Skype for Business Server 2015 Archiving with Exchange 2013 Step by Step

Skype For Business

Exchange 2013 can provide archiving storage of Skype for Business Server 2015 instant messages between contacts and web conferencing transcripts. These are stored in the user’s Exchange mailbox removing the requirement of a SQL Server database. There is an area within the user’s mailbox that is hidden from the end user, but indexed by Exchange which allows integrated discovery. Information is stored in the same folder used by the Exchange In-Place Hold feature. The folder is the Purges folder which is hidden and found in the Recoverable Items folder. Using the eDiscovery Center in SharePoint 2013 or In-Place eDiscovery in Exchange 2013 allows searching any archived content.

The following types of content can be archived:

Peer-to-peer instant messages
Conferences (meetings), which are multiparty instant messages
Conference content, including uploaded content (for example, handouts) and event-related content (for example, joining, leaving, uploading sharing, and changes in visibility)
Whiteboards and polls shared during a conference

The following types of content are not archived:

Peer-to-peer file transfers
Audio/video for peer-to-peer instant messages and conferences
Desktop and application sharing for peer-to-peer instant messages and conferences

After server-to-server authentication is in place (check another post of mine here) we then can enable archiving.

Configure Skype for Business Server 2015:

Configure the Enable Exchange archiving by modifying the Skype for Business Server archiving configuration settings.
Chose if we enable archiving for internal and/or external communications
Configure the ExchangeArchivingPolicy property for each user. This step is only required when the Skype for Business Servers and Exchange Servers are located in different forests.

Step 1 Enable Exchange archiving

By default, archiving is not enabled in the global settings, nor is Exchange archiving enabled. In order to use Exchange archiving, you must configure both the EnableArchiving and the EnableExchangeArchiving properties in PowerShell, or use the Skype for Business 2015 Control Panel.

Using the Control Panel

In the Skype for Business Server 2015
Control Panel, click Monitoring and Archiving, and then click Archiving Configuration.

On the Archiving Configuration tab, double-click the collection of archiving settings to be modified (for example, the Global policy).

The default settings are shown here. Archiving is disabled by default on the Global policy. You can modify this or create new site or pool policies

Skype for Business Server 2015 Control Panel Archiving Configuration

The Archiving setting can be set to one of three possible values as follows:

The Archiving settings

After choosing the items to be archived, select the Exchange Server integration checkbox to enable Exchange archiving. You also have the option to prevent IM or web conference sessions if archiving fails for compliance.

Edit the Archiving settings

Click Commit when settings are configured.

Using PowerShell

The command Get-CsArchivingConfiguration will show the archiving policies:

Running Get-CsArchivingConfiguration

The EnableArchiving property can be set to one of three possible values as follows:

None. Archiving is disabled. This is the default value. If EnableArchiving is set to None then nothing will be archived in either your Skype for Business Server archiving database or in Exchange 2013.
ImOnly. Only instant message transcripts are archived. If Exchange archiving is enabled these transcripts will be archived in Exchange 2013. If Exchange archiving is disabled then these transcripts will be archived to Skype for Business Server.
ImAndWebConf. Both instant message transcripts and Web conferencing transcripts are archived. If Exchange archiving is enabled these transcripts will be archived in Exchange 2013. If Exchange archiving is disabled then these transcripts will be archived to Skype for Business Server.

Set the EnableExchangeArchiving to True ($True) to enable Exchange archiving or set EnableExchangeArchiving to False ($False) to disable Exchange archiving. For example, this command enables the archiving of instant messaging transcripts and Web conferencing transcripts and also enables Exchange archiving (same result as the Skype for Business Server Control Panel example):

Set-CsArchivingConfiguration -Identity “global” -EnableArchiving ImAndWebConf -EnableExchangeArchiving $True

If Skype for Business Server 2015 and Exchange Server 2013 are deployed in the same forest, Skype for Business Server uses the Exchange legal hold policy to determine whether to archive the Skype for Business data for users.

If Skype for Business Server 2015 and Exchange Server 2013 are deployed in different forests, then the decision to archive data is determined by the ExchangeArchivingPolicy parameter when using the Get-CsUser cmdlet.

Step 2: Enable the Archiving of Internal and/or External Communications

After you have enabled archiving (and Exchange 2013 archiving) you must then modify the appropriate archiving policies to ensure that user sessions are actually archived. Note that simply enabling archiving (Step 1) does not cause Skype for Business Server to begin archiving instant messaging and Web conferencing transcripts. You must also use archiving policies to enable internal and/or external archiving.

Using the Control Panel

Archiving policies can be managed by using the Skype for Business Server 2015 Control Panel.

Click Monitoring and Archiving and then click Archiving Policy.

Skype for Business Server 2015 Control Panel Monitoring and Archiving

On the Archiving Policy tab, double-click the collection of archiving settings to be modified (for example, the Global policy).

