Message Archiver Eliminates Need for PST Files

Barracuda Networks, which makes highly secure storage arrays aimed at small and midsize businesses, said April 27 it has upgraded its message archiving apparatus to include all Microsoft Exchange functionality.

Barracuda's Message Archiver now can archive calendar items, contacts and tasks from Exchange and is the first appliance-based package to deliver all this capability, Product Manager Aseem Asthana told eWEEK.

Message archiving is a fast-growing segment of data storage. This kind of archive stores business-related information from SMS (Short Message Service), instant messaging and social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for legal, compliance and analytics purposes.

The key benefit of archiving e-mail separately is that this enables administrators to eliminate the use of bulky, hard-to-handle .pst (personal storage table) files that can only be accessed by Exchange.

Created in Exchange Server, .pst files contain e-mails, calendar items, contacts and tasks and are typically stored on a user's computer to reduce the amount of data stored on the server. For a long time, enterprises have been looking for ways to eliminate .pst files because they are hard to manage and prone to corruption, and pose a security risk if accessed by an unauthorized user.

"Barracuda Message Archiver's ability to archive calendar items, contacts and tasks in addition to e-mails [allows] administrators to import all items stored in a .pst file directly to the appliance for much easier search and retrieval," Asthana said.

At the same time, offloading all Exchange data to the Message Archiver significantly improves Exchange e-mail server performance by allowing administrators to better manage the size of mailboxes, Asthana said.

The new Barracuda function works alongside the Message Archiver's Exchange stubbing feature, designed to help administrators minimize a user's Exchange storage footprint. Using this function, storage administrators can increase system efficiency by moving often-bulky e-mail attachments from the Exchange server to the Message Archiver.

A digital stub, which points to the attachment in the Archiver, replaces the attachment in the Exchange server to save capacity. Recovery of the attachment when needed is instantaneous, Asthana said.

Exchange, even though it is often described by administrators and channel sellers as a beast to manage, continues to be the most widely used e-mail application in the world.

A study by Osterman Research published April 28 reported that 44 percent of surveyed Exchange users with 1,000 or more mailboxes plan to upgrade to Exchange 2010 in the next 18 months.