Change Enterprise Vault Server URL

One question, I get asked quite often in the last years, is how to change the name (and therefore URL) of an Enterprise Vault Server.

Especially, when the installation is a few years old, it was best practices, not to use a full qualified server name as server alias in Enterprise Vault, but just a hostname. And even, if the FQDN was entered, quite often a .local name was used.

Nowadays, many companies wish to be able to access the archived elements not only from their internal networks, but also via the internet, when working abroad (or from home office during Corona times).

Unfortunately, the server name entered during the setup of the environment is used during the creation of the shortcuts for the users’ mailboxes. So all the shortcuts contain the servername in the URL to the archived element.
Here’s an example of a shortcut to an archived e-mail:

http://kvsserver.domain.local/EnterpriseVault/ViewMessage.asp?VaultId=11E40A1AC903819439AB4B13A08xxxxx10000archiv&SavesetId=201604231449072~201504230xxxxx~Z~E1003734740BD8C3E954A31DFxxxxx

So, what to do in order to provide access to these URLs from outside?
Here’s the process:

Introduction

It’s a four step process that takes qute some time. Depending on the size of the environment, the number of shortcuts in mailboxes etc. it can take multiple days to complete:

1. Create the required DNS records.
2. Create the reuired firewall policies.
3. Change the server name in the SQL database
4. Modify the shortcuts with the updated information

Presumptions

Step 1 (DNS records):

The new server alias name we will use in the shortcuts must be resolveable from internal clients, as well as from clients outside the companies network. In most cases, this requires a split-DNS configuration, meaning that the same name is resolved to an (interal) IP address from the company’s internal DNS servers and to a different (public) IP address from DNS servers in the internet.

In our scenario, we need an alias (CNAME) record on the internal DNS that resolves
archive.domain.com
to
srv-ev01.domain.local.

In addition, we need a host (A) record on the public DNS that resolves
archive.domain.com
to
1.2.3.4

Step 2 (Firewall):

All clients (internal and external) need to be able to connect to the EV server using HTTPS (443/TCP).

Step 3 (Change Server Name in SQL):

Before modifying the database, please doublecheck that you have a valid backup of the database.

Use the following script to check the current entries for the server name and alias:

USE EnterpriseVaultDirectory
SELECT ComputerName as "Alias", ComputerNameAlternate as "Physical Name"
FROM ComputerEntry

Use the folowing script to update the entries to the new values:

Use EnterpriseVaultDirectory
Update ComputerEntry
SET ComputerName = '<New alias for EVSERVER>'
WHERE ComputerName = '<Old alias for EVSERVER>'

In our scenario:

Use EnterpriseVaultDirectory
Update ComputerEntry
SET ComputerName = 'archive.domain.com'
WHERE ComputerName = 'kvsserver.domain.local'

Afterwards you’ll need to follow these steps:

1. Restart the Enterprise Vault Admin Service on the EV server.
2. In the EV console, right-click on Enterprise Vault Servers, select Update Service Locations from the context menu and follow the instrucions in the wizard:
   
   
   
3. In the properties window of the archiving task(s) navigate to the tab Synchronization and start a synchronisation job for all mailboxes:
   
   
   
4. Wait for the synchronisation to complete (this can take several hours, depending on the number of mailboxes).

Sources:
https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/article.100025816
https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/article.100031222

Step 4: Modifying the Shortcuts

Note: This step produces massive load on the EV server, as well as on the Exchange server(s) and the Exchange servers will create lots of log files.
Therefore, I highly recommend not processing all mailboxes in a single step but rather process them in smaller charges and assure, the log files on the Exchange servers are purged in between by running a backup.

In addition, you should discuss, whether it could be a good idea, to delete shortcuts from the mailboxes, when they reach a certain age, i.e. 3 years. If you decide to do so, you should implement this change before proceeding with modifying the shortcuts.

To change the maximum age of shortcuts, open the properties of the Exchange Mailbox Policies, navigate to Shortcut Deletion and set the desired age:

In order to modify the content of the existing shortcuts, follow these steps:

• Stop all archiving tasks on the EV server and set them to Manual.
• On the EV server, add the following registry key:

• Restart the Enterprise Vault Admin Service on the EV server.
• In the EV console make a right-click on the archiving task(s) and select Run now... from the context menu.
• Change the settings to Shortcut Processing and Select Mailboxes:
  
• Select the mailboxes to want to modify and start the process.
• When the process is finished and you’ve cleaned the Exchange log files as described above, verify, whether the shortcuts have been changed the way you wanted.
• If so, run the process again against the next set of mailboxes.
• After processing all mailboxes, set the registry key RestoreShortcutBody to 0 and restart the Enterprise Vault Admin Service on the EV server.
• Set the archiving tasks to Automatic.

Sources:
https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/article.100017521