Enterprise Vault Migrations: Best Practices and Tooling

Many organisations implemented archiving solutions to archive less frequently accessed information across multiple content sources in order to optimise the front-end systems and to reclaim and reuse expensive storage resources.

Another vital requirement is compliance and eDiscovery, typically addressed by capturing a copy of every message sent or received via messaging platforms across the organisation.

Throughout the years, your Enterprise Vault environment may have grown to 10s or 100s of terabytes of archived data with multiple servers spanning across data centres.

In this blog, we will review some key considerations related to Enterprise Vault migrations and how to choose the proper tooling and partner to ensure a smooth migration experience.

Built-in Enterprise Vault Migration Features

As a leading archiving platform, Enterprise Vault provides several built-in capabilities to assist with migrations.

1. Server Migration Wizard

The Enterprise Vault Server Settings Migration wizard helps you seamlessly migrate Enterprise Vault from one server to another for the purpose of hardware refresh. There is also an alternative to migrate manually, which is more complex and error-prone.

2. "Move Archive" Feature

The “Move Archive” feature allows the Enterprise Vault administrator to move archives within the same Enterprise Vault site or between different locations. While this method works well for small amounts of users, it may not be feasible for large migrations due to generally low speed, manual management, and limited auditing capabilities.

3. API

Enterprise Vault provides a rich application programming interface (API), a key differentiator compared to some competitors. The API makes it easy for developers to extend the Enterprise Vault platform to perform additional tasks and to be able to ingest and extract data easily.

4. Open Indexing Engine

Enterprise Vault has a powerful indexing engine and an excellent information source for third-party developers.

5. Access to Original Data

Although Enterprise Vault provides automatic tiering to low-end or cloud storage, it is always possible to access the original data. This is critical when it comes to performing a compliance migration. It is possible to prove you have the item's unmodified version precisely as it was many years ago when it was an email in a mailbox. This is independent of Microsoft Exchange or Outlook versions.

Choosing the right Migration approach

Selecting the right migration strategy doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. Here are some of the most important things to consider:

1. Trusted Professionals

While the migration tooling is essential, perhaps more important is the experience of using the tooling and finding solutions to unexpected problems.

At Virtech, we have extensive experience working with migration projects for the largest enterprise customers across the region. Our expertise and know-how help us address any problem we encounter with professionalism, ensuring customers are at the front and centre of everything we do.

2. The Right Tooling

Each migration project is unique and should be handled accordingly. Be it a storage migration, Enterprise Vault merger, or email migration, we use the appropriate tooling to achieve the hassle-free and fastest migration possible.

Also, maintaining a full chain of custody for your data is crucial. When you migrate hundreds of user archives in parallel, many steps must take place, as well as the extraction and ingestion of data that must be audited.

3. Deployment Model

The migration engine typically requires several computing instances, virtual machines, or containers. These instances often come preconfigured and are imported into the customer's environment, but they can also be freshly deployed. The number of instances may vary depending on the size of the environment and the Enterprise Vault architecture. Also, the tooling can be deployed on-prem or in the cloud as appropriate upon consultation with the customer.

4. Flexible Payment

Rather than paying upfront for all the migration costs, our approach is based on a pay-as-you-go methodology. Therefore, payments are milestone-based in line with the project progression.

At Virtech, we have extensive experience managing and migrating archive data, whether changing the platform, merging or consolidating, storage migration, or moving to the cloud. We provide affordable services that are scalable, fast, and transparent to end-users.

Need help with your Enterprise Vault migration?

Virtech is the leading Enterprise Vault partner in the GCC, with certified engineers based in Dubai. Enterprise Vault is now part of Arctera, and we continue to design, upgrade, support and migrate it for enterprises across the region.

See our Enterprise Vault Support & Continuity services, or talk directly to a certified engineer: call or WhatsApp +971 55 700 8578, or email sales@virtech.ae.