Mail Archiva is an open source project aimed at bringing messaging archival to Microsoft Exchange, Zimbra, Mac OS X Server, Postfix, SendMail, IpSwitch, Axigen and a number of other messaging servers.

If you are in need of mail archival then feel free to reach out to us for more information on Mail Archiva today!

LCR can be used to reduce the recovery time in disaster recovery scenarios for the whole database, instead of restoring a database you can simply mount the replica.  However, this is not to be used for day-to-day mailbox recovery, message restores, etc.  It’s there to end those horrific eseutil /rebuild and eseutil /defrag scenarios.  Given the sizes that Exchange environments are able to get in Exchange 2003 R2 and Exchange 2007, this alone is worth the drive space used.

Like with many other things in Windows, LCR can be configured using a wizard.  The Local Continuous Backup wizard (I know, it should be the LCR wizard) can be accessed using the Exchange Management Console.  From here, browse to the storage group you would like to replicate and then click on the Enable Local Continuous Backup button.  The wizard will then ask you for the path to back up to and allow you to set a schedule.  Once done, the changes will replicate, but the initial copy will not.  This is known as seeding and will require a little PowerShell to get going.  Using the name of the Storage Group (in this example “First Storage Group”) you will stop LCR, manually update the seed, then start it again, commands respectively being:

Suspend-StorageGroupCopy –identity “First Storage Group”

Update-StorageGroupCopy –identity “First StorageGroup”

Resume-StorageGroupCopy –identity “First StorageGroup”

Now that your database is seeded, click on the Storage Group in the Exchange Management Console and you should see Healthy listed in the Copy Status column for the database you’re using LCR with.  Loop through this process with all of your databases and you’ll have a nice disaster recovery option to use next time you would have instead done a time consuming defrag of the database.

Microsoft Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging
Microsoft’s Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging goal is to tie in Email, Fax and Phone into one manageable place. An example that Microsoft uses is that first thing in the morning most people check their email, then check their voicemail, and after check their faxes. Exchange Unified Messaging has the ability to tie together all three of these communication technologies into a single place for management.

Exchange Unified Messaging on it’s own cannot serve a PBX function, but harnesses a current PBX infrastructure into Exchange for end users to have a seamless place to manage their communications. The current iteration of Exchange Unified Messaging is with Exchange 2007. To leverage the entire suite of features, you must use Outlook 2007.

Google Voice
Google Voice is a communication infrastructure much like Exchange Unified Messaging, but seems to be targeted for non-business consumers. Google Voice is the current iteration of what was once known as Google GrandCentral. Its purpose is unified messaging as well, as it ties in your Gmail, SMS and incoming phone calls into your phone account created on Google Voice. Google Voice is an IP-PBX (VoIP) that allows you to make and receive calls with unified messaging capabilities.

Receiving calls can be done through any cell phone that you have, or through their Google Voice web interface. Making calls can be done via GoogleVoice (web-based), or through any other phone (landline or cell phone). The price point is very good (as in free). The price is free for all calls made to US numbers (long distance charges to other countries apply, of course). It requires no additional hardware.

Asterisk
Asterisk is an open source IP-PBX (VoIP) platform based on Linux. It requires a computer to run on and can tie in your existing land line with almost any VoIP provider of your choice. Call pricing depends on your phone carriers.

There are some things that may catch your eye (or not) when you first see this chart. Exchange Unified Messaging is expensive, but offers a lot of features that the other two don’t. From a “birds eye view” it may also fit your enterprise better if your companies’ locations use different types of PBXs, but you want to “unify” all of the communication in Exchange.

If you have a heterogeneous environment or non Windows environment, Asterisk or Google Voice may be a better route for you.

If you are concerned with regulatory compliance, Google Voice may not be your best choice since you do not have a centralized location of all your communication readily available.

When determining which choice is a better fit for your business, carefully weigh your options (price, compliance and room for expansion to name a few). It will be exciting to see how the technologies are managed, and what the future holds for unified communications. If you plan to roll out any of these services, or are in need of consultation, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We’re here to help.