Review of GFI MailArchiver 4 submitted by William Lefkovics
GFI MailArchiver 4 was released in December 2006 as an update to the successful version 3 of the same product. MailArchiver provides three primary simultaneous functions:
– reduces storage requirements for Exchange message stores while maintaining central administrative control (without Personal Folders (.pst files)).
– allows for easy recovery of and access to archived message data without an Exchange restore
– provides ready compliance with securities regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and Security Exchange Commission (SEC) rules
Moving from Version 3 to Version 4 adds Email Retention Policies, where the administrator can configure MailArchiver to keep or delete archived content based on certain message characteristics like date and subject. This version also upgrades search functionality and allows for a modest alternative to a SQL Server license for a database for our content.
Functionally, MailArchiver leverages the journaling feature of Microsoft Exchange Server. There are no stub messages pointing to their full content in another database. Instead journaling makes an exact replica of the message and directs it to a journal mailbox. The journal mailbox is then accessed by MailArchiver to pull the content into its database, either Firebird on NTFS or SQL Server. The archived content is then accessible to users or administrators and managed through a web interface.
Because MailArchiver uses the journaling feature of Exchange and then accesses the journal mailbox using IMAP or ExOLEDB, it becomes more manageable than other solutions that integrate more into Exchange. MailArchiver does not increase the complexity of an Exchange 2003 disaster recovery event; it is merely a configuration step after the restore.
Hardware Requirements
GFI MailArchiver 4 documents a minimum hardware specification of:
Pentium 4 at 2 GHz or equivalent
512 MB of RAM2 GB physical hard drive space
Partitions formatted with the NTFS file system
Software Prerequisites
GFI MailArchiver 4 has the following software prerequisites:
Microsoft Windows Server 2000 or 2003.
Net Framework 2.0 with ASP.Net 2.0 enabled
Internet Information Services (IIS) with WWW service enabled
Optional: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 sp3 or higher or SQL Server 2005
Microsoft Exchange with IMAP4 enabled
Documentation
GFI provides an Installation document and a Manual, both in .pdf format for MailArchiver 4. The documentation I found on GFI’s site is not indepth, but is more than adequate to get their product installed and operating in most environments quickly. I found some things lacking in the documentation that could provide knowledgeable administrators with more options to consider. For example, when installing MailArchiver right on the same box as Microsoft Exchange, there are two protocol options for accessing the journal recipient mailbox – ExOLEDB or IMAP4. The documentation does say that ExOLEDB is preferred, but it does not disclose why that would be favored over IMAP4.
The Whitepapers link for the MailArchiver product at GFI.com provided marketing material justifying the use of such an archiving solution rather than more comprehensive information than found in the manual.
The installation and manual also seem to ignore a Microsoft best practice in regards to journal mailbox location. Microsoft strongly recommends locating the journal mailbox in a store that does not have journaling enabled. That means Exchange Server standard version should not host a journal mailbox as it can only host a single private information store (Microsoft.com, 2006, December).
Installation
Installation is very simple; however, there are a few prerequisites to meet prior to launching the 18.5 MB setup file, mailarchiver4.exe. Even if they are missed, MailArchiver does test for the software needed for installation, such as the presence of IIS and the .Net Framework 2.0. Preparation is the key to a successful deployment of MailArchiver. Probably the most challenging aspect of the installation is configuring journaling in Exchange Server. Second to that would be determining the best location for the product and what database backend to use to hold the archives. These steps are not difficult, but they are important, especially with consideration to performance.
There is some flexibility for MailArchiver deployment scenarios. MailArchiver can be installed directly on the Exchange server or on a separate box. When choosing Microsoft SQL Server as the database, there is no provision within MailArchiver for a SQL Server license; that is a separate expense. It is not necessary to commit to a Microsoft SQL Server location upon installation, as MailArchiver produces a default Firebird database, an .fdb file (FirebirdSQL.org, 2006). By default this resides in the install path \program files\GFI\MailArchiver\Databases.
After the installation, we first add the messaging server we want to archive, the journal mailbox to connect to, and the protocol to use for the journal mailbox, if applicable.
If Local Microsoft Exchange is selected as the server to archive, then ExOLEDB becomes an option as the provider for access to the journal mailbox.
Further configuration may be necessary and specific to each implementation.
Administration
As mentioned, MailArchiver uses an ASP.Net web application for browser-based administration. Configuration settings are all accessible through this interface as shown in Figure 3. Some highlights are that we can assign access control for mailboxes and create retention policies for content in the archive database. We can manage the archive database(s) and control the index frequency for searches. Archiving is somewhat granular and can be configured to collect internal or external email only, or inbound or outbound independently or be set for specific users or exclude specific users.
Categorization Policies are an important feature, especially for compliance initiatives. These policies allow for a set of rules, such as sender email or keywords in the subject or body, which if met, assign a label to the email message. These labels enable unambiguous archive searches for desired content.
The administrator interface is simple and easy to use. I walked through all the menu items creating policies or changing configurations to test their use. The only interface problem I experienced was the display of the popup configuration applets when the screen resolution was set at 800 x 600 or lower. I think most would not have a problem at 1024 x 768 or greater.
The user interface is very similar to the administration interface, but without the configuration options.
User Experience
Again, MailArchiver affords access to individual user archives through an ASP.Net web application. Users can access their own archived emails through their browser. This eases the burden of administrators. I was not able to get delegate access to archived content, but administrators can assign groups access to specific mailboxes. I have not tested antivirus solutions against archives either.
MailArchiver currently allows for 8 different languages for local browsers, though the default is English. My installation was not optimized for database searches for an archiving application, but it also was a modest deployment. Manipulating the web interface was not as efficient as I would have liked. The archive web interface is similar to a web-based email client, but with only search and view of messages needed.
Selecting individual messages will display in a window with several options for handling the individual item, without affecting the integrity of the archive. The user can print the email, forward it, view the headers, and even download it as an .eml file.
Searching the archives was a little slow in my testing, but very effective. Search folders and labels enforced by an administrator allow for some searches to remain current and simple. Administrators will surely like having a mechanism for users to check for long lost emails without administrator assistance, and especially without a burden like Exchange restores.
Overall, the user experience was a good one, with many options for managing archived content without a lot of training needed. Messages are presented as conversations, which makes sense to me when querying for a specific item.
The interfaces rendered and performed will in Internet Explorer 6 and 7, on Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server and Windows Vista. But there were significant rendering issues in Mozilla Firefox 2.0 on Novell SUSE Desktop Linux 10 which made it too difficult to use.
Summary
GFI MailArchiver 4 for Exchange is easy to deploy and administer for SMB companies using Microsoft Exchange Server. MailArchiver provides some flexible installation options such as server location, access protocol and database options. MailArchiver has minimal impact on Exchange performance because it acts as a client accessing a mailbox. Journaling may have a greater impact on Exchange if not implemented appropriately.
Users and administrators should benefit from the simple web access to archived messages. The archives also provide compliance functionality for governing bodies if needed.
Overall, GFI MailArchiver 4 is a solid choice for small to medium businesses that need an unobtrusive and easy to implement solution for ever-expanding Exchange message stores, archiving content while maintaining reasonable access, or needing to meet regulatory compliance.
Rating of GFI MailArchiver 4 components
Rating Category | Out of 5 |
Documentation | 4 |
Installation | 4 |
Administration | 4 |
User Experience | 3.5 |
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Last reviewed on Mar 5, 2012
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