GroupWise™ File Extraction & Much More
History
GroupWise, Novell's flagship email package since its purchase of WordPerfect in 1993, has grown in market share almost every year since its inception. This
is despite Novell's lack of marketing for the product. Many organizations, however, have
found that GroupWise is a powerful tool providing not only email but calendaring, scheduling, tasks, routed items, and
many other features that can be used to increase productivity. Of course like most products, many of these powerful features in
GroupWise have been underutilized. For example, did you know that GroupWise has document management built right into it with no extra licensing costs?
Most companies just use GroupWise for email, which is fine as well, since there are many ways GroupWise can provide information just in its email features. For example, you can track when a message has been delivered, opened, deleted, replied to or forwarded. You can also track the same items when you send a task or scheduled item. Of course when you send a task, it also tracks when that task was accepted and when it was completed. Most of this information is tracked by looking at your sent items, but you can also configure GroupWise to send you an email receipt when your message or task has been delivered, opened, deleted, accepted or completed.
GroupWise throughout its history has been called by many names. Originally it was called WordPerfect Library. Then its name was changed to WordPerfect Office. Novell purchased the product when it was called WordPerfect Office and for 6 weeks changed the name to Symmetry. After a huge public outcry, Novell renamed the product GroupWise, starting with version 4.1. Our staff at eMag has experience with GroupWise from Office 4.0 to GroupWise 6.5. We have the expertise to provide you with assistance, regardless of what version of GroupWise you are using (even in the unlikely case that you're using Symmetry). We have performed upgrades from 4 to 5 to 6 to 6.5 and we can also restore email from all of those versions. We have the expertise to help you know exactly which files are needed in order to access and upgrade your GroupWise System and then access the data within your GroupWise System.
For example, in order for you to get GroupWise Data to PST format, it works best if you are running GroupWise 6.5. If not, don't worry, we'll simply upgrade your GroupWise Data to version 6.5 before going through with the extractions. This action will not impact your live data, although we can come onsite and upgrade your GroupWise System. Lastly, we can also export your GroupWise System to other formats, such as HTML and XML.
GroupWise Specifics
Through our experience with GroupWise file extractions and data recovery, we've found that some of the GroupWise
Systems we work with have issues. These issues mainly fall in areas such as design,
standards, and maintenance. As a result in some cases before we can actually work on
extractions, we have to run processes to repair the databases to make them accessible.
In addition from time-to-time, we've also discovered viruses in the mailboxes that we've
extracted. These instances have made us aware that it is important for you to understand
the services beyond GroupWise recovery and how these services work in conjunction with a successful recovery
and file extraction.
Data Recovery & File Extraction
Since eMag started providing GroupWise data recovery and
file extraction, many of our customers have asked us what files are needed in order to
restore data and provide forensics work on a GroupWise System. Like most email systems,
GroupWise consists of a series of databases. There are 2 types of databases in a GroupWise
System; Administrative and Message Store. The administrative databases are required in order
to manage the GroupWise System. The message store databases are where the actual messages
are stored. Administrative messages consist of Domain and Post Office database files.
In the case of a recovery, we have to confirm whether you have the necessary Domain and Post
Office database files by searching for the Domain database and the Post Office database.
Once these database files are restored, we can then extract any or all of the mailboxes or
individual archives files. For instance we can convert the individual mail boxes to
Exchange PST's and then deduplicate and keyword search the results. Responsive data can then be TIFF'd or PDF'd.
Health Checks - Security Checks
Health & Security Checks can be performed on any GroupWise System regardless of the size. A health check includes reviewing your GroupWise System to
make sure that your GroupWise System is following recommended best practices concerning:
- Design
- Configuration
- Agent and Server settings
- Minimum and recommended maintenance
- Naming conventions
- Email policies
- Anti-virus and SPAM control
- And much more...
In addition a review of your GroupWise System for security issues such as Client Access, Gateways, Security level at the post office, and other areas is very important.
Documentation
We have found through the years that as networks and email systems become more complicated and as staff members
leave the company, more and more companies are being left without documentation. As a
result when it comes time to work on your GroupWise network, you may be left not knowing
where to start. Customized documentation resulting from a proper Health Check, Upgrade
or Migration, will allow you to stay on top of what's going on in your network.
Training
We have expert trainers who specialize in GroupWise products, both GroupWise itself
as well as 3rd party products such as GWAVA and Messaging Architects. We can provide
custom training for you and your environment. Need expert training but don't want to go
somewhere to get it? We'll come to you.
Support
With GroupWise expertise on staff, we can provide on-going GroupWise troubleshooting and support for your environment, in many
cases quicker and at a higher level than Novell can. In fact, some of our staff have
worked in 3rd level support at Novell in the past, so you know you're getting expert level
support. Support contracts, onsite, and offsite support agreements available.
Anti-Virus & Anti-SPAM Solutions
GroupWise has not been hit nearly as hard as the Microsoft world, however, some viruses do make it into the GroupWise System. Implementation of an anti-virus solution for your GroupWise environment is very important to help you avoid downtime. It's also crucial to discover if you have any dormant viruses on your network. Beyond the virus solutions, eMag can help you implement an anti-SPAM solution for your environment. Note that depending on the solutions you decide to use, we can not only provide live anti-virus and anti-spam scanning, but also proactive or existing mail scanning. Also, in conjunction with these solutions, there are additional features such as Content Auditing, Surveillance and attachment filtering that allow you to streamline your GroupWise environment.
Migrations & Upgrades
Whether you're going from earlier versions of GroupWise to a later release, applying the latest support pack, or going to or from GroupWise from a competing product (ie., Exchange, Lotus Notes, etc.) we have the expertise to help you get there. Ask about our Accelerated GroupWise Upgrades!
GroupWise on Windows or LINUX
Our staff is LPI Certified and can help you implement your GroupWise Solution on LINUX if you wish. Or, if you're interested in installing GroupWise on Windows (XP, 2000, 2003) we can help there as well.
Email Retention
More and more organizations are required to retain their email for extended periods of time to comply with existing regulations and legislation Also, facilitating offline or nearline access is becoming an increasing requirement. We work with several organizations to help them with their email retention requirements, and we can help you to become compliant in retaining your email to meet existing regulation requirements.
Contact us today to learn more about GroupWise recovery and other services.
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