Archiving - Data Management

This article contains information on planning and executing Legacy Archive Data Management with Mimecast, including prerequisites, data extraction, retention considerations, and handling stubbed data.

When to Ingest

Ingesting historical data ensures that your archive has a complete record of email transactions for users. Certain components must be in place before Legacy Archive Data Management can take place, and Mimecast recommends completing your Legacy Archive Data Management after the Connect process has been completed.

Complete the 7-step process to configure your base services	Initiate your Legacy Archive Data Management process	Configure your Best Practice Policies	Install additional Server components, such as Mimecast Synchronization Engine	Enable end users through the available Mimecast apps

Planning your Legacy Archive Data Management

Before importing data to Mimecast, you must extract it from your organization's infrastructure. Planning on gathering the data is an important step, and Mimecast recommends that you review the Prerequisites before embarking on your Legacy Archive Data Management journey. The following questions should also be reviewed:

What Data Should be Imported?

Depending on your organization's needs, providing all the historical email data from within your infrastructure may not be necessary. Consider:

• How far back do you need to import from?
• Will you be importing email data for all or a subset of users?

Where is the Data Stored?

The systems containing the data you wish to import into Mimecast have different challenges with exporting it and providing it in the accepted formats. These challenges can cause delays with your collection process if the following is not considered. Consider how you can export data from the following locations:

• Workstations, e.g., PSTs (historical or current).
• Servers, e.g., Exchange (single or multiple sites).
• Offline backup media, e.g., tapes and external drives.
• Online environments, e.g., Hosted Exchange or other SaaS solutions.
• On-premise or Cloud-based security, stubbing or archive solutions, e.g., Microsoft Forefront, Zantaz EAS, Autonomy EAS, Symantec Enterprise Vault, Near Point Mimosa, Postini, Barracuda, Mail Marshall, MX Logic, Dell Message One, Message Labs, CommVault, Arcmail Defender.

There are usually delays in Legacy Archive Data Management when it is difficult to extract data from the organization's infrastructure. To assist with data extraction, third-party or native tools are available, largely dependent on the infrastructure. Check out the FAQs for more information. It may be necessary for your Service Provider or Partner to intervene in complex environments, such as Hosted Exchange, Microsoft 365, and Google Apps.

The email addresses and access to the files are verified after the data has been submitted. The Legacy Archive Data Management process may be delayed if Mimecast submits any inconsistencies to the customer for review. Testing your data thoroughly is recommended, as described below.

Mimecast's Legacy Archive Data Management pipeline processes completed Legacy Archive Data Management data first in, first out. Data centers receive data drives regularly.

To reduce the processing time, it is highly recommended that you test your files before submitting them to Mimecast. In our articles on Exporting and Providing Data, you can learn more about exporting and providing data. Our Legacy Archive Data Management team will assist you with any questions.

Although not applicable to all customers, ensure that you review the following items.

Customers with Upgraded Retention

Imported data will be affected by the Retention period in your Account Settings. Mimecast will purge emails from your Account once they are older than the Retention period set for your Account. This is especially important for customers who started their Mimecast service with a limited retention window and upgraded their package to an extended retention window. For more information on upgrading Retention, view the article on Perpetual Retention.

For example, your organization routes emails through Mimecast from 1 July 2022 and imports data for 6 months before that (from January 2022). The Account Settings determine the Retention period as 365 days (1 year). On February 2022, the organization upgraded its Mimecast service to Perpetual Retention. All data from January 2022 has already been purged from Mimecast and may need re-ingesting if the organization requires it. All other data in your Mimecast account will be re-stamped with the new Retention period.

Our LMD team is available should you have any questions concerning differing Retention.

Customers with Stubbed Data

If your environment has been configured to Stub data to an external archival system, leaving a stub in the information store, it is important to consider any data gaps that may arise due to delays in the stubbing process. It is important to export all the data from the information store and the data from the email server to ensure that all data is collected for your Legacy Archive Data Management.

For example, your email routing through Mimecast (Outbound, Internal, and Inbound) has been configured and tested. Your stubbing service is configured to run daily (and stub mail 30 days and older). You export your data from the stubbing information store at 9 am. This could result in a gap in your Archive if you do not export data from your email server for the past 30 days.

Note the following:

• Mimecast supports specific message types. If you have been using a service to Stub information from your infrastructure, these items will not be important even if included with the data you provide for ingestion.
• Review the Prerequisites for more information on the cut-off Date.