This guide explains how to migrate archives from iLumin Assentor Mailbox Manager (later known as CA Message Manager and subsequently under the Autonomy/OpenText family) to Jatheon Cloud. It covers prerequisites, data discovery, export options, metadata mapping, ingestion, and validation to ensure full integrity and compliance.
Prerequisites
- Inventory of Assentor components in use (e.g., Assentor Mailbox Manager, Assentor Compliance, Assentor Discovery, Archiver).
- Admin access to the Assentor administration UI and the underlying archive/message stores.
- Export/read access to any Assentor databases and file shares where messages/attachments are stored.
- List of custodians (mailboxes/journals), expected data volumes, and retention/hold requirements.
Overview
Assentor Enterprise was a modular archiving/compliance suite used with Microsoft Exchange and IBM/Lotus Notes. Typical deployments combined Mailbox Manager for mailbox archiving with Compliance (supervision/quarantine), Discovery (eDiscovery) and an Archiver back end. Your migration plan should account for mailbox archives (user and journal), supervision states, and discovery/legal-hold data where applicable.
Tip: In documentation and tools you may also find this platform under aliases: CA Message Manager, Autonomy Message Manager, or simply iLumin Assentor. Use these names when searching for export/connectors or migration references.
Supported Source Scenarios
- User mailbox archives from Exchange.
- Journal archives from Exchange.
- (If present) Mailbox archives from IBM/Lotus Notes via Assentor AMM for Notes.
Technical Notes
- Data layout — Assentor stores archived messages/attachments in repository storage with indexes/metadata maintained by the suite (e.g., Compliance/Discovery/Archiver components).
- Modules — If Compliance or Discovery were used, include those metadata/hold states in the export plan so legal-hold items remain exempt from expiry after import.
- Platforms — Assentor historically supported Exchange and Notes; some deployments also integrated with additional messaging platforms.
- Tooling — Third-party email archive migration tools commonly include native connectors for “iLumin Assentor / CA Message Manager”; these can accelerate selective export and preserve chain-of-custody.
Export Options
- Preferred formats: EML (full RFC822 headers) or MSG (MAPI) with attachments and original timestamps.
- PST: Acceptable as an intermediary; plan for post-export itemization before ingestion.
- Selection: Filter by custodian, date range, folder classes (exclude Junk/Deleted if policy allows), and legal-hold states.
- Journaling context: Preserve envelope headers (e.g., BCC/recipients) if journal archives are present.
Sample CSV manifest header (extend as needed):
FullPath,RelativePath,FileName,SizeBytes,LastWriteUTC,SHA256,Custodian,Folder,InternetMessageId
Example PowerShell to compute SHA-256 and build a manifest:
$Root="D:\Assentor\Exports"
$Out="D:\Assentor\manifests\assentor_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
Deduplication: Use a composite key such as SHA-256 + InternetMessageId + SizeBytes to identify duplicates before ingestion.
Migration Scope
- Discovery — Enumerate custodians and journals; capture item counts, sizes, date ranges, and any legal holds/supervision flags.
- Export — Use native export (if available) or a third-party connector to extract messages, attachments, and metadata (EML/MSG preferred).
- Transform — Normalize fields (sender/recipient, InternetMessageId, folder path, retention markers, hold flags) to Jatheon’s import schema.
- Ingestion — Import to Jatheon Cloud in phased batches; throttle as needed; monitor exceptions.
- Validation — Reconcile counts vs. source; spot-check headers, attachments, date ranges; verify search parity and hold mapping.
- Cutover — Activate retention policies and finalize stakeholder sign-off.
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
- Long paths / invalid characters — Normalize filenames, shorten deep paths; for Windows copies use robocopy /256 if needed; keep a mapping log.
- Missing attachments — Re-run export with “include attachments” enabled; verify export tool’s attachment filters.
- Corrupted items — Quarantine and log; proceed with bulk then attempt targeted re-export of failures.
- Time zone/date shift — Ensure export preserves original Sent/Received fields; validate in Jatheon search.
- Encoding/charset issues — Prefer UTF-8 where possible; verify header/body encoding after import.
- Hold/retention flags missing — Confirm Compliance/Discovery metadata export; map flags to Jatheon legal holds.
- Throughput — Batch by custodian and date range; limit concurrency to avoid I/O/network bottlenecks; throttle ingestion if required.
- Access denied — Re-check read permissions to Assentor repos, DBs, and file shares; run as service account with explicit rights.
- Journal context lost — Ensure envelope headers are exported and ingested for proper recipient auditing (incl. BCC).
- Duplicate collisions — Use the dedup key (e.g., SHA-256 + InternetMessageId) consistently pre- and post-ingestion.
Validation & Post-Migration
- Reconcile item counts per custodian/journal and total size.
- Spot-check headers, attachments, time zones, and search parity in Jatheon Cloud.
- Confirm retention and legal-hold behavior matches policy.
Related articles
- How to Migrate from Autonomy Message Manager (CAMM) to Jatheon Cloud
- How to Migrate from Global Relay to Jatheon Cloud
- Other Legacy Archives You Can Migrate to Jatheon Cloud
Learn more about migrating your archive to Jatheon.
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