PST Audit Repository

For example:

C:\PSTimport

UserA@pstimport.com

UserB@pstimport.com

UserC@pstimport.com

Unknown

By organizing the file structure in this way, it is possible to automate the creation of the configuration files, thus simplifying the overall process.

PST File Ownership, Password Protection, and Permissions

Depending on the requirement for PST Imports by specific customers, it may be required that the emails contained in PST files are only targeted at specific repositories. In this case, the File Ownership property is required, but may not be correct depending on the source of the file. Determining the primary owner of the file requires a manual intervention, since the PST Import Tools are not designed to determine who the primary user of a PST file is.

Secondly, the PST Import Tools offer no ability to import password-protected PST files. If passwords are known, it is possible to remove the password protection by connecting to the PST file from the Outlook client and removing the password. Password-protected PST files cannot be imported until the password is first removed. PST passwords may be reset using commercially available software; however, password removal actions are the responsibility of the customer.

Lastly, read and write permissions to the PST Files are required by the HPAEServiceAccount account including removal of any “Read-Only” attributes assigned at the file system level.

PST Import Tools can send logging information to any IAP repository. In some cases, this may be a previously created Audit repository, or in fact, the target repository for the PST import. However, it is recommended that, where possible, you create a dedicated PST Import Logging user and repository from the IAP PCC Account Management webpage. This allows all PST logs to be searched in a single location and makes the task of identifying potential issues easier overall.

It is important to understand the logging process for PST Import Tools. The process creates log entries that are stored on a per-PST file basis, not for the overall PST Import Process. Therefore, a log is created for each PST file imported. Furthermore, the log file for a PST file may appear to be split in the logging repository since, if the PST Import process is interrupted, all of the logging “to-date” is sent to the logging repository.

Note that all log entries sent to the IAP are wrapped in a MIME message, so when searching the log repository, make sure the document type is set to ‘email’.

Automated Creation of Configuration Files

Earlier in this document, we discussed the “Overall Configuration File Creation Process”. As a follow on from this, we will now look at the options for automating the creation of the configuration files.

The simplest method to automate the creation is to use a dedicated file structure to organize the PST files (as already discussed). Using a script (either VB Script or Perl), the structure and folder name information can be taken and used to create a set of XML “import description files”. The format should be as follows: