Message Archiver

Last Updated : Jan 05, 2021 |
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When you enable Message Archiver, Presence Services temporarily stores all incoming and outgoing IMs in a local database. An administrator must provide a reliable storage server to which Presence Services periodically transfers the files from the database. Archived IMs can only be accessed from the SFTP server. The administrator is responsible for providing, on the SFTP server, a secure, password-protected repository for the archived IMs.
Archived IMs are transferred to the SFTP server as a .zip file which contains two files:
  • A text summary file which identifies the number of entries, and timestamps for the first and last entry.
  • An XML file which contains the IM information.
When you enable the Include Attachment List feature in message archiving, Presence Services uploads any attachments associated with the IMs, along with the .zip files, to the SFTP server. If encryption is enabled, the attachments are decrypted and then uploaded to the SFTP server. The IDs of the attachments are included in the XML file along with the IM information.
By default, Message Archiver is disabled. You can enable Message Archiver on System Manager. For more information, see Enabling Message Archiving.
Note:
You can only use either SMTP Archiving or Message Archiver. You can not use both Message Archiver and SMTP Archiving services at the same time.
Based on the configured upload frequency, Presence Services periodically uses SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) to transfer all IMs to the remote server. If successful, Presence Services removes the IMs from the database.
The first time the file transfer is unsuccessful, Presence Services:
  • Raises the major alarm: Message Archive upload failed.
  • Stores the date/time of the initial failure.
  • Continues to persistently store all IMs in the database.
If a subsequent attempt is successful, Presence Services clears the major alarm and uploads all the .zip files that failed to upload. If you enable the Include Attachment List feature in message archiving, any attachments associated with the IMs are also uploaded. If subsequent attempts are unsuccessful, as long as the upload failure threshold is not reached, the major alarm remains raised, and Presence Services continues to persistently store all IMs in the database.
After the remote upload failures threshold is reached, Presence Services:
  • Raises the critical alarm: Message Archiving Disabled.
  • Continues to persist the IMs that were previously stored, but does not persist further IMs. Presence Services continues to periodically attempt to transfer the IMs to the remote server based on the configured upload frequency.
    If successful, Presence Services:
    • Clears the critical alarm and uploads all the .zip files that failed to upload. If you enable the Include Attachment List feature in message archiving, any attachments associated with the IMs are also uploaded.
    • Removes the IMs from the database.
    • Resumes storing IMs persistently in the local database.
For more information about major and critical alarms, see Presence Services alarms.
The following are some examples why file transfer may be unsuccessful:
  • Invalid remote server credentials were configured.
  • The remote server is out of service.
  • Network connectivity issues.
Note:
If there are no archived messages when the upload timer expires, Presence Services does transfer a .zip file. The text summary file indicates that the number of entries is zero, and the timestamps are blank. The XML file contains three lines of "header" information, but no messages.
The upload frequency is 4 hours and the remote upload failures threshold is 5 days.
The first time the file transfer is unsuccessful, Presence Services
  • Raises the major alarm: Message Archive upload failed.
  • Stores the date and time of the initial failure.
  • Continues to persistently store all IMs in the database.
After 4 hours, Presence Services attempts another file transfer to the remote server. If unsuccessful, Presence Services:
  • Does not clear the major alarm.
  • Continues to persistently store all IMs in the database.
  • Continues to attempt a file transfer every 4 hours.
After 31 sequential file transfer failures, the remote upload failures threshold is reached and Presence Services:
  • Raises the critical alarm: Message Archiving Disabled.
  • Continues to persist the IMs that were previously stored, but does not persist more IMs.
Presence Services continues to attempt a file transfer every 4 hours. If successful, Presence Services:
  • Clears the critical and major alarm: Message Archiving Disabled.
  • Uploads all .zip files that failed to upload. If you enable the Include Attachment List feature in message archiving, any attachments associated with the IMs are also uploaded
  • Removes the previously-stored IMs from the local database.
  • Stores all incoming IMs in the local database.