Implementing an archiving policy

By default, no archiving is enabled when BlueMind is installed (although users are able to archive their messages manually). The administrator can set up a company-wide archiving policy, using a filter which will apply to all users and groups.

Setting up an archiving space

Email messages are automatically stored in the /var/spool/bm-hsm BlueMind server directory. You just need to set up an NFS or local disk mount in that directory. If your server is already in production, don't forget to copy the contents of /var/spool/bm-hsm to the new disk before mounting it.

Configuring the archive role

In the BlueMind admin console, go to System management > Application's server. This page shows the list of servers known to BlueMind and their roles:

1. Enable the server's archiving role: go to the server administration page ("Create & edit" or select it in the servers list)
   
   • Go to the "Server roles" tab which shows all the roles that can be assigned to a server.
   • Check the "Mail archive server" box ("MESSAGERIE" section).
   • Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen to apply changes. 
2. Assign a new server to each domain:
   • Go to System Management > Manage Domain > select the domain you want to assign a new server to.
   • In the Mail System tab, select the new server in the "Mail archive server" list even if it is the only one available:
     
   • Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen to apply changes.

You can now implement an archiving policy – whether domain-wide or user or group-specific. Emails will be stored on the new mount point.

Configuring a scheduled job

BlueMind has a pre-configured job called "HSMJob" to do this. All you need to do is execute it manually or schedule it.

Enabling message archiving 

Domain-wide archiving

To implement a domain-wide archiving policy, in the admin console:

• Go to System Management > Manage Domain > select the domain > Email Archiving Policy tab
  
• Check the "Enable archiving" box.
• Enter the number of days you choose: messages older than this will be archived.
• Set the maximum quota as well as a default quota for each.
• Select the folders you want to exclude from archiving.
  In the example above, only the Inbox, Outbox and Sent folders will be archived.
• Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen to apply changes. 

User or group-specific archiving

Automatic archiving

Archiving can be activated or customized for a user or a group too. To do this, go to the user's or the group's administration page, "Archiving" tab and edit the default domain-wide archiving values.
To find out more, go to the user administration page: Users - Archiving

Manual archiving

Archiving can be launched or modified by users themselves. They can choose to archive one or several email messages manually (e.g. when their storage quota is almost full) by clicking the corresponding icon.
To find out more, go to the page about Archiving messages in the User's Guide.

Accessing archived messages

Users can access archives transparently from their email client (webmail or thick client).

When a message is archived, it continues to be displayed in webmail but shown as archived by an icon in the "archived items" column:

Only message headers are kept in the original folder to enable browsing and searches. To view an archived message, users can simply open it, as they would any other message. BlueMind retrieves the message from the archive server and displays it immediately in the mail client's message viewer (Webmail, Thunderbird, Outlook).

Storage location on the server

Whether you are using an external archiving server or the BlueMind server, archived messages are stored in the folder /var/spool/bm-hsm