Microsoft Exchange Server

Exchange 2010 and Archive-Only Mailboxes

Once upon a time, in a dark and dreary place, Exchange administrators (an already downtrodden lot mind you) had to let users archive their mail to pst files. These files, open while Outlook was open and distributed across the enterprise file servers, caused the poor Exchange administrators great pain and suffering as they were uncontrollable. The pst files roamed, causing great pains to SMB/CIFS, switching and other admins and these pst files worse of all had no policies applied to them.

Then came a bright knight in shining armor. He brought with him Exchange 2010 and stories of mailboxes that could be used for archival to replace the monstrosity pst files that had been in use for decades (ok, maybe just a decade, or a tad more, but close enough).

For environments running Exchange 2010, he explained that to configure archive mailboxes:

  • Click on Start > Administrative Tools
  • Open the Exchange Management Console
  • Click on Recipient Configuration
  • Click on the user who you would like to configure
  • Using the action pane, click on Enable Archive
  • To see an archive, log in to Outlook Web App with the user. You can then drag and drop some items into the online archive and change its name.

Then everyone realized that Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, invented online archiving because it requires a CAL of its own. Each of the Exchange Admins then realized that the cost of said CAL would come from their own allotment of porridge!

Health: such a small price to pay for online archiving!