Two EV directories in a domain

[imkottees]

Dear All,

Currently we have around 4 EV 12.5 severs which are archiving about 10 Exchange Servers 2016. 

Due to the way it has been managed, the archives and indexes are not properly distributed. 

I'm planning to create a new EV directory (14.3) and move all the Exchange servers underneath for mailbox archiving and couple of more servers for SMTP archiving. 

At the moment we use ev.domain.com as enterprise vault url. 

Is it possible to use myev.domain.com for new directory? and have ev.domain.com access only via browser for accessing old emails? we will clear the existing outlook shortcuts before moving to the new servers. 

Please advise if it is a practical solution. Thank you in advance. 

Regards,

Kottees

[Prone2Typos]

I really need to know more about this to really help. To me the challenge here is the environment is sizable enough, and the changes you wish to implement invasive enough  that you are not looking at just cutting the environment over one day. You will need to have two systems active and accessible at some point. Are you considering changing the source site to "OGEV.DomainName.Com" or something and then just using the original domain in the new site?  If you were planning to have two domains running at the  same time, it would be possible to do it, but a lot easier just to pick a new name and if needed alias the original name to the new name. This also becomes a lot more (and a lot specifically in EV and Exchange interactions) effort if you have embedded links in your shortcuts to the archived items... 

Why a new site? Ease upgrading? Hardware refresh needed? 

Perhaps you could consider fixing your challenges via a re-designed Vault Store architecture if there is no additional needs forcing you to move environments. Best to upgrade first to get the latest and greatest of 14.3 goodness or you may have index modifications needed after migration. 

Lastly, sizable volumes of data is pretty challenging to migrate using native tooling.  Consider a third party like Quest's Archive Shuttle (shameless plug) to expedite the task, and assure it and all the other caveats involved are done right. Pretty sure the docs for native tooling imply it is not intended for use at scale. 

[imkottees]

Hi Prone2Typos, 

Thank you so much for the response. 

The main reason behind exploring this option is, 2 servers are holding 90% of indexing data. Other 2 servers were not part of the indexing group before. We have almost 60TB of archives to be migrated in order to balance the index volumes. Due to which we are experiencing indexing issues very often (2 or 3 times in a week), for the same reason it takes 4 to 6 hours for indexing to be fully functional. 

This is why exploring the option of moving to the new directory, yes we will maintain the current system for those who wants to access their old emails. 

[Prone2Typos]

I get it. Index volumes are frequently the canary in the coal mine, but not always. Sometimes aged and systems managed without a whole lot of consideration into balanced can also result in a lot of cross talk over time that can really cause some performance issues in sizable environments.  You are not wrong to consider it. 


If you are in a real tough spot, and Index volumes are your only concern, you can close and create some. There can be growth that needs to be managed after closing them (so dont leave 10 M on disk and think you are oK) but it is possible all you really need is to better manage the index volumes. 

If you do end up doing a shift to a new site, consider all the things that may have been better managed as a migration is a great time to set stuff right. Retention Categories can be a common concern. I have seen institutions with dozens of policies with overlapping configuration that really needed to be consolidated into 3 or so. 

EV can be a complicated solution that is often tacked onto untrained message admins for administration and many environments are riddled with echoes of historic uninformed decisions. 

Best wishes in your migration journey!!

[imkottees]

Thank you so much for your valuable advise!

Regards,

Kottees