Exchange Server 2010 : Managing Records (part 1) - Using MRM & Configuring Retention Tags and Retention Policies

1. Using MRM

MRM helps you ensure that your Exchange Server 2010 organization retains the messages needed to comply with company policy, government regulations, or legal needs and that content that has no legal or business value is discarded. MRM accomplishes this by using retention policies or managed folders. 

Retention policies use retention tags to apply retention settings. Later in this lesson, you will see how to create retention tags and link them to a retention policy. Mailboxes that have a retention policy applied to them are processed by the Managed Folder Assistant, which runs when scheduled and provisions retention tags in mailboxes. This utility is also described in detail later in this lesson.

Managed folders were introduced in Exchange Server 2007 and are also available in Exchange 2010. You can apply managed content settings to managed folders. This lesson describes how you create managed folders and link them to a managed folder mailbox policy. Mailboxes that have managed folder mailbox policies applied are also processed by the Managed Folder Assistant.

When a message reaches its retention age, the retention action is taken as specified by the retention tag or the managed content settings in a managed folder. For example, a message could be moved to the Deleted Items folder, moved to the Recoverable Items folder, or permanently deleted. If you use retention tags, you can specify the additional option of moving the message to the user’s archive mailbox (if it exists). Managed content settings for managed folders provide the additional option of moving a message to a managed custom folder.

1.1. Comparing Retention Tags and Managed Folders

You can use managed folders to enforce basic MRM policies on default folders and on the entire mailbox. If you take this approach, users need to participate in the process of classifying messages based on their nature and retention value.

Alternatively, you can use retention tags to apply default retention settings to default folders, such as the Inbox folder, and apply a default policy tag (DPT) to the entire mailbox. DPT retention settings are then applied to untagged items that may reside in folders without a retention tag, such as custom folders created by the user. Users are not required to store messages in folders based on the folder’s retention settings. They can apply any personal tag to custom folders and also explicitly apply a different tag to individual messages.

2. Configuring Retention Tags and Retention Policies

You can formulate your organization’s MRM policies to specify the retention period for different classes of email messages by creating and configuring retention tags and retention policies. Typically you would assign a retention policy tag (RPT). An RPT is a retention tag applied to default folders, such as Inbox and Deleted Items. You would apply a DPT to specific mailboxes to manage the retention of all untagged items. A DPT is a retention tag that applies to all items in a mailbox that do not already have a retention tag applied. You can apply only one DPT in a retention policy. Optionally, you would assign personal tags (or allow users to assign them in Outlook or Outlook Web App [OWA]). A personal tag is a retention tag available to OWA and Outlook 2010 users for applying retention settings to custom folders and to individual items such as email messages.

You use retention tags to apply retention settings to folders and individual items, such as messages, notes, and contacts. These settings specify how long a message remains in a mailbox and the action to be taken when the message reaches the specified retention age. Retention tags allow users to tag mailbox folders and individual items for retention. You can create three types of retention tags:

• DPTs

• RPTs

• Personal tags

DPTs apply retention settings to untagged mailbox items that do not already have a retention tag applied, either by inheritance from the folder in which they are located or specified by the user. A retention policy cannot contain more than one DPT.

RPTs apply retention settings to default folders, such as Inbox, Deleted Items, and Sent Items. Mailbox items in a default folder that have an RPT applied inherit the folder’s tag. Users cannot apply a different tag to a default folder, but they can apply a different tag to the individual items within a default folder. You cannot include more than one RPT for the same default folder type in a single retention policy. For example, if a retention policy has an Inbox tag, you cannot add another RPT of type Inbox to that retention policy.

You can create RPTs for the following default folders:

• Deleted Items

• Drafts

• Inbox

• Junk E-mail

• Outbox

• Sent Items

• RSS Feeds

• Sync Issues

• Conversation History

Note:

Exchange Server 2010 does not support RPTs for the Calendar, Contacts, Journal, Notes, and Tasks default folders.

Personal tags are available to Outlook 2010 and OWA users as part of their retention policies. Users can apply personal tags to folders they create or to individual items, even if those items already have a different tag applied. You see how to create a personal tag later in this lesson.

2.1. Creating and Configuring Retention Tags

You can use the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) but not the Exchange Management Console (EMC) to create and modify RPTs, DPTs, and personal tags. For example, the following command creates an RPT for the default folder Deleted Items. When the tag is applied to a mailbox, items in the Deleted Items folder are permanently deleted in 45 days:

New-RetentionPolicyTag "Tag-EXAMPLE-DeletedItems" -Type "DeletedItems" -Comment
"Deleted Items purged in 45 days" -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention
45 -RetentionAction PermanentlyDelete

					  

Figure 1 shows some of the output from this command.

Note:

THE MESSAGECLASS PARAMETER AND THE ISPRIMARY PARAMETER

The New-RetentionPolicyTag cmdlet supports the MessageClass parameter. However, in Windows Exchange Server 2010, only the default value of this parameter (*) is supported. The IsPrimary parameter specifies that the tag should be displayed as the primary Default Tag in Microsoft Outlook 2010. A tag designated as primary should be of type All. A retention policy cannot have more than one tag set as primary.