The default settings are shown above. Internal and external archiving options are disabled by default on the Global policy. You can modify this or create new site or user policies

Select or clear the Archive internal communications and the Archive external communications checkboxes as needed.

Using PowerShell

Run Get-CsArchivingPolicy

Running Get-CsArchivingPolicy

When you install Skype for Business Server 2015 you also install a single, global archiving policy that contains two properties:

ArchiveInternal. When set to True ($True) indicates that internal communication sessions involving only users who have Active Directory accounts in your organization) will be archived.
ArchiveExternal. When set to True ($True) indicates that internal communication sessions (sessions involving at least one user who does not have an Active Directory account in your organization) will be archived.

By default, both of these property values are set to False ($False), meaning that neither internal nor external communication sessions are archived.

Use the Set-CsArchivingPolicy cmdlet to enable the archiving of both internal and external communication sessions:

Set-CsArchivingPolicy -Identity “global” -ArchiveInternal $True -ArchiveExternal $True

Alternatively, you can use the New-CsArchivingPolicy to create a new policy at either the site scope or the per-user scope.

If you create a per-user policy you will then need to assign that policy to the appropriate users. For example:

New-CsArchivingPolicy -Identity “DublinArchivingPolicy” -ArchiveInternal $True -ArchiveExternal $True

Grant-CsArchivingPolicy -Identity [email protected] -PolicyName “DublinArchivingPolicy”

Step 3: Configuring the ExchangeArchivingPolicy Property

If Skype for Business Server 2015 and Exchange 2013 are located in different forests then it is not enough to simply enable Exchange archiving in the archiving configuration settings; that will not result in instant messaging and Web conferencing transcripts being archived in Exchange. Instead, you must also configure the ExchangeArchivingPolicy property on each of the relevant Skype for Business Server user accounts. This property can be set to one of four possible values:

Uninitialized. Indicates that archiving will be based on the In-Place Hold settings configured for the user’s Exchange mailbox; if In-Place Hold has not been enabled on the user’s mailbox then the user will have his or her messaging and Web conferencing transcripts archived in Skype for Business Server.
UseLyncArchivingPolicy. Indicates that the user’s instant messaging and Web conferencing transcripts should be archived in Skype for Business Server rather than in Exchange.
NoArchiving. Indicates that the user’s instant messaging and Web conferencing transcripts should not be archived at all. Note that this setting overrides any Skype for Business Server archiving policies assigned to the user.
ArchivingToExchange. Indicates that the user’s instant messaging and Web conferencing transcripts should be archived to Exchange regardless of the In-Place Hold settings that have (or have not) been assigned to the user’s mailbox.

For example, to configure a user account so that instant messaging and Web conferencing transcripts are always archived to Exchange you can use a command similar to this from the Skype for Business Server Management Shell:

Set-CsUser -Identity [email protected] -ExchangeArchivingPolicy ArchivingToExchange

If you want to set the same archiving policy for a group of users (for example, all the users homed on a specified Registrar pool) you can use a command similar to this:

Get-CsUser -Filter {RegistrarPool -eq “EnterpriseEDTN1.austinlab.com”} | Set-CsUser -ExchangeArchivingPolicy ArchivingToExchange

Note that you must use the Skype for Business Server Management Shell (and Windows PowerShell) in order to configure value of the ExchangeArchivingPolicy property.

If you would like to view a list of all the users who have been assigned a specific archiving policy then you can use a command similar to the following, which returns the Active Directory display name of all the users who have had the ExchangeArchivingPolicy property set to Uninitialized:

Get-CsUser | Where-Object {$_.ExchangeArchivingPolicy -eq “Uninitialized”} | Select-Object DisplayName

Likewise, this command returns the display name of the users who have not have the ExchangeArchivingPolicy property set to UseLyncArchivingPolicy:

Get-CsUser | Where-Object {$_.ExchangeArchivingPolicy -ne “UseLyncArchivingPolicy”} | Select-Object DisplayName

Troubleshooting connectivity to Exchange 2013 mailboxes for Archiving

You can use PowerShell commands from Skype for Business Server 2015 PowerShell to confirm connectivity.

Use Test-CsExStorageConnectivity to validate Exchange Archiving storage connectivity before enabling archiving. This command will create and then delete a folder.

Test-CsExStorageConnectivity [email protected] –Folder Dumpster

Running Test-CsExStorageConnectivity

You can add –Verbose at the end of the command to return more details

You may also receive an access denied message when running this command. Just ensure the user running this command is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins
group.

Ensure the user is enabled for Legal Hold within Exchange 2013

Enabling Legal Hold

As Skype for Business Server 2015 uses the Exchange legal hold policy to determine whether to archive the Lync data for users, you will need to configure the mailboxes for users.

The following screen shots show how to do this from the Exchange 2013 Control Panel

Select compliance management and then in-place eDiscovery & hold. Click the + to add