Technical Session: How to Implement Fortis Email Management

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Technical Session How to Implement Fortis Email
Management
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Guest Speakers

• Sherpa Software
• Bal Srinivasan, Product Manager
• Westbrook Technologies
• Brad Harbin, Consulting Engineer

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What is Fortis Email Management?

• Best-of-breed solution powered by Sherpa
  Softwares Archive and Mail Attender products
• Fortis Email Management consists of a server-side
  Microsoft Exchange level archiving tool
• Also supports eDiscovery, email manipulation,
  logic and quota management
• Does not sit on the Exchange server
• Provides back-end, transparent archiving of
  Exchange email accounts to Fortis or other UNC
  paths
• All Exchange messages are stored as MSG in Fortis
• All archived MSG files can be launched back to
  MSG
• Fortis never changes the original file format
• Data about the email can be exported to XML or
  ASCII
• Attachments are stored in their native format

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The Solution

• What are the components of Fortis Email
  Management solution?
• Session specific to Exchange
• Sherpa Software Archive Attender
• Sherpa Software Mail Attender
• Custom Sherpa code to output MSG and XML to
  nested file system directory by GUID
• Custom Fortis profile configurator
• Windows polling service
• Fortis Portal or Fortis Web

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Solution Process
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Easy Retrieval from Fortis

• Select the Archived Emails Outlook folder
• Fortis Portal
• Fortis Web

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How Simple is it to Retrieve the Email from the
Fortis Archive?

• 4. Select the URL on the email stub
• Requires
• Fortis Web or Portal

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• Bal Srinivasan

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Architecture

• Topology
• Archive Attender is a completely server-based
  application no deployment to end-user machines
• Comprised of 3 components a Windows service, a
  console application and a web application driven
  by a web service
• Data is archived to any network-accessible
  storage device
• Whats it written in?
• Product is written primarily in VB.Net with some
  core C APIs. The web application and web
  service are written in ASP.Net.
• How are configuration settings stored
• Configuration settings are saved in XML format on
  the computer where Archive Attender is installed.
• How does the solution communicate with Exchange?
• MAPI is the API Microsoft provides to access
  Exchange data. Archive Attender uses this API
  (Outlook also uses MAPI) to connect to and access
  the mailboxes.

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Exchange Journaling Option

• How does Exchange journal option work
• What message items can journals be applied to
• How do we treat journaled items
• Does it double the size of the info store

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Part 1 - SPECIFICATIONS

• Windows 2000, XP and 2003
• Dot Net Framework 2.0 (installed automatically as
  needed)
• Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
• Outlook 98, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007 or Exchange
  Server
• Approx. 35MB footprint on installation
• Allocate additional space for the growth of the
  database
• MSMQ (if synchronizing with Mail Attender)

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Part 1 - ARCHITECTURE

• Works with Exchange 5.5, 2000, 2003 and 2007
• Installation not required on the Exchange server
• Works with Outlook 98 or higher
• Indices maintained in XML format

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Part 2 - Archive Attender for Exchange Service

• Windows service that monitors the system for
  actions commanded from the Archive Attender
  console
• Full local administration permissions - granted
  for the Archive Attender computer (to access the
  registry and all necessary data)
• Archive Locations full administrative access to
  the location where the archived data is stored
• Domain permissions the account must at least be
  a domain user, and it must have read/modify
  access to the Exchange server mailboxes from
  which it is to archive and write stubs.

Note that if this account is a domain
administrator, by default, this account will
not have read/modify access to the Exchange
server mailboxes. This must be set up manually.
Please see Microsoft Knowledgebase Articles ID
821897 for Exchange 2003 and ID 262054 for
Exchange 2000.
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Part 3 - Archive Attender aaWebService IIS
Component

• Web service component that handles the client
  requests such as a search of the archives and
  message retrieval, generated by the end-user.
• Local administration permissions - granted for
  the Archive Attender computer (to access the
  registry and all necessary data)
• Archive Locations full administrative access to
  the location where the archived data is stored
• Domain permissions the account must at least be
  a domain user, and it must have read/modify
  access to the Exchange server mailboxes from
  which it is to archive and write stubs.