The following command creates a DPT. When the tag is applied to a mailbox, items without an inherited or explicitly applied retention tag are moved to the Deleted Items folder after 180 days:

New-RetentionPolicyTag "Tag-EXAMPLE-Default" -Type All -Comment "Items
without a retention tag are deleted after 180 days." -RetentionEnabled $true
-AgeLimitForRetention 180 -RetentionAction MoveToDeletedItems

					  

Figure 2 shows some of the output from this command.

The following command creates a personal tag named Tag-PersonalArchive. Items to which the tag is applied are moved to the personal archive after 365 days:

New-RetentionPolicyTag "Tag-PersonalArchive" -Type Personal -Comment "Tagged messages
are moved to the archive after 365 days." -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention
365 -RetentionAction MoveToArchive

					  

The following command amends the RPT Tag-EXAMPLE-DeletedItems so that items in the Deleted Items folder are permanently deleted after 30 days:

Set-RetentionPolicyTag "Tag-EXAMPLE-DeletedItems" -AgeLimitForRetention 30


2.2. Creating a Retention Policy and Applying It to Mailboxes

You can use retention policies to group one or more retention tags and apply them to mailboxes. Retention tags can be linked to or unlinked from a retention policy at any time, and a mailbox cannot have more than one retention policy.

A retention policy can support one or more RPTs, one DPT of type All, and any number of personal tags. Note that if you configure a retention policy with no retention tags linked to it, this may result in mailbox items that never expire.

You create a retention policy in the EMS by entering a command with the following syntax:

New-RetentionPolicy -Name <String> [-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]] [-DomainController
<Fqdn>] [-Organization <OrganizationIdParameter>] [-RetentionPolicyTagLinks
<RetentionPolicyTagIdParameter[]>] [-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]]

					  

For example, the following command creates a retention policy called Accounting that uses the RPT Tag-EXAMPLE-DeletedItems:

New-RetentionPolicy -Name "Accounting" -RetentionPolicyTagLinks "Tag-EXAMPLE-
DeletedItems"

					  

Figure 3 shows the output from this command.

You can use a retention policy to group one or more retention tags and assign them to mailboxes and thus enforce message retention settings. A mailbox cannot have more than one retention policy assigned to it at any one time. If you assign a retention policy to an individual mailbox (or to a mailbox that is in a distribution group) that already has a policy assigned, the new policy assignment will overwrite the existing policy assignment. You can use the EMS but not the EMC to assign a retention policy to a mailbox or a distribution group. For example, the following command assigns the retention policy Accounting to the Don Hall mailbox:

Set-Mailbox "Don Hall" -RetentionPolicy "Accounting"

Figure 4 shows the output from this command. Note that you receive a warning that this operation is not supported on client computers running Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or earlier and that you need to confirm that you want the command to complete.

If you assign a retention policy to a distribution group, the policy is assigned to all mailboxes in the group. Any mailbox that previously had a different policy assigned to it would have its policy assignment overwritten. The following command assigns the Retention policy Accounting to members of the distribution group Accountants:

Get-DistributionGroupMember -Identity "Accountants" | Set-Mailbox -RetentionPolicy
"Accounting"

					  

ADDING USERS TO OR REMOVING THEM FROM A DISTRIBUTION GROUP

When users are added to or removed from a distribution group, their mailbox retention policy is not automatically updated. To ensure that a policy is applied to new distribution group members, you need to rerun the command that applies the policy. Microsoft recommends that you schedule commands that allocate retention policies to distribution groups so that they run automatically at regular intervals.

$OldPolicy={Get-RetentionPolicy "Old-Retention-Policy"}.distinguishedName | Get-
Mailbox -Filter {RetentionPolicy -eq $OldPolicy} -Resultsize Unlimited | Set-Mailbox
-RetentionPolicy "New-Retention-Policy"
					  

RETENTION POLICY TAGS AND DEFAULT FOLDERS

RPTs are applied to default folders, such as Inbox, Deleted Items, and Sent Items, as specified in the retention policy, and users cannot change the RPTs associated with default folders. However, a user can apply a personal tag to an item in a default folder. The item could then have a different retention setting than the folder in which it is stored. A user can also assign a personal tag to a user-created folder and a different personal tag to an item in that folder.

2.3. Starting, Stopping, and Scheduling the Managed Folder Assistant

The Managed Folder Assistant is a Mailbox Assistant utility that applies the message retention settings you configure using retention policies or managed folder mailbox policies. If a mailbox uses a managed folder mailbox policy, the Managed Folder Assistant also creates any managed folders required and applies managed content settings to them. When the Managed Folder Assistant applies retention policies and managed folder mailbox policies to user mailboxes it processes mailboxes that have an applied retention policy or a managed folder mailbox policy. It applies the retention tags included in the policy to default folders and the entire mailbox. Any personal tags included in the policy are provisioned and become available to users in Microsoft Outlook 2010 and Microsoft Office OWA.

