CommCell Console.

On Windows clients, use <domain>\<administrator_name>

To change the Exchange administrator account information associated with this agent:

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computes | <Client>.
  2. Right-click the Exchange Compliance Archiver, and then click Properties.
  3. Click Change Account.
  4. In Exchange Administrator Account box type the Account name.
  5. In the Password box, type Password
  6. In the Confirm Password box, type the password again.
  7. Click OK.
  
Change Storage Policies You can modify the storage policies in any of the following situations:
  • To include a different media for the backup operation.
  • To use a storage policy with a different retention criteria.

You can change the storage policies from the subclient level.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the subclient.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Click Storage Device.
  4. Select the Storage policy from the drop-down menu.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to Storage Policies.
Data Transfer Options You can efficiently configure the available resources for transferring data secured by data protection operations from the subclient level. This includes the following:
  • Enable or disable Data Compression either on the client or the MediaAgent.
  • Configure the transfer of data in the network using the options for Network Bandwidth Throttling and Network Agents.

You can configure the data transfer options.

  1. From the CommCell Browser,right-click the subclient.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Click Storage Device.
  4. Click Data Transfer Option tab.
  5. Choose the appropriate software compression option for this subclient.
  6. Select Throttle Network Bandwidth and set the required bandwidth.
  7.  Click OK.
 Refer to Data Compression and Network Bandwidth Throttling.
View Data Paths You can view the data paths associated with the primary storage policy copy of the selected storage policy or incremental storage policy. You can also modify the data paths including their priority from the subclient level.
  1. From the CommCell browser, right-click the subclient.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Click Storage Device.
  4. Select Storage Policy from the drop-down menu.
  5. Click Data Paths.
  
Configure a Subclient for Pre/Post Processing of Data Protection You can add, modify or view Pre/Post processes for the subclient. These are batch files or shell scripts that you can run before or after certain job phases.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computes | <Client> | Exchange Compliance Archiver
  2. Right-click the Subclient, and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Pre/Post Process tab.
  4. Click one of the following phases and type the full path of the process that you want to execute during that phase. Alternatively, click Browse to locate the process (applicable only for paths that do not contain any spaces).
    • Pre-Archive
    • Post-Archive
  5. Click OK.
  6. Select Run Post archive Process for all attempts to run a post archive process for all attempts.
  7. For subclients on Windows platforms, Run As displays Not Selected.

    If you want to change the account that has permission to run these commands, click Change.

    1. In the User Account dialog box, select Use Local System Account, or select Impersonate User and enter the user name and password. Click OK.
    2. If you selected Local System Account, click OK to the message advising you that commands using this account have rights to access all data on the client computer.
 Refer to Pre/Post Processes.
Configure Activity Control You can enable backup and restore operations from the agent and subclient level. However, you can enable restore operations only from the agent level.
  1. From the CommCell browser, right-click the subclient.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Click Activity Control, select or clear option(s) as desired.
  4. Click OK.
 Refer to Activity Control.
Configure User Security You can configure user security from the agent or subclient level.

You can perform the following functions:

  • Identify the user groups to which this CommCell object is associated.
  • Associate this object with a user group.
  • Disassociate this object from a user group.
  1. From the CommCell browser, right-click the subclient.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Click Security.
  4. Select the appropriate user groups to which you want to associate to the CommCell object from the Available Groups pane, and then move the user group to the Associated Groups pane.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to User Administration and Security.
Enable/Disable Data Encryption You can enable data encryption from the suclient level.Encryption must be enabled at the client level prior to configuring any instances residing on that client.
  1. From the CommCell browser, right-click the subclient.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Click Encryption.
  4. Select the desired encryption.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to Data Encryption.
View Software Version The Version tab, at the Agent level displays the software version of the component.
  1. From the CommCell browser, right-click the agent.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Click Version.
  4. Click OK.
  
CommCell Configuration Report The CommCell Configuration Report provides the properties of the CommServe, MediaAgents, clients, agents, SRM agents, subclients, and storage policies within the CommCell based on the selected filter criteria.
  1. From the CommCell browser, click Reports icon.
  2. Select CommCell Configuration.
  3. Click Run.
 Refer to CommCell Configuration.

Deleting an Agent or Subclient

The following sections describe the steps involved in deleting an agent or subclient.

When you delete an instance or archiveset, the associated data is logically deleted and you can no longer access the corresponding data from CommCell Console for recovery purposes.

Refer to the troubleshooting article on Recovering Data Associated with Deleted Clients and Storage Policies for information on how to recover data if you accidentally delete an entity.

Deleting an Agent

You need to uninstall or DeConfigure the agent software from the client computer before deleting from CommCell Browser. After you delete the client software, you can either leave the corresponding data intact for appropriate action or you can remove the data immediately. If you choose to remove the data immediately, you must delete the agent from the CommCell Browser. If you delete the agent, all of the agent's data is irretrievably lost.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client>.
  2. Right-click the <Agent>, and then click Delete.
  3. A confirmation message is displayed with the following message:

    This operation will permanently delete the data backed up from this level and it cannot be restored.

  4. Click OK to continue with the deletion operation., or click No to abort the deletion.

Deleting a Subclient

Consider the following before deleting a subclient:

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | <Exchange Compliance Archiver>
  2. Right-click the <subclient> that you want to delete, and then click Delete.
  3. A confirmation message is displayed, asking if you want to delete the subclient.

    Click No to cancel the deletion and retain the subclient, or click Yes to continue the deletion.