Clarification on Sharepoint 2010 Archiving

[Junior_B]

Hi all,

Just wanted to run something past those of you who have experience with Sharepoint Archiving. Firstly, we are currently running EV 9.02 for Exchange and FSA archiving, and would like to use EV to archive the Sharepoint 2010 based Intranet we are building.

We would like to archive Sharepoint to reduce the size of the SQL DB's so older documents are tiered off to cheaper storage. However, after reading the "Setting up Sharepoint Server Archiving 9.0" document, I'm a bit worried by the following paragraph on page 14:

Enterprise Vault never creates shortcuts when you archive from the following:

■ A document library that has document publishing enabled; that is, if the document library is configured for minor versions.

■ A document library that has the SharePoint option "Content Approval" set.

■ When the document library has the SharePoint option "Require Check Out" set. 

Our Document Libraries will be setup to have Minor Versions, Publishing Approval and Check Out functionality. So does this mean that while we can archive documents, they will never be replaced by shortcuts to keep down the size of the Databases?  This make EV Sharepoint Archiving more of a backup solution than a tiered storage solution, is that right?

What has confused my Sharpoint Administrator is further down the document on page 20 it says:

A policy defines what documents are to be archived and, if versioning is enabled on the SharePoint server, how many versions are to be left in SharePoint after archiving.

Does this mean the previous versions can be removed (and I assume replaced by a shortcut) but only if minor versioning in not enabled? 

Hope I make sense, I know EV but not so good on Sharepoint.

JuniorB

[Ben_Shorehill]

Hi JuniorB,

I'm sure someone on here will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this means that the items will be archived but previous version shortcuts will not be created. So only x number of version will appear on SharePoint. In order to access archived items, users will need to go into Archive Explorer or Search.

[jim_leggett · Accepted solution]

That is correct for MOSS 2007 and appears to be the same for 2010. Please take a look at the following tech note.

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH66083

In regard to the policy setting that is related to Pruning.

After a document is archived (whether a shortcut is created or not) , Enterprise vault can automatically remove versions of the document from Sharepoint.

The pruning level determines how many version of a document remain in Sharepoint.

So the answer to your question is yes. Previous versions can be removed and replaced by a shortcut but only if minor versioning in not enabled.

Hope this helps

[jim_leggett]

Please disregard all that gibberish in my previous comment.

Not sure how it got in there.

[Junior_B]

Thanks Jim,

"So the answer to your question is yes. Previous versions can be removed and replaced by a shortcut but only if minor versioning in not enabled."

So to be able to create shortcuts and reduce space, we can't use Minor Versioning, and I assume Publishing Approval and Check Out functionality.

[jim_leggett]

I'm not sure about Publishing approval.

But I know for sure it will not create shortcuts if the item is Checked Out although it will be archived. Once the items is checked back in it should get archived and a shortcut created if minor versioning is enabled.

And you will have to disable minor versioning to save space aside from pruning.