Continuity - Continuity Events

This article contains information on creating, managing, and ending Continuity events in Mimecast, including configuration steps, user notifications, SMS alerts, and cloning events to ensure email continuity during planned or unplanned outages.

Overview

A Continuity event allows you to control when an outage begins and ends. If configured, it communicates with the registered continuity devices or applications in the associated group and forces them into Disaster Recovery (DR) mode.
By doing so, all inbound and outbound emails are sent through Mimecast.
You can build in flexibility for both planned and unplanned email outages by creating and scheduling Continuity Events. These can be used in Mimecast for Outlook.

A Continuity event can be created by creating a record from the default blank template or by cloning an existing Continuity event. The list of Continuity events includes details about the affected group, the event status, active dates/times, and time zone.

Mimecast Continuity Monitor depends on receiving test emails exactly as they are sent from your environment. For accurate monitoring and continuity assurance, it is essential to route these emails directly to Mimecast. Relaying test emails through third-party systems is not supported, as it can result in message alteration, loss of visibility, and potential security or compliance issues. To maintain the effectiveness of Mimecast Continuity, always configure your system to send these monitoring emails directly to Mimecast, without any intermediate relays or modifications.

Creating a Continuity Event

You can create a new Continuity event from the default blank template by using the following steps:

1. Log on to the Mimecast Administration Console.
2. Navigate to Services | Continuity.
3. Click on New Continuity Event.
4. Enter details for Continuity Event Properties:

• • Status: This shows the current status of the Continuity event:
    • New Continuity Event: Displayed while the Continuity event is being created. It remains until the event is saved.
    • Pending: Displayed once the Continuity event has been created, but before the scheduled start date/time has been reached.
    • Current: Displayed once the Continuity event's scheduled start date/time has been reached, but before the scheduled end date/time has been reached.
    • Expired: Displayed once the Continuity event's scheduled end date/time has been reached.
  • Description: Enter a Description for the Continuity event, which will be displayed on the list of Continuity events once created.
  • Affected Group: Click on Look Up to select the Active Directory group or Mimecast User Group to which the Continuity event applies to.

Users in the group must have the correct permissions enabled for Disaster Recovery to be invoked.
Users without the correct permissions or who do not have the client properly installed and configured will not participate in the Continuity event.

5. Notes: You can enter optional notes about the Continuity event, of up to 500 characters.
6. Enable Outlook Continuity: You can select this option to apply the Continuity event to Mimecast for Outlook.

Mimecast for Outlook can only enter Continuity mode if Use Cached Exchange Mode is enabled in your Account Settings for Microsoft Outlook.
If Microsoft Outlook is in non-cached mode, Continuity functionality will not be available.

7. Allow Cloud Password Reset:

• • If set to Never, your end users are not allowed to reset their Cloud password.
  • If set to any other option, your end users can reset their Cloud password using the specified method, via the Reset Cloud Password link in the Mimecast Personal Portal login dialog.

This option can be overridden by the Allow Cloud Password Reset option in a Continuity Event Monitor record. See Continuity Monitor.

Additionally, this option overrides the cloud password reset option in the authentication profile for the affected group of users for the Continuity Event.

8. Expand Distribution List During Continuity Event: You can select this option so that your end users are able to view and respond to messages sent to a distribution list that they are a member of, during a Continuity event.
   These messages will be available via the online Inbox of all Mimecast applications, including the user's local Inbox when Mimecast for Outlook is working in Continuity mode.
   This also applies when viewing the online Inbox of a delegate's mailbox. For example, if the delegate mailbox is in Continuity, but the other user viewing the mailbox is not, the other user will see mail sent to the distribution lists of the delegate.

Active Directory synchronization must be enabled for group membership to be available.
Group membership is based on the last successful synchronization.

Distribution List Expansion supports Mail-Enabled Security Groups and Microsoft 365 Groups. Exchange Distribution Lists and Dynamic Distribution Lists are unsupported because they do not synchronize group membership with Active Directory or Microsoft Entra.

9. Pause Inbound Delivery for the Duration of This Event: You can select this option to hold inbound emails in the Mimecast delivery queue.
   These messages are still available to users through all Mimecast end-user applications during the Continuity event.
10. Enter details for Event Duration:

• • Time Zone: Select the appropriate time zone from the drop-down list on the Continuity event start/end time should be based on.
  • Event Start: Specify the start date/time for the continuity event. This must be within five days of the planned continuity event's start, as Mimecast provides a five-day rolling mailbox.

Setting the event to start on a date/time prior to the outage ensures that Mimecast for Outlook downloads the affected messages, allowing end users access to them.

• • Event End: Specify the end date / time for the continuity event. Click the Eternal button to set the Continuity event to never end. If you need to end the Continuity event after it is created, click the End Now button.

If you don't know when the continuity event will end, select a date/time well into the future. Once the outage is over, set Event End to a date/time in the past to complete the event.

11. Enter details for Application User Notifications:

• • Event Start Message: You can use this field to enter a message to send to users when the Continuity event starts (e.g., explaining the reason why the Continuity event has started). This field is limited to 250 characters in length.
  • Event End Message: You can use this field to enter a message to send to users when the Continuity event ends (e.g., explaining that normal service has been resumed). This field is limited to 250 characters in length.

To receive application Notifications, the user has to already be logged in to Mimecast for Outlook.

12. Enter details for SMS User Notifications:

• • SMS Group: Click on Look Up to select the Active Directory group or Mimecast User Group, which SMS notifications will be sent to.

SMS notifications will only be sent to the SMS Group that has been set up.
To receive SMS notifications, users must first provide consent by opting in. See Subscribing to SMS User Notifications.

• • Phone Number Attribute: This shows the attribute used to define your end users’ cell phone numbers, and is configured using the SMS Dashboard.
  • Event Start SMS: You can use this field to enter a message to send to users when the Continuity event starts (e.g., explaining the reason why the Continuity event has started).
    You can select a time to send the notification up to 24 hours before the event is set to start. 
    SMS notifications will be preceded by the caption Email Status and are limited to 120 characters in length.
  • Event End SMS: You can use this field to enter a message to send to users when the Continuity event ends (e.g., explaining that normal service has been resumed). This field is limited to 120 characters in length.

13. Click on the Save and Exit button.

Ending a Continuity Event

You can end a Continuity event that's currently in progress by using the following steps:

1. Log on to the Mimecast Administration Console.
2. Navigate to Services | Continuity.
3. Click on the Continuity Event to end.
4. Click on the End Now button.
5. Click on the Save and Exit button.

Cloning a Continuity Event

Cloning a Continuity event creates a new event using all the details of the existing event, except the affected group.

You can clone an existing Continuity event by using the following steps:

1. Log on to the Mimecast Administration Console.
2. Navigate to Services | Continuity.
3. Click on the Continuity Event to be cloned.
4. Click on the Clone Event button.
5. Change any of the fields/options as required. Event Duration details should be updated.
6. Click on the Save and Exit button.

Showing / Hiding Expired Events

By default, only Continuity events with a Current or Pending status are displayed. You can display Continuity events with an Expired status by using the following steps:

1. Log on to the Mimecast Administration Console.
2. Navigate to Services | Continuity.
3. Click on Show All Events.
4. Click on Hide Expired Events to return to the default view.

Viewing Audit Logs for Continuity Events

You can view Audit Logs for Continuity Events, by using the following steps:

1. Log on to the Mimecast Administration Console.
2. Navigate to Account | Audit Logs.
3. In Filter by, select Continuity Services Logs.
4. Continuity Services Logs data is displayed, which you can Export.