2.4 Creating Workers

Workers dredge data from messaging systems that are archived through Retain-initiated archiving. They have no role in Push-based archiving.

2.4.1 Workers Overview

2.4.2 Deciding Where to Install Your Workers

For Pull-based archiving, you must set up at least one Retain Worker to collect (dredge) the data from each messaging system and deliver that data to the Retain Server.

Best practice is to install a Worker on each messaging server from which Retain collects data.

A Worker can also be installed on the Retain Server itself, but this is not a best practice and is only sufficient for very small (100 or fewer users) systems or for evaluation purposes.

Worker traffic consumes network bandwidth and the archiving process is much slower than when the worker runs locally.

Retain lets you create as many workers as you need on Linux and/or Windows servers.

2.4.3 Installing and Configuring a Worker

Installing a Worker

  1. Install a Worker on each server identified in Deciding Where to Install Your Workers. Refer to the instructions specific to each server’s platform:

  2. On the Retain home page in the left menu bar, click Workers.

  3. Click Add Worker.

  4. Click the Worker text field, then type a name for the worker, for example: Local Worker 0.

    IMPORTANT:If you are creating multiple workers on different servers, assign them unique names that identify where they are installed.

  5. Click Save Changes to begin the creation process and continue with each of the tabs as documented in the following sections.

Polling Tab

The default polling interval is 10 minutes and the update interval is 500 messages, shown on the Status tab. You can adjust these as required for the schedule you are creating or modifying.

Logging tab

This tab lets you control logging. Having a record of what a Worker does can help with troubleshooting.

Logging is enabled by default.

There are four logging levels:

  • Diagnostic (Trace): Maximum logging level. Default logging level.

  • Verbose (Debug)

  • Normal (Info)

  • Error Only: Minimum logging level.

Logs are compressed at midnight, by default.

Old logs are removed at midnight after 10 days, by default.

Connection Tab

Although this should be populated automatically, make sure that the Retain Server Host Name is correct.

The specified Retain Server Host Name must resolve from within a browser running on the server where the Worker is located.

IMPORTANT:If you do not set this correctly, the Retain Worker will not be able to contact the Retain Server and any associated jobs won’t run. In that case, the host name information must be corrected and the bootstrap must be replaced.

Module Specific Tab

The Module Specific tab contains information specific to individually configured GroupWise or Exchange modules and allows for archiving at more granular levels when systems are very large or complex. Generally, the settings can be left blank.

GroupWise SOAP Access Section

If your GroupWise deployment is complex, you can create multiple workers and use the settings in this section to connect the different workers to only specific Post Office Agents.

This allows Retain to support multiple post offices with mixed SSL and non-SSL GroupWise environments.

For example, if you have a version 2014R2 POA that doesn’t use SSL and a version 18 POA that requires SSL, you could do the following:

  1. Create two Worker Agents named gw-no-ssl and gw-ssl.

  2. For the gw-no-ssl worker, in the Module Specific tab, specify the host name of the version 2014RD POA and disable SSL.

  3. In the gw-ssl worker’s Module Specific tab, specify the host name of the version 18 POA and enable SSL.

  4. Finally, create two Jobs, one for each worker, and archive each post office separately.

Exchange Section

If your Exchange system is complex, you might want to create multiple workers that specify specific Active Directory Sites that the workers are located in.

This approach allows Retain to find the closest Exchange Server that is appropriate for the user to be archived.

The settings specified here are tied only to the specific worker configured, and do not affect the rest of the system, different workers can point to different Active Directory Sites.

Status Tab

After the worker has been saved, two additional tabs become visible for settings on the worker. You MUST save changes on a newly created worker before the ‘Bootstrap’ tab is available to be used. Before the bootstrap has been uploaded the Status is empty.

The status tab for the new worker will not display pertinent information until a job has been run or the worker has registered and communicated with the server. After a job has been completed, information displays on the general status of the selected Worker.

Check this page after the worker has connected to the Server for information and jobs, such as total mailboxes scanned, messages stored, and so on.

Bootstrap Tab

  1. After verifying your settings, click Save Changes before browsing to another page.

    The Bootstrap tab displays (see below).

  2. Open the Bootstrap tab and click Download File.

  3. Save the bootstrap file to your management workstation.

2.4.4 Uploading a Worker Bootstrap to the Worker Console

After creating the bootstrap file in the Retain Server Console you must upload it to the Worker Agent Console so that the worker can connect to the Retain Server.

  1. On your management workstation, open a new browser window or tab and type:

    http://retain_worker_ip_address/RetainWorker

    The upload screen appears when a worker has not been initialized.

  2. Click Browse and navigate to the file you just downloaded in Step 3, and select it.

  3. Click Open.

  4. Click Upload File.

  5. If the upload went well, you will see this screen:

    After you click the Continue button, you will be returned to the login page.

  6. Log in as Admin.

    On all subsequent logins, you should see the configuration page first.

    You should be able to see your configuration on the screen, as shown. The Check for New Version button checks for updates. The Refresh job cache now button tells the worker to poll the server for configuration changes and new jobs. After this button is selected, the Worker page will refresh automatically after the Retain Server has been polled. It takes just a few seconds.

  7. Verify the Retain Server connection success by selecting the Server Connection tab.

  8. Go back to the Retain Server console.

  9. Click Workers.

  10. Click the worker you just created, then click the Status tab.

    You should now see the Registered and Last Contact data filled in: