1.3 Key Concepts

1.3.1 What Retain Does

Retain

  • Provides organizations with legal compliance and litigation protection.

  • Frees up disk space on messaging systems.

  • Enhances message-data management.

  • Archives and stores messages and data from

    • Messaging systems

    • Phones

    • Social websites

    • Search Engines

  • Lets administrators

    • Perform advanced searches on archived messages

    • Review archive status and activity

    • Retrieve archived messages and data

    • Generate reports on archived messages and data

  • Optionally, users can access and search their archived personal data.

IMPORTANT:Retain is NOT a backup or emergency-restoration system.

You must ensure that your messaging systems are backed up by other software and systems designed for that purpose, as required by organizational and governmental regulations.

1.3.2 How Retain works

Briefly, Retain

  1. Connects to targeted message systems.

  2. Collects data by using each message system’s defined APIs (for example, SOAP for GroupWise and Exchange).

  3. Archives the collected data.

  4. Indexes the archives in an SQL database.

  5. Provides search-access to users with sufficient access rights, as managed by Retain administrators.

1.3.3 Retain Components and Their Roles

Retain consists of several main parts which can be installed on the same server or on different servers, depending on the size and complexity of your messaging infrastructure.

  • Retain Server: One per system.

    • Controls all Retain functions.

    • Houses the archive.

    • Manages Retain Workers

    • Stores index-targeted data in the database.

  • Retain Workers: One or more per system; often one per messaging server.

    • Can be installed with Retain, on the targeted mail server, or on a standalone server.

    • Collects data and transfers it to the Retain server.

  • SQL Database: One database per system.

    • Can be installed with Retain, as a single-server, or clustered.

    • Stores message header data, user data, and links to archived messages.

    IMPORTANT:The Retain software doesn’t include a databas. You must install and maintain one of the supported SQL databases.

  • Reporting and Monitoring Server: One per system.

    • Can be installed with Retain or on a standalone server.

    • Keeps job and server statistics.

    • Monitors mailbox errors.

  • Indexing Engine: Installed on the Retain server (standard indexer), or separately in a High-Availability Indexer cluster.

    • Indexes all the data.

  • Stubbing Server: Installed on the Retain server.

    Only for GroupWise 8.0.1 and later

    1. Removes large messages from GroupWise storage.

    2. Archives the messages.

    3. Creates a database stub (link to the message in the archive).

    Message-access experience is unchanged for GroupWise users.

  • Retain Router: Installed in the network DMZ.

    • Gathers phone message data using REST, from registered Android or Blackberry devices.

    • Stores the data until it can forward it to the Retain Server for archiving as with other systems.

1.3.4 How Retain Stores the Archives

Retain uses a hybrid data-storage approach.

  • SQL Database: Stores meta data, folder structures, attachment information, and links to messages in the archive file.

  • Archive File System: Stores message text and attachments in a single-instance storage scheme that is designed to protect against tampering.