Exchange 2010 Archiving Features

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Why would you want to get rid of .pst files and move the data into Exchange server archive databases?

• Unmanaged files Generally, .pst files are created by users and reside on their computers or network shares. They aren't managed by your organization. As a result, users can create several .pst files containing the same or different messages and store them in different locations, with no organizational control.
• Increased discovery costs Lawsuits and some business or regulatory requirements sometimes result in discovery requests. Locating messaging data that resides in .pst files on users' computers can be a costly manual effort. Because tracking unmanaged .pst files can be difficult, .pst data may be undiscoverable in many cases. This could possibly expose your organization to legal and financial risks.
• Inability to apply messaging retention policies Messaging retention policies can't be applied to messages located in .pst files. As a result, depending on business or applicable regulations, your organization may not be in compliance.
• Risk of data theft Messaging data stored in .pst files is vulnerable to data theft. For example, .pst files are often stored in portable devices such as laptops, removable hard drives, and portable media such as USB drives, CDs, and DVDs.
• Fragmented view of messaging data Users who store information in .pst files don't get a uniform view of their data. Messages stored in .pst files are generally available only on the computer where the .pst file resides. As a result, if users access their mailboxes using Outlook Web App or Outlook on another computer, the messages stored in their .pst files are inaccessible.
• Dispersed Disk Usage Users create .pst files then put them in multiple locations causing laptops and desktops to run out of disk space. Often they make copies of them “to be safe”. This has a negative impact on backups.

Where can you put an archive mailbox?

You can provision a user's personal archive on the same mailbox database as the user's primary mailbox, another mailbox database on the same Mailbox server, or a mailbox database on another Mailbox server in the same Active Directory site. This provides flexibility to use tiered storage architecture and to store archive mailboxes on a different storage subsystem, such as near-line storage. In cross-premises Exchange 2010 deployments, you can also provision a cloud-based archive for mailboxes located on your on-premises Mailbox servers.

What are the client requirements to use archives?

Client	Access to archive mailbox
Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007, and Outlook Web App	Yes. Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007 and Outlook Web App users can copy or move items from their primary mailbox to their archive mailbox, and can also use retention policies to move items to the archive. Note: Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2007 users can also copy or move items from .pst files to their archive mailbox. Outlook 2007 users require the Office 2007 Cumulative Update for February 2011. Some differences in archive support exist between Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2007. For more information, see Exchange Team Blog article, see Yes Virginia, there is Exchange 2010 archive support in Outlook 2007.
Outlook 2003 and older clients	No.
Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync	No.

Note:

What do you need as far as licensing? Personal archives are a premium feature and require an Exchange Enterprise client access license (CAL). For details about licensing Exchange, see Exchange Server Licensing. For details about the versions of Microsoft Outlook required to access an archive mailbox, see License requirements for Personal Archive and retention policies.

Is data from your archive added to the .ost file of Outlook users who are using caching?

Outlook doesn't create a local copy of the archive mailbox on a user's computer, even if it's configured to use Cached Exchange Mode. Users can access an archive mailbox in online mode only.

Do delegates of a mailbox get access to the associated archive data?

Yes

How can users move messages into the archive?

• Move or copy messages manually Mailbox users can manually move or copy messages from their primary mailbox or a .pst file to their archive mailbox. The archive mailbox appears as another mailbox or .pst file in Outlook and Outlook Web App.
• Move or copy messages using Inbox rules Mailbox users can create Inbox rules in Outlook or Outlook Web App to automatically move messages to a folder in their archive mailbox. To learn more, see Learn About Inbox Rules.
• Move messages using retention policies You can use retention policies to automatically move messages to the archive. Users can also apply a personal tag to move messages to the archive. For details about archive and retention policies, see Archive and Retention Policies later in this topic.

Note:

Personal tags are available only in Outlook 2010 and Outlook Web App.

