Vaultastic Evaluation Guide

Overview

This guide describes a structured approach for evaluating Vaultastic capabilities across enterprise data sources.

The evaluation validates the following areas:

• Multi-source data ingestion
• Archival across Active, Open, and Deep Stores
• Search and retrieval workflows
• Lifecycle management configuration
• Monitoring dashboards
• Governance and audit capabilities

This evaluation is intended to demonstrate product capabilities using a limited dataset and should not be treated as a production deployment.

For basic platform usage instructions, see:

• Vaultastic Quick Start Guide

Evaluation Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure:

• Access to the following Vaultastic Applications:
  • Admin Panel
  • Active Store
  • Open Store
  • Deep Store
  • Dashboards
• Access to source systems:
  • Email system (for journaling/forwarding)
  • Chat/collaboration platform (if applicable)
  • File sources (Drive / File server/exports)
• Recommended roles:
  • IT Admin (setup and execution)
  • Security/Compliance (validation)
  • Evaluation owner (tracking progress)

Evaluation Scope

To keep the evaluation controlled and easy to execute, use a limited dataset.

The goal is to validate workflows without large-scale data ingestion.

Evaluation Data Matrix

The following data matrix exercises multiple ingestion models and storage tiers.

This ensures the evaluation covers both continuous archival and historical ingestion workflows.

Step 1 — Provision Evaluation Environment

Request provisioning of a Vaultastic evaluation domain and confirm access to the following applications:

• Admin Panel

• Active Store

• Open Store

• Deep Store

• Dashboards

The evaluation environment should include

• 1–5 pilot users
• Limited historical datasets.

Validation

• You can login successfully
• All Vaultastic applications are accessible

Step 2 — Configure Continuous Email Archival

Enable journaling or forwarding in the mail system to capture live email traffic for the pilot users.

Objective

Validate that Vaultastic can continuously capture live email activity.

Expected Result

• new emails appear in the Vaultastic Active Store

• email metadata is indexed

• messages are searchable

Validation Checklist

• Emails visible within expected time (except for the initial delay during the first setup)
• Search returns recent emails

Troubleshooting

• No emails -> Check journaling configuration
• Delay -> Verify email routing latency

Search operations are documented in: Active Store Quick Start Guide

Step 3 — Setup continuous archival for chat transcripts

1. Setup the connector to pick up the chat transcripts from your data source

2. Setup a daily upload request to upload data to the Active Store vault

Objective

Validate that Vaultastic can continuously capture chat transcripts.

Expected Result

• new chat transcripts appear in Active Store

• messages are searchable

Search operations are documented in: Active Store Quick Start Guide

Step 4: Archive Historical Communication Data in mailboxes and collaboration systems

1. Configure the Email connector

2. Upload small historical datasets of mailbox and collaboration datasets to simulate long-term archival workflows.

Recommended datasets:

Objective

Validate that Vaultastic can archive historical communication data outside the live ingestion pipeline.

Expected Result

• archive files appear in Open Store

• folder structures are preserved

• files can be downloaded

File browsing instructions are documented in: Open Store Quick Start Guide

Step 5 — Archive File Data

1. Configure Connectors for file stores

Example sources:

• cloud drives

• file servers

• FTP or object storage exports

2. Upload a small file dataset to Open Store.

Objective

Validate file archival and retrieval workflows.

Expected Result

• Files appear in Open Store

• File metadata is visible

• Downloads function correctly

Step 6 — Test Search and Retrieval

Evaluate search and export capabilities across archived datasets.

Active Store

Validate:

• Keyword search

• Sender or recipient filtering

• Date-based searches

• Export workflows

Search documentation:

• Active Store Quick Start Guide

Open Store

Validate:

• File name search

• Folder navigation

• File download

Documentation:

• Open Store Quick Start Guide

Step 7 — Review Lifecycle Configuration

Vaultastic supports lifecycle movement of data between storage tiers.

Review lifecycle configuration in the Admin Panel.

Confirm that:

• Active Store retention duration is defined

• Lifecycle movement targets are configured

• Lifecycle settings are visible to administrators

Lifecycle architecture details are described in: Vaultastic Lifecycle Management & Tiered Storage Strategy

Step 8 — Review Dashboards and Monitoring

Open Vaultastic dashboards and review system monitoring capabilities.

Evaluate visibility of:

• Ingestion activity

• Storage growth

• Operational health

• Audit events

Documentation:

Vaultastic Usage Dashboard Guide

Vaultastic Audit Trail Dashboard

Step 9 — Test Restoration Workflow

Validate investigation workflows by restoring archived data.

Example test:

1. Restore a small dataset from Open Store to Active Store.

2. Confirm that the restored data becomes searchable.

3. Remove the temporary vault after testing.

If Deep Store is used, validate the accessibility and expected retrieval timelines.

Validation Checklist 

• Restore successful
• Data searchable after restore
• Cleanup completed

Evaluation Outcome

The evaluation is considered successful if the following capabilities are confirmed:

• Continuous email archival functions correctly

• Historical communication data can be archived and retrieved

• File archival workflows operate correctly

• Active Store search meets operational requirements

• Lifecycle configuration supports cost control

• Dashboards provide operational visibility

Evaluation Success Checklist 

Ingestion

• Email ingestion works continuously
• Chat ingestion works

Archival

• Historical data archived successfully
• File archival works

Search

• Search returns accurate results
• Filters and exports work

Governance

• Lifecycle policies are configurable
• Audit logs are visible

Operations

• Dashboards provide clear visibility

Common Issues and Validation Tips

Next Step

If the evaluation is successful, proceed to: Vaultastic Production Readiness Guide to prepare for production deployment.