This document provides an evaluation checklist for email archiving products. It lists over 100 features across categories like compatibility, storage, retrieval, performance, support, and more. Each feature is assigned a weight and the products are rated on a scale of 0-3 for each feature, with comments provided. The checklist aims to help evaluate and compare how different archiving products address the listed technical, operational, and compliance requirements.

1. eMail Archiving Product Evaluation Checklist
Product 1 Product 1
No Feature Description Weight 1-5 Rating 0-3 Score Comments Rating 0-3 Score Comments
Compatibility
Supports existing Exchnage
1 MS Exchnage 5.5 / Exchange 2010
server infrastructure
2 Supported Operating Systems Windows Servers
3 Supported eMail Clients Outlook 2010
4 RDBMS SQL Server 2000, Oracle, Sybase
Storage
Able to write to any type of storage media that is
5 Open storage architecture accessible thru Windows NT or 2000. Near-line or off-
line storage can be written and retrieved successfully
6 Type of Media supported NAS, magnetic, RAID, optical disk, tape, CD, DVD
7 Container files Container files available to reduce storage space
Records / Document Able to integrate with existing records and document
8
management application management application (Open API)
9 Compression to near-line devices Compression should be least 50% or higher
Minimize impact in network/WAN Messages should travel across network / WAN in
10
resources compressed format
Entire email message (including the message profile,
text, and all attachments) should be treated as one
11 One object storage
single object. (Important in order for the record to be
considered a legal document)
Off-line storage
Migration to off-line storage Ability to move archived data from near-line to off-line
12
devices storage devices to satisfy retention periods
Users access to files migrated toFor search identification, it is important that the system
13
off-line keep a partial message portion on-line
Clients working off the network have the ability to access
14 Clients working offline
a local archive?
The system should always decompresses data when
moving to off-line storage. Avoid dependency on
15 Storage in open, readable format
proprietary 3rd party software to access archived
messages
16 Archive backup What is the backup solution for archive?
Archiving
Ability to build custom rule formulas from policy based
Custom archival rules and
17 templates and to select specific emails to archive (based
attributes
on size, age, subject, source etc)
Ability to establish single and multiple schedules for
specific users and /or groups, as well as the ability to
18 Schedule
accommodate production archives schedules executing
automatically
Files moved to near-and off-line storage are archived in
19 Security
read-only formats to prevent modification or tempering
Ability to run archiving processes during regular
Run archive process during
20 production business hours and agent accounts while
business hours
users are currently active
Able to accommodate management access to
21 One way permissions employee's email, or for compliance personnel that are
required to poll the entire mail of the company
Apply same permissions to the archived email stores
22 Automatically set permissions
that were in place prior to the email being archived
Synchronize with Exchnage Able to synchronize the archive address list with the
23
address lists Exchange address list.
A fail-safe method to verify that messages have been
24 Archival fault tolerance archived successfully before they are removed from
production email servers
25 Override of archiving rules Users can have the ability to override the archiving rules
System should support the journaling feature in MS
26 Server-based journal
Exchange
The ability to migrate existing archived Email to the
27 Support existing archived email
repository.
Ability to purge or migrate data from the near-line
archive. Allow elimination of data that exceeds retention
28 Purging messages
schedules . Capability to remove data that is unwanted
(I.e. jokes, spam, newsletters etc)
Deleting content from What is the verification process for archive data before
29
information store the exchange data is deleted
Policies for archiving and An easy to implement policy capability for archiving and
30
retention. retention.
Single instance storage of Features for reducing storage such as storing only a
31
redundant email single instance of duplicate messages and compression.
32 Indexing Indexing of the archive system for easy retrieval.
Direct user access to the archive repository to enable
33 User access to archive users to retrieve archived messages without
administrative involvement.
Use of low cost highly reliable NAS or SAN storage for
34 NAS or SAN support
the repository.
Restore
Look for the ability to restore email and attachments
35 Original Folder structure format using the same mailbox folder hierarchy found in the
archive
an important performance benchmark is the ability to
36 Processing time restore mail at faster rates than via straight backup
tapes
Retrieval
Ability to provide end-users with the capability to retrieve
37 Retrieval ability archived messages and attachments (with their original
attributes) through existing email client
38 Web browser client access User access to the archives via a web browser
Users will require less training and assistance with a
39 Familiar archive client format
familiar mailbox structure (eg. outlook)
Ability to provide remote access to email archives from
40 Notebook remote retrieval
notebooks and laptop computers
System to provide an image of the archived message to
41 Transparent access by end-user
end-users and required to store actual message
Page 1 eMail Archiving Feasibility Study Template

