How archiving works

At scheduled times, Enterprise Vault archiving processes check target servers for items to archive. Relevant items are then stored in Enterprise Vault archives.

Archived items are indexed by Enterprise Vault to enable fast searching and retrieval. The administrator can set the level of indexing required.

When an item is archived, it is automatically assigned a Retention Category, which defines how long it must be kept. The administrator can define different Retention Categories for different types of data. As Enterprise Vault monitors the archives, it can then delete items when the retention period expires.

Figure: Enterprise Vault tasks and services store data in archives describes how Enterprise Vault tasks and services store data in archives.

Figure: Enterprise Vault tasks and services store data in archives

Enterprise Vault tasks and services store data in archives

The original items can be replaced with shortcuts to the archived copy. In this way primary storage on user computers and servers can be freed up. From the end users' point of view, they will still be able to access the items as before.

A wide range of configuration options allow the administrator to customize and control the archiving process.

Some examples of configuration options are as follows: