Exchange 2010 Archiving Capability
Exchange 2010 is the next version of Exchange Server and it is due for release the end of 2009 or early 2010. Exchange 2010 includes many new features and enhancements for archiving.
Customer have asked me if Exchange 2010 will have all the features they require for email archiving. I have reviewed the new features of Exchange 2010 and compared them to what I feel are basic requirements for a enterprise archiving solution, and I identified three key areas where Exchange 2010 falls a bit short.
1. Exchange 2010 does not move the archive email off of the Exchange Server. This is a fundamental issue when you consider the storage impact on Exchange for long term email retention. Since the email never leaves the Exchange Server, Exchange data protection, storage and recoverability issues will all be continue to be impacted as the total Exchange storage increases.
2. Exchange 2010 (as well as all previous versions of Exchange) does not perform single instance storage across all of its Stores. This means that the email you archive in Exchange 2010 is not de-duplicated and this compounds the archive storage problem even more.
3. Exchange 2010 does not manage the archive data with full retention and read-only access. Exchange 2010 (and all previous versions of Exchange) is designed with the user in mind and allows for deletion of email by the user. A true archive must apply rules for full retention of all archive data. The user cannot be allowed to destroy archive data, this is akin to paper shreading and violates strict legal regulations for spoilation.
In last month’s TechEd, a Microsoft employee presented Exchange 2010 archiving and positioned the offering as a “personal archiving” solution and not a “organizational archiving” solution. I agree with this positioning. A true organization archive needs the data off host, full de-duplication and full retention management.
I recommend Exchange 2010 archiving as a replacement for PST files and personal archiving only. For a full-featured archive solution, a 3rd-party solution like Mimosa’s NearPoint is the best bet.