• Import messages from .pst files In Exchange 2010 SP1, you can use a mailbox import request to import messages from a .pst file to a user's archive or primary mailbox. For details, see Understanding Mailbox Import and Export Requests. Tools used to locate .pst files within an organization are available from Microsoft partners. For a list of Microsoft partners for archiving, see "Archive and Compliance Partners" in Independent Software Vendors.

What are archive and retention policies?

You can apply archive policies to a mailbox to automatically move messages from a user's primary mailbox to the archive mailbox after a specified period. Archive policies are implemented by creating retention tags that use the Move to Archive retention action.

Messages are moved to a folder in the archive mailbox that has the same name as the source folder in the primary mailbox. If a folder with the same name doesn't exist in the archive mailbox, it is created when the Managed Folder Assistant moves a message. Re-creating the same folder hierarchy in the archive mailbox allows users to find messages easily.

Important:

You can't apply a managed folder mailbox policy to mailboxes that have a personal archive. Managed content settings created for managed folders can't use the Move to archive action. To learn more about managed folders, see Understanding Managed Folders.

Exchange Setup creates the default archive and retention policy Default Archive and Retention Policy. This policy contains retention tags that have the Move to Archive action, as shown in the following table.

Default archive and retention policy

Name	Type	Retention age (days)	Retention action
Default 2 years move to archive	DPT	730	Move to Archive
Personal 1 year move to archive	Personal tag	365	Move to Archive
Personal 5 year move to archive	Personal tag	1,825	Move to Archive
Personal never move to archive	Personal tag	Not applicable	Move to Archive
Recoverable Items 14 days move to archive	Recoverable Items folder	14	Move to Archive
1 Week Delete	Personal tag	7	Delete and Allow Recovery
1 Month Delete	Personal tag	30	Delete and Allow Recovery
6 Month Delete	Personal tag	180	Delete and Allow Recovery
1 Year Delete	Personal tag	365	Delete and Allow Recovery
5 Year Delete	Personal tag	1,825	Delete and Allow Recovery
Never Delete	Personal tag	Not applicable	Delete and Allow Recovery

If you enable a personal archive for a mailbox user and the mailbox doesn't already have a retention policy assigned, the default archive and retention policy is automatically assigned. After the Managed Folder Assistant processes the mailbox, these tags become available to the user, who can then tag folders or messages to be moved to the archive mailbox. By default, e-mail messages from the entire mailbox are moved after two years.

Archive policy in Outlook 2010 and Outlook Web App

Before provisioning archive mailboxes for your users, we recommend that you inform them about the archive policies that will be applied to their mailbox and provide subsequent training or documentation to meet their needs. This should include details about the following:

• Functionality available within the archive, the default archive and retention policies.
• Information about when messages may be moved automatically to the archive.
• Information about the folder hierarchy created in the archive mailbox.
• How to apply personal tags (displayed in the Archive policy menu in Outlook and Outlook Web App).

Note:

If you apply a retention policy to users who have an archive mailbox, the retention policy replaces the default archive and retention policy. You can create one or more retention tags with the Move to Archive action, and then link the tags to the retention policy. You can also add the default Move to Archive tags (which are created by Setup and linked to the Default Archive and Retention Policy) to any retention policies you create.

In Exchange 2010 SP1, the default archive and retention policy contains additional retention tags with the Delete and Allow Recovery action. To learn more, see Understanding Retention Tags and Retention Policies.

Is there a quota on the archive database mailboxes?

Yes, and it’s based on size. You can configure archive mailboxes with an archive warning quota and an archive quota. When an archive mailbox exceeds the specified archive warning quota, a warning event is logged in the Application event log. When an archive mailbox exceeds the specified archive quota, messages are no longer moved to the archive, a warning event is logged in the Application event log, and a quota message is sent to the mailbox user. By default, in Exchange 2010 SP1, the archive warning quota is set to 45 gigabytes (GB) and the archive quota is set to 50 GB.

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979795.aspx