Note that if this account is a domain
administrator, by default, this account will
not have read/modify access to the Exchange
server mailboxes. This must be set up manually.
Please see Microsoft Knowledgebase Articles ID
821897 for Exchange 2003 and ID 262054 for
Exchange 2000
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Part 4 - Outlook Console aaWeb IIS Component

• This is the client component that provides an
  interface for the end users to search and
  retrieve archived messages.
• It communicates with the Archive Attender web
  service to display the appropriate information to
  the end users.
• It is installed with the Outlook Console
  component of the Archive Attender installation.
• Note that this component may be installed on the
  Archive Attender console machine, or it may be
  installed on the OWA front end service,
  contingent upon your organizations needs.
• The user account attached to this service must
  have
• Local administration permissions - granted for
  the computer where on which it is installed (to
  access the registry and all necessary data).

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Part 5 Archive Attender Output

• Standard Outlook MSG output format of email and
  attachments
• Output of email header data as XML
• Drop to network directory in unzipped format

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Part 6 Archive Policy Setup

• General
• Condition vs quota
• Mailbox, journaling and public folders
• Scheduling
• Message types

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Part 7 Archive Policy Setup

• Folders to monitor
• Stub setup
• Conditions

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Part 8 Quota Policy Setup

• Quota types
• Quota limits
• Quota priority

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Archive Attender vs Fortis Email Management

• Archive Attender
• Store on file system as ZIP
• Web search capability via ASP.Net

• Fortis Email Management
• Require Fortis
• Search via web thru Fortis Web or Portal

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• Brad Harbin

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Architecture

• Composed of two parts
• Fortis Email Management Windows Service
• Fortis Email Management Configuration Utility
• Configuration Utility is used to link Archive
  Attender output to document types in Fortis.
• Driven by the Fortis Email Management Windows
  Service.
• Exceptions Logged in Event Viewer
• Validation routines If the import fails the
  .msg and XML file will be moved into an Error
  directory for administration and processing
  manually

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Fortis Email Manager Requirements

• .Net Framework 2.0
• Outlook
• Permissions Fortis User
• Fortis User must have Modify\Write\Add
  permissions to configured Databases, Document
  Types, Folders, Fields in Fortis
• Permissions required for service
• Service must run as a domain user with full
  access to the Archive Attender Archive Path

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Part 1 Fortis Configuration Utility

• Configures polling time to export
• Configures temp backup directory for archived
  .msgs
• Configures level of logging for service
  application
• Associates email accounts with Fortis Document
  Types

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Part 1 Fortis Configuration Utility

• Associates XML data from Archive Attender to
  fields in a Fortis Document
• Ability to exclude certain email accounts from
  being imported into Fortis
• Catch-all to associate multiple email accounts
  to a Fortis Document Type.
• Uses GUID and Directory Structure to link emails
  to Archive Attender

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Part 2 Fortis Windows Service

• Uses settings from the Configuration Utility
• Polls the Archive directory
• Looks for matching pairs of GUIDs with .XML and
  .MSG extensions
• Imports email into Fortis based on directory
  location and Configuration Settings
• Logs Errors
• Logs Status
• Performs Cleanup (or backup) of .msg and XML
  files

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Part 2.1 Fortis Windows Service

• Service Configuration

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Part 2.2 Fortis Windows Service

• Error Logging

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Part 3 Things to Know

• Before going live and archiving everything
• Create a Profile in Archive Attender that
• Associated with a single test folder in Outlook
• Does not Stub the email
• Configure Fortis Configuration Utility to the
  test folder
• Verify that the email was imported into Fortis
  correctly
• Check Event Viewer FortisEmailManager for
  initial errors
• Stubbing

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• Lets perform a simple installation of Fortis
  Email Management

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• For pricing or more information
• Jonathan Langdon-Phillips
• Director of Professional Services
• Tel [phone] ext. 623
• E-mail jlangdon_at_westbrooktech.com