Can archives be accessed if the user account has been deleted?

[Saqib_A__Shamsi]

Hi All,

I've been looking for the best way to archive users who have left the company. Currently when a user leaves, we disable the AD user account and hide the email address from the GAL. For that I have found the following two articles which I have followed:

Disabled AD User
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH76587

Hidden from GAL
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH47252

I've created my zero day policies and so forth. So all's working fine. Now All I need to know is once everything is archived, can I delete the mailbox (of course after disabling it in EV), and after deleting, can I still access the archives for compliance reasons?

If yes, then another question comes to mind is that, can I change the billing owner of the archive to a user who already has his own archive? I know I can assign permissions to other users to access the archive, but my question is, can a user be the billing owner of more than one archive? Or can I remove the billing account and still access the archives?

And yes, the final question, once I disable archiving for the user, but keep the archives, would it be counted towards to my licensing? Or do I retain the licensing back? Because if it counts, that's pretty bad as we have around 250 mailboxes of users who have left the organization.

Lots of questions, but all pointing to a single topic of disabling a user and still accessing the archive :)

Regards,
Saqib

[TonySterling · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can still have access to the archives even after the account is deleted.

Yes, an account can be the billing owner for more than one archive.  I recommend making the Vault Service Account the billing owner.  You need to have a bill to owner.  All this is going to affect is Usage Reports by Bill To Owner.

No, archive for users that have been disabled/deleted do not count towards your license.  You license is for active mailboxes.

Regards,

Tony

[Saqib_A__Shamsi]

Thanks Tony. Had figured out the first two part by now. Did a bit of testing

Had come to post an update and found your answer. That good to know about the licensing part. Thanks for the answer.

Regards,

Saqib