This guide explains how to migrate email archives from Quest Archive Manager (QAM) to Jatheon Cloud. It covers prerequisites, source discovery, export options (EML/MSG/PST), metadata mapping, ingestion, and validation to ensure full integrity and compliance. Third-party migration tools that include a native Quest Archive Manager connector are recommended for speed and fidelity.
Prerequisites
- Inventory of QAM repositories (user and journal archives), data volumes, and retention/hold policies.
- Admin/read access to the Quest Archive Manager databases and archive storage (file shares/object store).
- Service account with permission to export messages/attachments and read QAM indexes/metadata.
- Pilot plan (sample custodians/journals) and a CSV mapping for target custodians in Jatheon Cloud.
Overview
Quest Archive Manager archived Exchange content with centralized retention and search. A successful migration must preserve message bodies, headers (including InternetMessageId), attachments, folder hierarchy, custodian relationships, and any legal-hold/supervision states. Exports are usually performed to EML or MSG (preferred for item-level fidelity) or to PST as an intermediary that is later itemized.
Tip: Start with a small pilot (2–3 custodians or one journal range). Validate counts, headers, attachments and search parity before bulk migration.
Supported Source Scenarios
- User mailbox archives captured by QAM from Microsoft Exchange.
- Journal archives (preserve full envelope/recipient context, including BCC where available).
- Legacy exports previously produced by QAM (EML/MSG/PST in file shares).
Technical Notes
- Repository layout — QAM maintains metadata/indexes in a database and stores items/attachments in archive storage. Ensure read access to both.
- Export options — Prefer EML/MSG with full RFC822/MAPI headers. PST is acceptable as a staging format if later itemized.
- Journals — Preserve envelope headers (original recipients, BCC) for auditing.
- Tooling — Use a migration tool with a Quest Archive Manager connector where possible to accelerate selective export and preserve chain-of-custody.
Export Options
- Selection — Export by custodian, date range, and folder class; exclude Junk/Deleted when policy allows; include legal-hold items.
- Formats — EML/MSG preferred; PST if using a two-step (PST → itemization) workflow.
- Metadata — Include headers (Message-ID, Received, From/To/Cc/Bcc), sent/received dates, folder path, retention markers, and hold/supervision flags.
Sample CSV manifest header (extend as needed):
FullPath,RelativePath,FileName,SizeBytes,LastWriteUTC,SHA256,Custodian,Folder,InternetMessageId,IsJournal
Example PowerShell to compute SHA-256 and build a manifest:
$Root="D:\QAM\Exports"
$Out="D:\QAM\manifests\qam_manifest.csv"
$files=Get-ChildItem -Path $Root -Recurse -File -Include *.eml,*.msg
$rows=foreach($f in $files){$h=Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 -Path $f.FullName;[pscustomobject]@{FullPath=$f.FullName;Relative=$f.FullName.Substring($Root.Length).TrimStart('\');FileName=$f.Name;SizeBytes=$f.Length;LastWriteUTC=$f.LastWriteTimeUtc;SHA256=$h.Hash}}
$rows|Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation -Path $Out -Encoding UTF8
Migration Scope
- Discovery — Inventory custodians/journals; capture item counts, sizes, date ranges, holds.
- Export — Extract items/attachments/metadata to EML/MSG (or PST for staging) with envelope context for journals.
- Transform — Normalize fields (sender/recipient, InternetMessageId, folder path, retention/hold flags) to Jatheon’s import schema.
- Ingestion — Import to Jatheon Cloud in phased batches; throttle as needed; monitor exceptions.
- Validation — Reconcile counts; spot-check headers, attachments, dates; verify search parity and hold mapping.
- Cutover — Activate retention policies and obtain stakeholder sign-off.
Throttling & Performance
- Batch by custodian and date range; avoid very large single jobs.
- Use parallelism conservatively to avoid I/O bottlenecks on archive storage.
- Stage exports locally first, then transfer to the Jatheon ingestion location (e.g., S3 or secure share).
What We Preserve
- Message bodies and attachments (original formats)
- Headers and delivery metadata (incl. InternetMessageId)
- Custodian/mailbox relationships and (where present) journal context
- Folder hierarchy and labels (as exported)
- Retention markers and legal-hold/supervision flags (mapped)
Troubleshooting
- Missing attachments — Re-export with “include attachments”; verify tool filters.
- Journal envelope lost — Ensure export includes envelope headers (incl. BCC) and ingest them as journal metadata.
- Encoding/charset issues — Prefer UTF-8; validate header/body rendering after import.
- Long paths/illegal chars — Normalize filenames; log mappings; for Windows copies consider robocopy /256.
- Throughput — Limit concurrency; stage locally; throttle ingestion if required.
- Access denied — Re-check service account rights to QAM DBs, indexes and storage.
Related articles
- How to Migrate from Metalogix Archive Manager to Jatheon Cloud
- How to Migrate from Veritas Enterprise Vault (Exchange) to Jatheon Cloud
- Other Legacy Archives You Can Migrate to Jatheon Cloud
Learn more about migrating your archive to Jatheon.
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