A feature which has been in Enterprise Vault for a while now, but one that I don’t use very often, gave me the idea to write a blog about it since I had to use the other day.  This feature is the ability to start a DTRACE from the VAC itself, rather than having to go to the command line.

To do this the administrator has to click on the server name in the VAC, and then click on Tools –> Advanced Features :

“Traces” then appears under the services and tasks, as show above.

You can create a new trace, and there is a wizard which will guide you.

One of the first good things that you will see is that there a bunch of canned traces already defined.  So for example if you know you’re having issues with Exchange Mailbox Archiving you would start off with that...

With the Enterprise Vault Outlook Add-in it is often necessary to see a log file of what it has been doing.  The log file is sometimes used in tandem with the server DTRACE of a particular component (eg ArchiveTask if you are manually archiving an item on the client).

To generate a client log file, see the following technote :

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/276094.htm

Usually a level 3 log file is needed, as that contains all the information.

Many organisations have additional message classes from other bolt-ons to Exchange (such as Fax software and the like).  It’s fairly easy to get Enterprise Vault to archive these, as outlined below :

Step 1 – Add the message class to the Directory

Right click your directory in the VAC, go to properties, then the Message Class tab, as shown below.

Click on Add, as indicated, and add your class, and a description.  For example add IPM.Voicemail

Step 2 – Update the policy

Now go to the mailbox policy (or policies), and update that:

You need to tick the checkbox.

Bonus Step – Preventing archiving of a...

Many people have implemented Virtual Vault since Enterprise Vault 8 Service Pack 3, and from time to time the question comes about whether or not it can be renamed.  Here is how it looks on my corporate mailbox :

Several customers have expressed an interest to change the name from “Vault – Users Name”, but at the moment it isn’t configurable.  If it something that you or your organisation wants to do, please let me know.