Solve your PST headaches with or without Archiving

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1 Solve your PST headaches with or without Archiving Executive Summary The reasons that drive users to create and use PST files are well understood (Mailbox Quotas, the Outlook AutoArchive feature) and the reasons why those PST files are a problem in organizations, namely: They are seldom under a suitable backup regime and are notoriously unstable, becoming corrupt when reaching over 2GB in size PSTs are scattered on servers, laptops and desktops resulting in high cost of maintenance and recovery PST content is not easily discoverable, they are rarely under a company compliance policy, yet remain a high risk to corporate liability Organizations with many terabytes of PST data have used C2C PST Management Solutions, initially to discover PST files, then to manage their content, to migrate them and/or to archive them. Our customers PST files have ranged from 500 to 500,000, and more. While many vendors have advised archiving as the only solution, C2C offers separate tools that enable users to manage PST files depending on their needs and circumstances. With tens or hundreds of thousands of PSTs, we do not believe it is realistic to provide one option. The C2C options are: Discover PSTs, then Live with PSTs or Eliminate PSTs The decision to either live with or eliminate them is determined by the severity of the problem and the compliance risk posed by the PST files. Disclaimer of Liability: While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, C2C assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

2 Why do organizations live with PSTs? For some organizations, PST files may not be a cause for concern or the scale of an archiving project to eliminate PSTs may be too great. Time and budget constraints are always a key consideration, at least until the scale of the problem has been researched. As a result, specific or all PSTs are kept out of necessity to ensure their content can be found and secured. C2C Solution In the short term, the scale and complexity of the problem can be understood using PST Manager. This enables planning for the longer term or solves the immediate need, for example: How many PST files exist? Where are they? Who owns them? What content do they hold? PST Manager There are various ways to gather PST data, such as scripts or installing client based software. These are either limited in scope or complex to manage and neither work well. C2C PST Manager is nonintrusive, unseen by the user and supplies extensive information about PSTs metadata, enabling administrators to make intelligent decisions about them. It can be deployed to thousands of users with one logon script change. Nothing is installed on the client as it simply runs in memory. This unique discovery method allows PST Manager to find PST files regardless of whether or not they are loaded or associated in a user s Outlook profile. PSTs could be on a server, laptop, desktop, local or remote. PST Manager doesn t discriminate, it simply finds all PSTs. Free Download of PST Manager: Copyright C2C Page 2 of 6

3 C2C PST Management Options Living with PSTs (Discovery Manager) If living with PSTs is your preferred option, Discovery Manager enables you to find and manage PSTs, regardless of location. s can be found by their metadata or content and when found, you can report, copy, move or delete them. Living with PSTs Archiving their content With C2C, you can archive the PST content to make the data secure while keeping the PST. By doing so, users still believe that PSTs exist and see no change to daily procedures. This approach provides the benefits of archiving with no user training and allows you to scan for data before, during or after the PST content is archived, ensuring flexibility to suit your needs Copyright C2C Page 3 of 6

