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Recently, since our website is dedicated to small and medium-sized businesses, I was asked to review GFI MailArchiver, GFI’s email archiving software. Unfortunately, after reviewing the system requirements, I discovered that I did not have the necessary IT elements to install and properly test the software. Instead, I took a look the features and elements of MailArchiver to determine if it might be a good fit for small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, I was able to interview Brian Azzopardi, GFI’s product manager for this software. All of the information contained in this review was gathered by studying the features of the software along with the phone interview with GFI’s product manager.
GFI MailArchiver Overview
GFI MailArchiver is a Windows-based software that is geared towards the Exchange mail server. According to the product manager, however, all major mail servers are supported as long as the mail server supports mailbox journaling and IMAP. If you are not using an Exchange Mail server, this software may still be of use to your business, but make sure that you investigate the compatibility issue thoroughly before moving forward. Also, look at testing the software using the 30-day free trial before actually purchasing the software. I always like to try software before I purchase it to make sure it meets all my needs and requirements.
According to Mr. Azzopardi, the purpose of MailArchiver is to reduce risks related to regulatory compliance issues and E-discovery requirements. In addition, Mr. Azzopardi stated that the software will eliminate the use of local PST files or stub files when archiving email. It can also improve the performance of your Exchange server by moving old emails to a database. It is recommended that GFI MailArchiver be installed on a server other than the Exchange server or whatever mail server is being used so that the performance of the mail server is not affected.
My major concern with the MailArchiver software was addressed through my research and the interview with Mr. Azzopardi. Since most small and medium-sized businesses do not have their own Exchange mail server, I was concerned that the software would not support other mail servers. Interestingly, I found out that ninety percent of GFI’s business is geared towards businesses that have 200 or less seats even though their software can scale from 1 to 1000 seats. I also discovered that a company does not even have to have their own mail server to take advantage of GFI’s MailArchiver software. A business can have their email hosted by a third party as long as the hosting company has an Exchange or other supported mail server and can install MailArchiver on the server. One word of caution, though, is to make sure that the third party that hosts the email server will allow and support this. Like anything else, there could be problems with the logistics of any software solution you implement. Investigate thoroughly!
Since GFI’s MailArchiver appears to have the same type of installation as other GFI products including the GFI VIPRE Business Edition, the installation should be fairly easy and straight forward. MailArchiver is packaged with SQL Express just like GFI VIPRE Business Edition which is a nice feature for a couple different reasons. First, it saves having to purchase a SQL server separately and the associated license fees that go with it. For most small and medium-sized businesses, SQL Express will be more than enough database for your email archiving needs. Secondly, it appears that the database is automatically configured when the MailArchiver software is installed which saves businesses from the hassle of installing and configuring the SQL server themselves. I found the packaging of SQL Express with the software to be a great feature when I installed and tested VIPRE Business Edition so I would guess that the same goes for the MailArchiver software.
One of my main concerns about the software was whether MailArchiver could also be used for disaster preparedness or recovery. From what I have been able to gather, I would say that most small and medium-sized businesses would not be able to use it for that purpose. Regardless of whether MailArchiver is installed on the mail server or on a separate server, most likely the server will be at the same location as the business. If this is the case, anything that happens to the business location will also affect the archived emails. The only exception to this may be if the business is using a third party to host their email service. In this case, the third-party provider and MailArchiver could be used as a tool in a disaster preparedness and recovery plan. Also, according to Mr. Azzopardi at GFI, MailArchiver does support any type of Windows-based backup software. If a business makes regular backups of the archived emails and stores them at an off-site secure location, it may be able to use MailArchiver not only as an email archiving solution but also as part of its disaster planning and recovery solution. Of course, this would only be a way of recovering email, not other information stored on the computer. The software should be investigated thoroughly before depending on it as a possible disaster recovery solution.
There are other helpful features included in the MailArchiver software. First of all, the administrator can set up automated email retention policies such as deleting specific emails after a set period of time. Also, the software allows the administrator or individual users to search emails. Individual users can search their own emails or can be set up to search one or more groups of emails. Thirdly, GFI MailArchiver enables users to view archived emails either through a web browser or by using the Outlook Connector which allows the user to view cached emails. The default configuration for the Outlook Connector is 30 days of cached emails but can be configured by the administrator for a different period of time. According to GFI, with the use of the web interface, the user can access archived emails from anywhere in the world. Finally, MailArchiver does have the capability to restore one or more emails to the users inbox. This can be done by the user or the administrator.
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GFI MailArchiver Conclusions
In my opinion, GFI’s MailArchiver is a piece of software that is fairly priced and can be an email archiving solution for most small and medium-sized businesses, even those that may be on a limited budget. The inclusion of SQL Express in the software package is a money saver, and something that I especially liked in the VIPRE Business Edition that we reviewed last year. GFI claims that MailArchiver is tamper-proof because it has a couple of different layers of security built in as well as having a secure copy on the Exchange server. While it appears to be as secure as any other piece of software I have seen, nothing is ever 100% secure.
Gfi Mailarchiver Office 365
Along with MailArchiver, GFI also markets Max MailArchive which is a hosted email archive service. Also, according to the interview with Brian Azzopardi, GFI Product Manager, a hosted or cloud type email archiving solution users can sign up for is coming soon. In addition, a hybrid email archiving solution is in the planning phase. This will be a combination of a cloud or hosted email archiving solution and the current on-site MailArchiving solution. It is nice to see GFI trying to fill the needs of all small and medium-sized businesses, from the one-person office all the way up to businesses with many more employees.
Gfi Archiver Update
As with any software solution, be aware of your business’s needs and requirements before looking for a solution. Always make sure the solution you are considering testing or purchasing meets the specific needs of your business. I have seen much wasted time and money because a business jumped in to a solution that sounded great but ended up not being a good fit for their company or for the problem they were trying to solve. If you are looking for a possible email archiving solution, take a look at the system requirements and features of GFI MailArchiver. I think most businesses will be pleased with this email archiving solution.