Already Archived!

[kongs]

How do I view archives that are already archived with Groupwise… there is a folder called Index that contains .inc and .idx file and then a ton of files that some are .000, .001 .002 etc.

Thanks!

Topic

[Support 2]

To access native GroupWise archive email (archives created using the GroupWise Client archive feature) using Archive To Go Viewer, you must first use Archive To Go Creator to export the GroupWise archives into an Archive To Go portable archive.

The Archive To Go Viewer cannot access native GroupWise archives without first exporting them with Archive To Go Creator, which enables you to export multiple GroupWise archives (accessible to the workstation) into a single target portable archive.

If this does not answer your question, please let us know.

Regards,

Advansys Support

[kongs]

What if you don’t have access to the Groupwise server anymore and just have the users archives.
The company split up and now i have half of them on a Windows ADExchange domain and they need to get their GroupWise archive email.

Thank-you!

[Support 2]

Do you still have the GroupWise Client installed? Are you able to open the archives with the GroupWise Client running in Remote mode?

Regards,

Advansys Support

[skirkby]

Hi,

In order to get access to your GW archives, all you need is a copy of the domain database (perhaps from backup).

Even if the user object has been deleted from the domain DB, it is possible to get access to them. We can recreate the user account. We just need to know the user ID and FID.

It may also be necessary to graft the domain into your eDirectory tree, but that is both trivial and reversible.

What version of GroupWise was used to create the archives?

–sk.

[kongs]

I do have the groupwise software installed on one PC still.
I will try and see if i can open the archives from that PC.
If i can do that then what should be my next steps so that my users will only require the viewer on their PC’s.
I can not install Groupwise client on their machines.

Thanks.

[skirkby]

The short version of the story is this:

1) If you still have a live GroupWise post office that has the user’s live (not archive, but live) accounts in it, then we can do what you want (i.e. convert all of the users’ GW Archives to the Advansys Archive To Go format without them needing to install the GroupWise client.)

2) If you don’t have a live GW Post Office, but you DO have a copy of the domain database that contains the user account definitions in it, then we can do the conversion. It’s more work, because we need to rebuild the Post Office, but still doable. If your GroupWise system has been decommissioned, then you will need to retrieve the Domain database from a backup.

3) Even if you don’t have a live PO _or_ a copy of the domain database, we can still do what you want, provided that you have a list of user ID’s and their corresponding File ID’s (FID’s). This is not likely, but could be possible if you have an old GWCheck log backed up. It’s a lot more work, but can still be done.

Without at least one of these three, I’m afraid you might be out of luck.

Here is the longer version:

In order to convert the GW archive to an Advansys Archive To Go archive (that will work with the Advansys viewer), you need to be able to open the GW Archive in the GroupWise client.

In order to open the GW Archive in the GroupWise client, you need to log into the user’s live mailbox with the GroupWise client.

In order to log into the user’s live mailbox, you need to have a live post office with an account for the user. In addition, the user’s FID must match the FID used to name the user’s GW Archive directory.

I realize that either your post office may no longer be live, or one or more of your user accounts have been removed from GroupWise, or possibly your entire GroupWise system might be out of commission, so this may seem like a challenge.

But, if you have a copy of a domain database that contains the user accounts in it, this is all we need to be able to:

1) create a (temporary) live post office, then
2) log into the live po as the users
3) access the users’ GW archives

In this scenario, we can easily gain access to all of the user’s accounts, and thus all of their archives, because we can reset their passwords, making it possible to log in. (We can also use a trusted application record, if desired.)

All of this can be done programmatically, so it can be done for every user from a single workstation, without the users even being involved. Thus, they don’t need to install the GW client software.

If this is not clear, feel free to contact me off-line – sometimes vocal conversations make things easier to understand…

–sk.

[kongs]

Thanks for this!
I am trying to get a copy of the domain database from the old company.
Wish me luck

[kongs]

Ok, the other company is not getting back to me on this.
Here is what i have in a users folder… i have a index folder that contains a .idx and .inc file and then a folder that looks like it is all the email of a user with each one of them numbered with a .000 to .003 extension and also in that folder is a user.db, msg.db, ngwguard.db and ngwguard.dc.
Is this usable?
Also because of the time difference from East Coast USA to Australia, is it possible to have phone support on this during our business hours in EST?
Thank you so much!!

[Support 2]

Hi,

Advansys cannot provide support for this issue but Sean Kirkby (sk) from Concentrico (http://www.concentrico.net) above can offer consulting services. He knows GroupWise very well (GW Guru status), is a third party GroupWise developer and is an Advansys Partner.

I recommend you contact Sean as he suggests above. He is based in Utah, which makes telephone contact far easier for you.

However, as you have not been able to get the file(s) which Sean described, i.e. a copy of the domain database, you may not be able to solve the problem.

Regards,

Advansys Support

[kongs]

I should be getting the domain database and i have also asked for the File ID’s as well, sometime this week.
Sean, would you be able to help me out with getting this to work?

Thanks again!

[skirkby]

Sure we can help. Just give me a call when you are ready:

http://www.concentrico.net

[kongs]

FINALLY!
I have the FID’s.
Please let me know what you require on a machine to get this going and then we can hook up.

Thanks so much in advance
Sarah

[skirkby]

You will need a live GW system, and probably will want to create a temporary post office to do this in.

Do you have the domain DB also? Or just a list of FID’s?

If the former, you can rebuild the PO from that, and that will be enough to get started.

If the latter, then you will need some custom software to create the user accounts with the right FID’s. We (Concentrico) can easily write the software you need.

Once the user accounts are created with the right FID’s, Archive To Go can be used to create A2G archives out of the GW archives (of course, this assumes that the user archives are all on a shared drive somewhere, so A2G can get to them.)

Feel free to give me a call. My phone number is (801) 221-7606 x204.

–sk.

[Author]

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