4 Eliminating PSTs The need for a permanent solution to manage PST files drives many organizations to consider their elimination. The severities of the problems lead companies to consider eliminating PSTs and there are two options: 1. Migration of data back into the Exchange server 2. Migration of data directly to an archive To determine the most suitable option, the scale of the problem must first be identified. Step 1 Search, find and report back (PST Manager) The free download allows users to report and analyze the size, location, name and path of all PST files, providing the statistical information needed to make informed migration decisions. Free Download of PST Manager: Choosing the right solution The ArchiveOne Approach The ArchiveOne approach allows PSTs to be managed in their original location and if required, migrated directly to an archive. This ensures minimal effort, no intervention in manually moving files and there is no risk of human error. This is significantly different to most vendors and gives more flexibility in adopting the most suitable solution. A typical PST archiving solution is collect them into a known location, ingest them into an archive and then search the content. As well as being resource intensive, this process does not scale. Using ArchiveOne, an administrator can create policies to find or migrate data; the process is managed centrally but executed locally by an inmemory process. As the processes are run in parallel rather than sequentially, the results are multiple times faster. When matching content is identified, it can be: Migrated back into Exchange Migrated directly to an archive Moved, copied or exported to a PST file Deleted if not required Written directly into a Compliance Officer s Mailbox Further, with ArchiveOne the policies created by the administrator can be selective on which data to migrate; for example, corporate policy may prohibit.avi and.mp3 files from being stored on the system, so ArchiveOne could identify these and eliminate them. Migration of PST files into Exchange Migrating PST data into Exchange is the simplest option as it does not require an archiving solution but organizations should consider the key driver for creating PST files in the first instance (avoiding IT imposed quotas). Pulling all the data back into Exchange will result in a considerable increase in storage. Thought should be given to the benefits of implementing an archiving solution; not only can PSTs be eliminated but there are significant, additional benefits in managing, discovering and retaining data. A secondary option of this approach is for PSTs to be archived once they have been migrated back into Exchange. However, the result will inevitably be storage bloat and complexity. Trying to live within existing quotas will be difficult and the additional time taken to complete the process could be excessive. With the C2C approach, PST migration can be scheduled and automated Copyright C2C Page 4 of 6

5 Migration of PST files directly to the archive The alternative to migrating data back into Exchange is to move it directly to an archive. While many solutions will first move the data into Exchange and then to an archive, ArchiveOne enables you to migrate it to the archive, as a single step, which is far quicker and more efficient. Recovering white space and eliminating PST files Once data is removed, PST files can be compacted to free up the white space, as the PST will only contain messages with stub files. The risks of potential corruption are reduced and company information is incorporated into a secure store. To remove the dependence on PST files entirely, it is necessary to import the remaining data (the messages with stub files) back into the user s mailbox. ArchiveOne can be automated to migrate this data. To aid the user, the original folder hierarchy as found within the original PST, can be retained. Once completed, the empty PST file can be automatically removed from the user s Outlook profile. Exchange 2010 Microsoft enables PST files to be brought back into an archive (a secondary mailbox). However, the administrator must still discover PSTs and manual restoration is required. No automated approach is provided. Larger organizations require more comprehensive retention rules only available in third party archiving solutions. Retention Enforcement The final step in getting PSTs under control is to ensure that company retention policies can be enforced. Most solutions would ingest all content into an archive and then manage the retention. ArchiveOne is more flexible as it can define retention based on more than 70 criteria (e.g. owner, content and subject) and then make a retention decision based on corporate policy before committing the data to the archive. This reduces corporate risk and improves efficiency of time and storage demand Copyright C2C Page 5 of 6

6 PST Management Summary Reduce the need to create new PST files Reduce the server space needed for mailboxes with archiving Less space required for mailboxes, users are less likely to hit mailbox quota limits Less mailbox quota issues, removes the need for PST files Steps to eliminate PST files 1. Locate and gather data on the PST files (server, client, attached, unattached) 2. Analyze data and choose migration strategy (to Exchange or to Archive) 3. Create retention policy (not essential, but more efficient to do it now) 4. Select the PST files for priority action 5. Schedule remaining data for migration 6. If archiving, move stubs back to Exchange once migration is complete 7. De couple and eliminate PST Files About C2C C2C offers automated data archiving and management for , files and SharePoint content. With over 15 years experience delivering solutions for capacity, e policy enforcement, compliance and e Discovery, C2C optimizes performance, reduces storage management costs and minimizes risks associated with helping you to control data before it controls you. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, C2C supports organizations in the manufacturing, finance, education, healthcare and government sectors, including Fortune 1000 companies. Established in 1992, C2C is a privately held company with offices in Reading, UK and Westborough, Massachusetts, USA. More Information For more information and free evaluation software: visit: or info@c2c.com UK USA C2C Systems Ltd C2C Systems, Inc 6 Richfield Place 134 Flanders Road Reading Westborough Berkshire MA RG1 8EQ T: +44 (0) T: F: +44 (0) F: Disclaimer of Liability While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, C2C Systems assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. Trademarks All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies Copyright C2C Page 6 of 6