Exchange Reporter Plus gathers data from various data sources that include - Active Directory, Exchange Servers, Mailbox, Public Folder, Message Tracking Log Files and Outlook Web Access info Log Files (IIS Logs).
This is done using one or more of 9 Data Gathering Tasks defined in Exchange Reporter Plus out of which 5 tasks are configured automatically.
Gathering information from the above mentioned data source necessitates minimum privileges.
In this section we will discuss
Data Gathering Tasks in Exchange Reporter Plus:
Exchange Reporter Plus has 9 built-in Data Gathering Tasks. These can be scheduled to gather data from their respective Data Sources using the Task Scheduling option of Exchange Reporter Plus. Listed below are the various data gathering tasks done by Exchange Reporter Plus.
1. Essential Data Gathering Task
This gathering will collect the entire Exchange Organizational structure information like the administrative groups, routing groups, servers and Mailboxes.(Schedule an Essential Data Gathering Task)
2. Distribution List Membership Gathering Task
This gathering will collects the members of distribution lists in your Exchange Organization. (Schedule a Distribution List Membership Gathering Task)
3. Mailbox Account Properties Gathering Task
This will collect the size, number of messages in each of the mailboxes. It also collects information about the mailbox last logon user and last logon time. (Schedule a Mailbox Account Properties Gathering Task)
4. Mailbox Content Gathering Task
This gathering will search the mailbox folder contents for specific keywords. It searches message subject, message body, attachment file names, attachment extensions, attachment size. (Schedule a Mailbox Content Gathering Task)
5. Public Folder Properties Gathering Task
This gathering will collect all the public folders and their properties like size, number of messages and replica servers. (Schedule a Public Folder Properties Gathering Task)
6. Public Folder Content Gathering Task
This gathering will search the public folder contents for specific keywords. It searches message subject, message body, attachment file names, attachment extensions, attachment size. (Schedule a Public Folder Content Gathering Task).
7. Traffic Logs Gathering Task
This gathering will collect mail traffic information from the message tracking log files. The data from this gathering will be used to produce reports like top senders, top receivers, server to server traffic analysis, organization traffic summary and more. (Schedule a Traffic Logs Gathering Task)
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This gathering will collect Outlook Web Access related information like user logons, logons based on server, logons based on Web Browsers and logons based on client IPs. This information can be retrieved from "IIS Logs". (Schedule OWA Logs Gathering Task)
9. Mailbox Permissions Gathering Task
This gathering will collect Mailbox Permissions from the mailboxes availble in the selected Servers. (Schedule Mailbox Permission Gathering Task )
Privileges Required for Data Gatherings:
Each data gathering task will require minimum privileges to gather data from various data sources. These privileges are entered at either of the below mentioned instances.
The minimum privileges required for various data gatherings are tabled below.
Type of Data Gathering |
Privilege needed for Data Gathering |
Comprehensive information about Exchange Server |
Administrator credentials possessing appropriate permissions (Including those given in the below rows). |
Mailbox Data |
Exchange View only administrator who has a mailbox. The mailbox should not be hidden from the Global Address List(GAL). |
Mailbox Content Data |
Any valid user credential with "Send as" / "receive as" permissions on the mailboxes. |
Exchange Traffic / Outlook Web Access Log files |
Any valid user credential with read Access to the log file remote share. |
Public Folder Properties and Public Folder Content Data |
Any valid user credential with read access to Public Folders, about which information is to be gathered |
Data Gathering Task and its corresponding Data Sources
Each Data Gathering Task in Exchange Reporter Plus is configured to collect data from one or more mapped data sources. The below table lists the various Data Gathering Tasks in Exchange Reporter Plus and their respective Data sources.
Data Gathering Task |
Data Sources |
Essential data Gathering Task |
Active Directory and Exchange Server |
Distribution List Membership Gathering Task |
Active Directory |
Mailbox Account Properties Gathering Task Mailbox Content Gathering Task |
Mailbox |
Public Folder Properties Gathering Task Public Folder Content Gathering Task |
Public Folder |
Traffic Logs Gathering Task |
Message Tracking Log Files |
OWA Logs Gathering Task |
IIS Log Files |