How do I back up and restore folder contents in MailMarshal?

This article applies to:

• Trustwave MailMarshal (SEG)
• Trustwave ECM/MailMarshal Exchange 7.X

Question:

• How do I back up and restore folder contents in MailMarshal SMTP 6.0 and above?
• How do I back up and restore folder contents in MailMarshal Exchange 7.X?

Procedure:

SEG/MailMarshal SMTP (current versions) and ECM/MailMarshal Exchange 7.X share a common architecture of server arrays.

MailMarshal can store quarantine folders on more than one email processing server. To back up quarantined or archived email messages, you must back up files on all email processing servers.

MailMarshal creates quarantine folders with GUID (guaranteed unique) names. MailMarshal uses database entries to relate the quarantine folders to their friendly names shown in user interfaces and reports. MailMarshal also provides a set of symbolic links to allow users to easily find each folder in the file system (see the notes section below). To ensure you preserve MailMarshal function when you restore files, back up the GUID folders, not the symbolic links.

To back up MailMarshal folders:

1. Configure your backup software to back up the GUID named folders within the MailMarshal Quarantine folder. Back up all dated subfolders of each folder. If you want to back up specific named folders, see the Notes section below for help with determining the GUID names.
2. You can use the Archive attribute or date ranges to make differential backups.

To restore material to MailMarshal folders:

1. Use the restore function of your backup software.
2. Make sure to restore files to the server from which you backed them up.

If you are restoring because you have rebuilt a server, be aware of the following considerations:

• Before restoring the messages, ensure that the folders exist and the retention time is set long enough that MailMarshal will not delete the restored messages due to age.
• If you have created a new database, after restoring the files use the MailMarshal Quarantine Sync tool to create database records. The messages will not be visible in the Console until you have run this tool.
• If MailMarshal is installed as a stand alone server, with all components on a single computer, there are no further considerations.
• If MailMarshal is installed as an array of servers, you may need to rebuild one of the email processing servers. In this case:

1. Do not delete the server record in the Configurator or MailMarshal (SEG) 10 web console. It should show the server as offline or cannot be contacted.
2. Give the rebuilt server the same computer name as the previous server.
3. When installing MailMarshal on the new server, choose to rejoin the array.
4. If you want the new server to have a different computer name, you can change the name after joining the MailMarshal array.

These steps ensure that MailMarshal will be able to find the messages you restore to the server. 

If you are using backup and restore to save disk space in archive folders, be aware of the following considerations:

• Set the retention period for the archive folder to the maximum retention time you will require.
• Once you have backed up message files, you can delete the files from the physical folders.  The message records will still be available in the MailMarshal Console, but you will not be able to open the messages.
• You can restore the messages to the Microsoft Windows folders and they will immediately be available to open in the Console.
• If you have deleted a message permanently using the Console, or it has aged beyond the folder retention time, you cannot view it in the Console even if you restore the message to the Windows folder.
• Each message in a folder has associated database records.  These records are independent of MailMarshal logging data and they are not affected by the logging data retention time set in the Configurator. If you are planning to retain archived messages for a long time, ensure that the database can continue to grow.

Notes:

1. Open the MailMarshal (SEG) 10 Web Console or the Configurator and select the Folders policy element.
2. For each folder, view the General tab of the folder properties.
3. Note the name and location of the physical folder.  The default name of a folder is a GUID string such as 6F1422E1-CDB6-4669-ACC7-794CC0669663. The default location of quarantine folders is within the Quarantine subfolder of the MailMarshal installation folder on each server. This can be a different drive and path on each server.
4. Check the name and location of physical folders before restoring messages. If the location is different, either restore the messages to the new location or move them after restoring.
5. Some software can follow symbolic links when backing up and restoring. Back up and restore using the symbolic folder links or the physical folders, but not both. Trustwave recommends you back up and restore the physical folders.

This article was previously published as:

NETIQKB39546