Email Archiving in Microsoft Exchange Server

Email archiving in Microsoft Exchange Server is a multifaceted concept. While many view it as a backup for old emails (which can function somewhat like a backup, although its purpose is not solely that), others see it as a way to reduce storage load in Microsoft Exchange by emptying unnecessary emails over time.

The truth is, archiving is much more than that. Archiving serves as a historical record of all email communications. It plays a role in litigation, proving compliance with regulations, helping locate previous messages, or even assisting a user in finding an obscure email address they had previously communicated with.

Archiving has the potential to be involved in many operational areas, so it's important to ensure that your current archiving methodology is correct. However, you may currently think that everything is fine, but there are three reasons to consider your email archiving options.

Reason 1 – Your Business Needs Might Not Be Met

Often, IT professionals start with the technology and then go back to business requirements. Since email archiving has financial, legal, and technical consequences, it's essential to first understand what your organization needs from archiving... and then find the best way to implement it. For example, legal may require that emails sent and received by certain roles within the organization are retained for seven years, while finance may want to keep storage costs low and minimize any retention. HR might need emails between two specific people for two years in a legal case.

See? Everyone has their own needs, and it's possible to meet everyone's needs; you just need to start with the business requirements and then determine whether your current archiving method meets these needs and, if not, which solution would meet them.

Reason 2 – Not All Archiving Is The Same

There is no magical "archive this mailbox" checkbox that suddenly archives all the right emails. The closest thing is Journaling in Exchange, where a copy of every email is stored. While comprehensive in scope, it can be excessive in terms of both storage and search, which makes this option less feasible. In addition to worrying about what emails are archived, there are concerns about who can access the archive, whether the data is a read-only archive, its security, whether it remains usable when Exchange is down, and much more.

It's important to list the critical criteria and expectations your organization has for an archiving solution and determine how each of your archiving options meets these requirements.

Reason 3 – Compliance Indicators Might Be Missing

We've left compliance for last, because the growing list of compliance regulations is making archiving increasingly complex. In situations where a regulation requires certain email content to be retained for five years, another might want to retain a completely separate group of emails for seven years. Of course, the previously mentioned Journaling option might work if you keep everything for as long as needed, but this method comes with a heavy storage and productivity price tag. It's important to apply email archiving in a way that meets the specific needs of each regulation; with new laws that carry hefty fines, organizations must ensure they archive correctly.

Ready to Evaluate Your Options?

An email archive is not just a copy of old emails, but a critical part of your messaging environment. Once you understand its importance, you're aware that you really need to check whether your current local options meet the needs. Your next steps are to determine which business factors will affect your archiving requirements and evaluate your archiving options (whether within Exchange or a third party).

Source: Microsoft Exchange Server - Consider Your Email Archiving Options (mailstore.com)