2. eMail Archiving Product Evaluation Checklist
Product 1 Product 1
No Feature Description Weight 1-5 Rating 0-3 Score Comments Rating 0-3 Score Comments
Ability to "reply to" or "forward" messages restored from
Re-using retrieved archived
42 the archive which will mean the new message becomes
messages
a new email object
Performance
Impact on network performance What is the impact on network performance when
43
when archiving. archiving.
System should operate as a multi-threaded application
44 Multi-processor machines
and capitalize on multi processor server configurations
45 Load balancing Ability to configure multiple archiving processes
What is the archive throughput rate? (in messages per
46 Archive throughput rate
second)
What solution components need to be upgraded to
47 Performance Improvement improve performance? (faster disks or more processors
or more archive servers?)
48 Message scanning speed Average number of messages scanned per second
49 Message archiving speed Average number of messages archived per second
Scalability
Transparently support multiple email server regardless
50 Enterprise deployment
of their geographic location in the organization
Ability to add more archive server in an environment
51 Dynamic deployment
dynamically.
Supports multiple repositories and upon retrieval will
52 Supports multiple repositories automatically locate the storage location of a user’s
archive without any user or administrator intervention.
53 Impact of increased users Little or no impact on increased users / mail boxes
Supportability
Accommodate the temporary relocation of users in a
54 Enterprise end-user mail access geographically dispersed server network without the
need to migrate their mailboxes
Accommodate user access and retrieval to centrally
55 Internationally disperse network
located archives while users are traveling abroad
Client Installation
56 Perform centrally client installation should be simple
Capacity Planning
Provide analysis tools that help to determine email
57 Analysis tools
volume distribution
Provide tools to evaluate storage capacities and utilize
58 Volumetric tools
"singe instance" storage
Ability to generate "what if" reports for decision making
59 Reporting tools
and archive strategy development
Searching
Ability to utilize the native search capabilities on the
60 Search with in the email client
archive pointers (eg. Via outlook)
Ability to render full text expressions against all archived
Search archived messages and
61 mail messages, attachments, public folders and search
attachments
engines
Able to support multiple language character sets for full
62 Multiple language support
text searching of data fields
Ability to interface with Third party index servers and
63 Third party search engines
search engines
full text search capabilities support the following:
Allows a user to perform full-text
64 Wildcards, Fuzzy, logic, Boolean logic, Keywords
queries on their archived Email.
Phrases, and Inflections of specific words
Access Pointers
Archive pointers are helpful because they leave a
portion of the archived email message on the email
65 Message archive pointers
server. End users have more information before electing
to retrieve an archived message
66 Configuration Ability to configure access pointers in size
Ability to access archives directly from Outlook. No
67 Single point of access
additional interfaces or passwords should be required
68 Management life cycle Ability to set retention on archive pointers
PST files
Provide automated tools to import PST files from
69 Migration tools desktop and / or shared drives to the archive
repositories
Ability to create message archive pointers for each PST
70 Message archive pointers
file migrated (archived) to near-line archive stores
Reporting
Provide instant statistics on Reports on Messages Scanned, Messages Archived,
71 archiving throughput, New Message References, MB Archived, MB Archived
performance, and storage results. Compressed, Elapsed Time
Ability to record all the recipients belonging to each
72 Distribution lists
distribution list at a specific point in time
Ability to audit and report on messages based on search
73 Content reporting
criteria
Administration
Allows an unlimited amount of archive groups, with each
74 Archiving Groups
group having unique configurations.
75 Role based administration Ability to define role based administration
76 Archiving policies Archiving policies be based on distribution lists
Exchnage down time during No severe performance issues for initial archive or
77
archiving downtime
Once archived, the administrator can restore selected
Folders, or entire mailboxes
78 items, folders, or entire mailboxes back to MS
restore
Exchange.
Mail box migrations between Support for archive data for the mail boxed moved
79
exchange sites between exchange sites.
Selected messages, folders, or entire accounts can be
80 Selected Message restore
restored instantly with the click of a button.
Page 2 eMail Archiving Feasibility Study Template

3. eMail Archiving Product Evaluation Checklist
Product 1 Product 1
No Feature Description Weight 1-5 Rating 0-3 Score Comments Rating 0-3 Score Comments
Multiple or singles mailboxes, folders (with sub-folders),
Multiple or Single mail box or selected
81
restore messages can be restored to multiple or single locations
in one restore process.
Easy to move archive from once device/storage location
82 Easy to migrate
to another in future
Access Control
synchronizes with the MS Exchange distribution lists to
automate archive permissions based on the permission
83 Online Synchronization
settings of MS
Exchange and Outlook.
Access to the archived mail stores should not require
any additional end-user applications. Archived
84 Transparence
messages should be accessed with in existing email
client - Outlook)
Security
Archival process should be convenient and not require
85 No Passwords
additional passwords
Archive repositories are blocked from client machines to
86 Firewall protection protect against intruders. End-users should not have
direct access to the archive
Archive stores should be protected from any virus. Users
87 Virus protection
should be able to purge corrupt messages form stores
System should provide full text search capabilities and
88 Archive client use the same security authentication as Exchange
Server
Public Folder
Information stored in the Public Information Store,
89 Public Information Store support
calendars and tasks can be archived
Public Folders can be restored from archive back to MS
90 Restore Public Folders
Exchange.
Support
Reliable, helpful support team. Flexible support
91 Support Procedures (Support)
packages offered.
92 On-going support (Support) Provide on-going 24 x 7 support
93 Professional Services Available Professional Services available.
Training
Comprehensive training programs are available.
Comprehensive Training
94 Ensures all staff are knowledgeable and comfortable
(training)
performing daily tasks.
Configuration
Server Configuration
95 What is the minimum server configuration required
Requirements
Server Components in the What is the solution architecture? Is it central or
96
architecture distributed? What are the components in the architecture
Filtering
Able to filer inbound or outbound messages based on
97 Message filtering set criteria. Filtered messaged to be delivered to a
special mailbox for Compliance administrator's review
Purging
Ability to purge or migrate data from the near-line
98 Purging messages
archive.
Allow elimination of data that exceeds retention
99 Policies for purging and retention.
schedules . Support selective retention
Messages deleted from mail store are purged from
100 Two way purging?
archive also.
Capability to remove data that is unwanted (I.e. jokes,
101 Purge unwanted messages
spam, newsletters etc)
Page 3 eMail Archiving Feasibility Study Template