How GFI MailArchiver for Exchange Improves Email Compliance and Storage

Migrating to GFI MailArchiver for Exchange: Step-by-Step Checklist

1. Plan the migration

• Scope: Count mailboxes, archives size, mailbox types (Active, Shared, Resource).
• Timeline: Pick low-usage window and estimate downtime.
• Stakeholders: Notify admins, compliance, and affected users.
• Compliance requirements: Retention policies, legal hold needs, e-discovery scope.

2. Inventory current environment

• Exchange version: Note build and cumulative update.
• Mail storage: Locations and sizes (EDB, PSTs, third-party archives).
• Authentication: AD setup, service accounts, permissions.
• Backup state: Verify recent backups and recovery plan.

3. Prepare infrastructure

• Server sizing: CPU, RAM, disk I/O, and storage based on archive size and retention.
• OS and prerequisites: Ensure supported Windows Server, .NET, IIS, and SQL components.
• Database choice: Decide between bundled SQL Express (small installs) or external SQL Server (large deployments).
• Network: Open required ports and ensure adequate bandwidth for initial ingestion.

4. Install GFI MailArchiver

• Install steps: Run installer on the designated server; choose service account and database.
• Apply updates: Patch to latest supported MailArchiver build.
• License activation: Enter license and verify features.

5. Configure integration with Exchange

• Permissions: Grant the MailArchiver service account ApplicationImpersonation and necessary read permissions.
• Journaling or SMTP capture: Configure Exchange journaling to route a copy of all mail to MailArchiver (recommended for complete capture).
• Mailbox archiving: If using mailbox-based collection, enable and map mailboxes for archiving.
• Transport rules: Add rules to ensure journaling messages are delivered reliably.

6. Configure archiving policies

• Retention: Set retention periods per policy or folder.
• Indexing: Enable and configure search indexing.
• Archiving schedule: Define ingestion frequency and throttle settings.
• Legal hold: Configure holds for litigation or compliance on specific mailboxes/folders.

7. Migrate existing archives and PSTs

• PST import: Use MailArchiver’s PST import tools or staged migration to ingest legacy PSTs.
• Third-party archives: Export and convert data as needed, then import.
• Verify data integrity: Spot-check message counts, dates, attachments, and metadata.

8. Test and validate

• Search tests: Run keyword, date-range, sender/recipient searches.
• Restore tests: Perform message restores to a mailbox and verify content.
• Performance tests: Monitor CPU, memory, disk I/O during ingestion.
• User access: Validate end-user search and restore workflows.

9. Cutover and user enablement

• Final sync: Perform a last incremental archive to capture recent messages.
• Switch journaling/collection: Point production journaling to MailArchiver if not already.
• User training: Provide quick guides for searching, exporting, and requesting restores.
• Support plan: Define SLA for restore and search requests.

10. Monitor and optimize post-migration

• Monitoring: Set alerts for disk usage, indexing errors, and service health.
• Maintenance: Schedule index rebuilds, database maintenance, and backups.