How to Import Historical Data

In order to get the most complete archive possible, the Barracuda Message Archiver archives not only new messages, but also any existing (stored) items that were either already on your email server or stored in .pst files.

Direct Imports (via MAPI)

All emails currently on your Microsoft Exchange Server can be imported directly into the Barracuda Message Archiver via Microsoft’s Message Application Protocol Interface (MAPI).

You can configure multiple Exchange servers on the MAIL SOURCES > Exchange Integration page to import to the Barracuda Message Archiver. A list of all imports currently in progress, as well as those most recently completed, are available along with details for each import, including real-time monitoring of imports in progress.

For details on using the Exchange Integration feature, refer to the following articles:

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and Newer Operations
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and 2010 Operations

PST File Imports

A .pst file is an MS Personal Storage Table, and contains email messages exported from Microsoft Outlook. Some .pst files also contain additional Microsoft Outlook items such as Appointments and Contacts. You can import the contents of any .pst file from Microsoft Outlook 2000 (and later) into the Barracuda Message Archiver from the MAIL SOURCES > PST Import  page. Password-protected .pst files are accepted as well as non-password-protected files.

There are two methods to import a .pst file:

• Immediate import from the web interface (for single, small .pst files less than 250MB)
• Queued import (for multiple and/or large .pst files)

Immediate Import

The Barracuda Message Archiver can accept one .pst file at a time for immediate import from the web interface. Files that are imported directly in this manner are processed immediately and their contents added to the Barracuda Message Archiver. Because processing files for import can be resource-intensive, Immediate Import supports files of less than 250 MB in size. If you have any large files, or if you have multiple smaller files to import, use the Queued Import method described below.

Queued Imports

Queued importing separates out the uploading step of importing a .pst file from the actual processing step. This is highly recommended if you have multiple .pst files whose contents you wish to add to the archive, allowing you to easily place .pst files on the Barracuda Message Archiver, and to delay file processing until a time when system performance is least impacted. Use Queued Import for large .pst files (greater than 250 MB) as this allows you to upload files "in the background," thus reducing the risk of file transfer interruptions and browser timeouts.

Uploaded files are placed on a resident share on the Barracuda Message Archiver, and are listed on the MAIL SOURCES > PST Import page. You can choose to initiate multiple file processing in a single step, or select to process one file at a time. Any uploaded files must then be imported using the steps in the section Upload Share Settings below.

Upload Share Settings

By default, only the administrator’s web interface has access to view the files currently on the share, to upload files onto the share, and to initiate processing of any files on the share. You can choose to provide access to the upload area to other users as an SMB/CIFS share (with an optional Workgroup name and password), to make it easier to copy/paste or drag/drop any .pst file for import. When enabled, the share is accessible in the following manner:
\\IP\BarracudaMessageArchiverPstDrop

For example, if your Barracuda Message Archiver has the IP address of 192.168.2.24, use the following to connect to the share:
\\192.168.2.24\BarracudaMessageArchiverPstDrop

To allow access to the share to upload a .pst into the Barracuda Message Archiver, the administrator must enable and configure the PST Import Options from the MAIL SOURCES > PST Import page. Privileges can be assigned to all users, or to just a single password-protected account called pstdrop  to be used by anyone with the password.

For additional information, log in to the web interface, and click Help in the MAIL SOURCES > PST Import page.