Vaultastic Data Discovery

Overview

The Vaultastic Hierarchical Stores allow you to protect critical data while optimizing the costs. However as the volume and retention period of data grows, user's data can get distributed across stores, making the task of retrieving an entire mailbox, searching of particular email, chat transcripts or documents time consuming.

The Vaultastic Data Discovery application makes this task simple by searching for data across all stores. It also takes into consideration of the fact that the storage management automation settings may have changed over time and looks for all possible combinations.

This application can save you hours of effort and ensure that there are no oversights.

Using the Data Discovery application, you can retrieve entire mailboxes, filtered email, chat transcripts and documents that may be present in any store.

Adding a new data discovery request

1. Login to the Vaultastic Admin interface using admin credentials
2. Navigate to the Vaultastic Data Discovery application from the menu on the left
3. Select the Vaultastic domain from the top right corner
4. Click on the New Case button
5. In the wizard, enter the required search criteria. You can navigate to any step and enter information. However, for certain steps, the information in a prior step is required. To save the information entered, click on the Save button.
6. The execution of the request proceeds in two phases:
   1. In the first phase, all the stores are scanned for the required data and reports are generated. You can download these reports to confirm the query.
   2. In the second phase, which should be executed with 3-4  days of completion of the first phase will use the reports generated in the first phase to extract required data and copy it to the destination provided.
7. For every phase, the system will orchestrate to submit appropriate LegacyFlo requests in the right sequence for data discovery and extraction. You can view the execution of the orchestration steps and the underlying LegacyFlo requests by clicking the View Discovery Progress and View Activation Progress icons respectively.

Data Discovery Process

File Types Used During Discovery

When searching the Open Store and Deep Store, Data Discovery examines archived data stored in Domain Data Files and User Data Files. To improve performance, it searches Metadata Files to identify the relevant data files before accessing the archived PST or ZIP files.

Domain Data Files

Domain Data Files are PST or ZIP files containing emails and chat transcripts archived from the Active Store to the Open Store or Deep Store through the configured Storage Management policy.

Each file typically contains one day's data for all users in the domain and follows the naming convention:

<domain-name>-<dd>-<mmm>-<yyyy>

For example:

example.com-15-Jul-2026.pst
example.com-15-Jul-2026.zip

These files represent organization-wide archived data and are automatically included in every discovery operation.

User Data Files

User Data Files are PST or ZIP files containing data for a single user. They may be created by:

• Vaultastic Storage Management
• LegacyFlo during data import from external sources
• Direct uploads by users or administrators

User Data Files may use any of the following naming conventions:

<userid>.pst / <userid>.zip

<emailid>.pst / <emailid>.zip

<vaultid>.pst / <vaultid>.zip

<vaultid>-<mmm><yyyy>.pst / .zip

Examples:

jdoe.pst
jdoe@example.com.zip
VLT123456.pst
VLT123456-Jul2026.zip

These files contain user-specific archived data and are automatically included in discovery operations.

Metadata Files

Metadata Files are CSV files that contain an index of the emails stored in each Domain Data File or User Data File.

Instead of opening every PST or ZIP file, Data Discovery first searches the metadata to determine which archived files may contain data matching the search criteria. If metadata is unavailable for any data file, it is generated automatically before the search continues.

Metadata files are maintained automatically by Vaultastic and are not intended for direct user access.

Note: During discovery, Vaultastic searches the metadata first and only processes the corresponding PST or ZIP files that are identified as potential matches. This significantly reduces the time required to search large archives.

Discovery Phases

During a discovery operation, Vaultastic searches data across the Active Store, Open Store, and Deep Store to identify files that contain the requested information. Depending on where the data resides, additional steps such as restoring files or generating metadata may be required.

The Discovery Status page displays the progress of each phase, allowing administrators to monitor the operation from start to completion.

1. Load Discovery Configuration

The discovery job begins by loading the configuration and validating the search request, including the selected stores, search criteria, and processing options.

Note: This phase is informational only and does not provide additional details.

2. Search the Active Store

Vaultastic searches mail stored in the Active Store and generates a report of all messages matching the specified search criteria.

This phase completes quickly because Active Store data is immediately accessible.

3. Discover Files in Open & Deep Stores

For data archived in the Open or Deep Store, Vaultastic first identifies the archived files that may contain the requested information.

Depending on the discovery type, it identifies:

• Domain Data Files
• User Data Files

The generated reports are merged to create a consolidated list of candidate files.

4. Restore Required Files (Deep Store Only)

Since Deep Store data is stored in low-cost archival storage, the required files must be restored before they can be processed.