Messages that have some retention value are retained, although users can still delete or remove messages from their mailboxes. If your organization requires that messages be retained outside a user’s mailbox for long-term storage.

The Managed Folder Assistant applies a retention policy by inspecting items in the mailbox and determining whether they are subject to retention. It then stamps items with the appropriate retention tags and takes the specified retention action on items that are past their retention age. It does not take any action on messages that are not subject to retention. When an item is not subject to retention, its retention tag’s RetentionEnabled property is set to $false. You can manually set this property to $false to temporarily suspend items with a particular tag from being processed.

By default, the Managed Folder Assistant runs daily from 1:00 AM until 5:00 AM. However, it stops as soon as all mailboxes are processed rather than running continuously until the end of the scheduled period. You can schedule the assistant to run at a time when the Mailbox server is relatively idle or not under a heavy load. If you decide to reschedule the Managed Folder Assistant, you need to take into account other processes that compete for Mailbox server resources, such as offline defragmentation of the mailbox database and antivirus scans.

You can use either the EMC or the EMS to schedule the Managed Folder Assistant. If you use the EMC, the procedure is as follows:

You can use the EMS to schedule the Managed Folder Assistant or to start it immediately. For example, the following command sets the Managed Folder Assistant schedule on Mailbox server VAN-EX1 to start running at 15:00 (3:00 PM) on a Sunday and continue running until all mailboxes are processed or until 13:00 (1:00 PM) on the following Sunday, whichever comes first:

Set-MailboxServer -Identity VAN-EX1 -ManagedFolderAssistantSchedule "Sun.15:00
-Sun.13:00"

					  

When you manually start the Managed Folder Assistant, it continues running until all mailboxes on the Mailbox server are processed or until the Managed Folder assistant is stopped manually. The following commands start and stop the Managed Folder Assistant, respectively:

Start-ManagedFolderAssistant
Stop-ManagedFolderAssistant

When you stop the Managed Folder Assistant manually, you are prompted for confirmation.

MOVING ITEMS BETWEEN FOLDERS

A mailbox item moved from one folder to another inherits any tags applied to the folder to which it is moved. If you move an item to a folder that has no tag assigned, the DPT is applied to it. If the item has a tag explicitly assigned to it, the assigned tag always takes precedence over any folder-level tags or the default tag.

2.4. Removing or Deleting a Retention Tag from a Retention Policy

When you remove a retention tag from the retention policy applied to a mailbox, the tag is no longer available to the user and cannot be applied to items in the mailbox. Existing items that have been stamped with the tag continue to be processed by the Managed Folder Assistant, and any retention action specified in the tag is applied to those messages. Any existing mailbox items with the tag applied will continue to expire based on the tag’s settings.

However, if you use the Remove-RetentionPolicyTag cmdlet to delete the tag, the tag definition stored in Active Directory is removed. The next time the Managed Folder Assistant runs, it processes all items that have the removed tag applied and restamps them.

If you disable retention for a retention tag, the Managed Folder Assistant ignores items that have that tag applied. Items that have a retention tag for which retention is disabled never expire. Because these items are still considered tagged items, the DPT does not apply to them. For example, if you want to troubleshoot retention tag settings, you can temporarily disable a retention tag to stop the Managed Folder Assistant from processing messages with that tag.

2.5. Placing a Mailbox on Retention Hold

When users are temporarily out of the office and do not have access to email, you can apply retention to new messages. Depending on the retention policy, messages may be deleted or moved to a user’s personal archive, but you can temporarily suspend such retention policies for a specified period by placing the mailbox on retention hold. When you place a mailbox on retention hold, you can specify a retention comment that informs the mailbox user (or another user authorized to access the mailbox) about the retention hold, including when the hold is scheduled to begin and end. Retention comments are displayed in supported Outlook clients. You can also localize the retention hold comment in the user’s preferred language.

During long absences from work, users may accrue a large amount of email. Depending on the volume of email and the length of absence, it may take these users several weeks to sort through their messages. In such cases, consider the additional time it may take the users to catch up on their mail before removing mailboxes from retention hold. Also, placing a mailbox on retention hold does not affect how mailbox storage quotas are processed. Depending on the mailbox usage and applicable mailbox quotas, you should consider temporarily increasing the mailbox storage quota for users when they are on vacation or do not have access to email for an extended period.

To use the EMC, you access the Properties dialog box of the relevant mailbox and then access the Message Records Management dialog box from the Mailbox Settings tab. You can then enable retention hold and configure start and stop dates and times.

To configure retention hold through the EMS, you use the Set-Mailbox cmdlet to set the RetentionHoldEnabled parameter to $true. The StartDateForRetentionHold and EndDateForRetentionHold parameters of the same cmdlet let you specify when the retention hold starts and stops. You can release a retention hold by setting the RetentionHoldEnabled parameter to $false. For example, the following command enables retention hold for the Kim Akers mailbox and specifies retention start and stop dates:

Set-Mailbox -Identity "Kim Akers" -RetentionHoldEnabled $true -StartDateForRetentionHold
10-1-2011 -EndDateForRetentionHold 11-3-2011