Data Gatherings by Exchange Reporter Plus

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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 8 Data Gathering Tasks defined in Exchange Reporter Plus.

Gathering information from the above mentioned data source necessitates minimum privileges.

 

In this section we will discuss

1. Data Gathering Tasks run by Exchange Reporter Plus

2. Minimum privileges required for various data gatherings

3. Data gathering tasks and their corresponding data source

4. Scheduling a New Data Gathering Task

Data Gathering Tasks in Exchange Reporter Plus:

 

Exchange Reporter Plus has 8 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

2. Distribution List Membership Gathering Task

3. Mailbox Account Properties Gathering Task

4. Mailbox Content Gathering Task

5. Public Folder Properties Gathering Task

6. Public Folder Content Gathering Task

7. Message Tracking Logs Gathering Task

8. Outlook Web Access info (IIS Logs) Gathering Task

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. Message Tracking 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 Message Tracking Logs Gathering Task)

 

Message Tracking Logs are rolled-over by Microsoft Exchange at every midnight (00:00 GMT). Logs which are not rolled-over might not have the data for the entire day. Because of this Exchange Reporter Plus collects data, only from the rolled over logs.

 

8. Outlook Web Access info (IIS Logs)Gathering Task

 

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 Outlook Web Access info (IIS Logs) 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.

• Installation of Exchange Reporter Plus.

• Adding a New Exchange Organization (or)

• Scheduling a Data gathering task

The minimum privileges required for various data gatherings are tabled below.

 

 

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.