During this phase, Vaultastic:

• Identifies the files requiring restoration.
• Initiates the restore operation.
• Monitors restoration progress.
• Verifies that all required files have been restored.
• Copies the restored files to a temporary workspace for further processing.

5. Prepare Metadata

Metadata enables Vaultastic to locate matching emails without opening every PST or ZIP file.

During this phase, Vaultastic:

• Identifies files that do not have metadata.
• Generates metadata for ZIP (EML) files.
• Generates metadata for PST files.
• Copies newly generated metadata to the working area.
• Validates that every data file has a corresponding metadata file.

This phase is performed for both the Deep Store and Open Store, as required.

6. Search Metadata

After metadata is available, Vaultastic searches the metadata to identify the files containing data that matches the search criteria.

Using metadata significantly reduces processing time by avoiding a full scan of every archived file.

7. Identify Matching Data Files

Based on the metadata search results, Vaultastic prepares the final list of data files that contain the requested information.

Depending on the discovery type, the results may include:

• Matching Domain Data Files
• Matching User Data Files

These files become the input for subsequent operations, such as data restoration or export.

8. Consolidate Discovery Results

The final phase combines the results from the Active Store, Open Store, and Deep Store into a single discovery report.

The consolidated report provides a complete view of all files that contain data matching the search criteria and is used for subsequent restore, export, or review operations.

Discovery Flow Summary

Note: The Deep Store includes additional restoration phases because archived files must be retrieved before they can be processed. Open Store files are immediately accessible and therefore do not require restoration.

Activation Phase

The Activation phase is the final stage of a data recovery or discovery workflow. During this phase, Vaultastic takes the data identified during the previous phases, prepares it in the required format, and copies it to the selected destination.

The steps performed during activation depend on:

• Where the source data is stored (Active, Open, or Deep Store)

• The format of the source data (ZIP/EML or PST)

• The selected activation destination and format

Vaultastic automatically performs only the steps required for the selected source and destination.

1. Prepare for Activation

Vaultastic prepares the activation job using the data identified in the previous phases and the selected activation destination.

2. Extract Data from Active Store

When the required data is available in the Active Store, Vaultastic extracts it into the required source format.

Depending on the data format, one of the following steps is performed:

• Extract Data to ZIP – Extracts the data in ZIP format containing EML files.

• Extract Data to PST – Extracts the data in PST format.

Once extraction is complete, Vaultastic confirms that the required data has been successfully extracted.

3. Restore Data from Deep Store

When the required data is located in the Deep Store, the data files must first be restored before they can be activated.

Vaultastic:

1. Starts restoration of the required data files.

2. Monitors the restoration status.

3. Confirms that restoration is complete.

4. Copies the restored data files to the processing area.

4. Extract Data from Deep and Open Stores

After the required files are available, Vaultastic extracts the data into the appropriate format.

For ZIP files containing EML data: Extract Data in EML Format

For PST files: Extract Data in PST Format

The same extraction process is performed for data available in the Open Store.

5. Consolidate the File List

Vaultastic creates a consolidated list of all extracted data files that are ready for activation.

This list is used to determine the files that need to be prepared for the selected destination.

6. Prepare Data for Activation

Vaultastic prepares the extracted files for the final copy operation.

Depending on the source and destination requirements, files may need to be converted between ZIP and PST formats.

The following operations may be performed:

• Convert ZIP to PST

• Convert PST to ZIP

• Copy ZIP Files

• Copy PST Files

Only the operations required for the selected destination are performed.

7. Prepare the Final Copy

Vaultastic identifies the files and format required for the selected destination and prepares them for the final copy.

The following steps are performed as applicable:

• Get ZIP File List

• Get PST File List

• Prepare for Final Copy

The exact copy operation depends on the destination selected for activation.

8. Copy Data to the Selected Destination

Vaultastic copies the prepared data to the selected destination.

Active Store

Depending on the available file format:

• Copy ZIP Files to Active Store

• Copy PST Files to Active Store

Gmail

Depending on the available file format:

• Copy from ZIP Files to Gmail

• Copy from PST Files to Gmail

Outlook

Depending on the available file format:

• Copy from ZIP Files to Outlook

• Copy from PST Files to Outlook

Object Storage and Cloud Destinations

Vaultastic can copy the files directly to the selected storage destination, including:

• Amazon S3

• Open Store

• Deep Store

• Google Cloud Storage (GCS)

• Azure

• Google Drive

• OneDrive

• SharePoint

Only the destination-specific copy operation is executed for the destination selected by the administrator.

9. Final Copy Complete

After all required files have been successfully copied to the selected destination, the Activation phase is marked Complete.