Overview
The In-Place Archive is a popular feature of M365 where old mails for end users are held. Mails are pushed to the In-place archive either via retention policies, or manually when a user's mailbox quota is reached.
To extract the contents of the In-place archive, a three step process has to be followed,
Step 1.Content Search
Step 2. Export Content
Step 3: Download Exported content
Once the contents of the in-place archive are downloaded, they can be uploaded to a Vaultastic. There are multiple options as mentioned below.
Extracting large amounts of data from M365 in-place archive
When extracting large amount of data from in-place archive on M365, proper planning is critical to ensure smooth operations.
The limits to be considered are as follows:
a. Each content search / export and download should not exceed 1TB or 1000 users data.
b. There is sufficient bandwidth to download the data onto the local machine.
c. The local machine onto which the data is downloaded should have sufficient memory, diskspace and CPU power to enable download.
Recommended server size
| Component | Requirement |
| Processor (CPU) | 16 cores (Intel Xeon or equivalent) |
| RAM | 32 GB recommended |
| Storage | Minimum 1.5+ TB, SSD or RAID |
| Network | 10 Gbps Ethernet or higher |
| Internet Bandwidth | 1 Gbps or higher |
The recommended steps are as follows
| No. | Step | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Define batch size | To define the batch size: a. Make a list of 10/15 of the largest mailboxes. b. Fire a content search for these mailboxes on the in-place archive c. Note down the downoad size d. If beyond the limits, reduce the batch size. e. Fire export. Make sure the export completes. If the export size is larger than your allowed limits, it may fail after processing for a few days f. Download data to your local machine. With this exercise, you can now decide the optimal batch size and estimate the time taken for the entire export |
| 2. | Define batches | Using the data in Step 1, define batches |
| 3. | Execute the export steps for each batch - starting with one batch at a time | Make sure the Content Search / Export requests carry the batch id. Make sure the Download for each batch is done to a separate folder. |
Step 1: Content Search
A. Create a New Search
- Log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin portal.
- Navigate to Microsoft Purview > eDiscovery > Cases.
- Go to the Searches tab
- Click on Create a Search to create a new search.
Fill Search Details
- Search Name: Enter a unique name (Required).
- Search Description: (Optional) Describe the purpose or scope of the search.
- For example, the search name can be "Vaultastic - In-place Archive Data Size".
- Select Create to create the new search and start your queries to find relevant data for the case.
Add data sources to searches
- To add data sources to a created content search, on the Query tab of the search, click on Add sources
A Search for sources pop-up will be displayed. The left side of the pop-up displays the Filter options. Update the filter as follows
- In the Scope items by section, keep the default option (Highlighted as 1.3)
- In the Show for section, keep the default option (Highlighted as 1.4)
- In Locations to include, select Mailboxes only (Highlighted as 1.5)
- On the right side of the pop-up(Highlighted as 1.6), you can search for all the users for whom you want to extract the mail. You can select multiple users.
- Click on the Manage button (highlighted as 1.7)
In the Manage Sources pop-up,
- confirm Mailbox selection for the filtered users
- Click Save (highlighted as 1.8)
Add the query
- Navigate to the Query tab
- Select Condition builder
- Click Add conditions
- Select Date in first field
- Select Before as the condition
- Select a date from which data will be found in the inplace archive
- Click Run query
- After you select Run query, the Choose search results flyout pane will appear.
- Select Statistics
- Select Run query to immediately run the query.
B. Monitor the status of the search using the Process manager information
The Process manager for each area displays information about processes performed in that area.
For the search, the process type will be Generate Statistics. The Status column will show the current status of the process.
Note: Depending on the size of data, this step may take a few days.
Step 2: Review Statistics and fire the Export using the Statistics dashboard
A. Add export request
- Once the status of the search query is complete, go to the Statistics tab and view the statistics and fire the Export.
- Click on the Export button
- In the "Export Name" field, enter a name for your export
- You can add a description in the "Export Description" field to provide details about the export.
- In Select Items to include in your export, select Indexed items that match your search query
- In Select folder items, select Only include items that match search query
- Under the Export Type section, select Export Items with Item Report
- Under the Export Format section, choose Create PSTs for Messages.
- Customize how the export package is structured by selecting the following options:
- Organize data from different locations into separate folders or PST files.
- Include the folder and path of the source for better navigation.
- Condense paths to fit within the 259-character limit, truncating the subfolder or file name as necessary.
- Assign each item a user-friendly name for easier identification.
- Click Export and confirm with OK.
B. Monitor the status of the export using the Process manager information
Note: Depending on the size of data, this step may take a few days.
Step 3: Download the exported data
- After the export process is complete, export packages are available to download.
- The export packages are listed in the Export packages section on the Overview tab and include the package name and size.
- To download a package, select the package and select Download packages.
Best practices for downloading export packages
- The download process triggers a pop-up window. Make sure your browser is configured to allow pop-ups from the Microsoft Purview site.
- Set your preferred download location: By default, export packages might be saved to your browser’s default download folder. If you prefer to choose where files are saved, update your browser settings to prompt for a download location each time.
- To change folder from defaults to (Local folder or OneDrive)
Navigate to Browser Settings > Download > Location > Select the (one drive folder / Local folder)
Uploading the downloaded data to a Vaultastic Store
There are more than one ways of uploading the data to Vaultastic Open or Deep Store
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