As an individual preparing for the SC-400 Microsoft Information Protection Administrator exam, you’ll want to ensure a comprehensive understanding of various Microsoft Information Protection solutions. Among these solutions, the implementation of Microsoft Exchange Online archiving policies is an integral component.
With Exchange Online Archiving, businesses can extend their existing mailbox capacities by storing old or outdated information in an alternate and safe space. These archiving policies help organizations adhere to legal, regulatory, and organizational data retention requirements, setting automated actions based on these policies to retain or delete data.
What are Exchange Online Archiving Policies?
Exchange Online Archiving Policies, also known as Retention policies, are a component of information governance in Microsoft 365 used to manage the life cycle of email data. These policies dictate how long to retain content and what action to take when the content reaches the end of its retention duration, either retain it or permanently delete it.
There are two types of Retention policies:
- Retention Policies: Apply to mailbox items and are associated with Retention tags.
- Archive Policies: Control the automatic move of messages to the in-place archive.
How to Implement Exchange Online Archiving Policies
1. Creating Archive Policies
An essential element of implementing Exchange Online archiving policies is creating the relevant policies. To do this:
- Navigate to the “Microsoft 365 compliance center” and click on “Information governance”.
- Choose “Retention” and click on “+ Create,” provide a name and description for your new policy.
- Define where the policy is applied: all content, specific locations or users, or having no locations.
- Specify the retention settings by providing the number of days, years, or indefinite.
- Choose what to do after the retention period, either retain or delete the content, and follow on-screen instructions to create a policy.
2. Applying Archive Policies
After creating the archiving policy, it needs to be applied. This can be done by assigning a policy to the user mailboxes. You can do it directly in Exchange admin center (EAC) or use Exchange Online PowerShell in the case of multiple users.
Command to apply Archive policy:
Set-Mailbox -Identity "[user's email address]" -RetentionPolicy "[policy name]"
Understanding how to correctly apply these policies can be crucial in preparing for the SC-400 exam as it forms a substantial part of managing information protection.
Benefits of Implementing Exchange online Archiving Policies
- Helps in data management by moving older items from the primary mailbox to the in-place/archive mailbox automatically.
- Adheres to compliance requirements by defining how long to retain data and when to delete it.
- Prevents unintentional loss of data by holding a delete buffer even after permanent deletion.
- Saves costs and resources by reducing the need for traditional backups.
In conclusion, as a potential SC-400 exam candidate, knowing how to implement Microsoft Exchange Online Archiving policies is an incredibly beneficial skill. Not only can it help you on the exam, but it is a valuable expertise in your professional journey as a Microsoft Information Protection Administrator.
Practice Test
True or False: Microsoft Exchange Online Archiving is a service offered by Microsoft that helps users simplify the archiving and eDiscovery efforts.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft Exchange Online Archiving is a Microsoft 365 cloud-based, enterprise-class archiving solution for organizations to store and preserve mailbox content for discovery and compliance needs.
Which of the following can be managed using Exchange Online archiving policies?
- A) Retention Policies
- B) Litigation Hold
- C) Exchange Active Sync
- D) All of the above
Answer: D) All of the above
Explanation: Exchange Online archiving policies include retention policies, litigation hold, and Exchange Active Sync giving administrators greater control over their archiving policies.
True or False: Microsoft Exchange Online Archiving only supports archiving for the user’s primary mailbox.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Microsoft Exchange Online Archiving supports archiving for both the primary mailbox (directly associated with the user’s account) and the user’s archive mailbox, providing a space dedicated to long-term storage.
Single Select: Which policy is used in Exchange Online to ensure that emails are not deleted or altered for a certain period or until a specific condition is met?
- A) Retention Policies
- B) Remote Device Wipe Policy
- C) Malware Filter Policy
- D) Litigation Hold
Answer: D) Litigation Hold
Explanation: Litigation Hold is the policy used to ensure that emails cannot be deleted or altered for a specific time or until a certain condition is satisfied.
True or False: The maximum retention period for a Litigation Hold policy in Exchange Online is 7 years.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: There is no maximum retention period for a Litigation Hold policy in Exchange Online. A mailbox can be put under litigation hold indefinitely or until the hold is removed.
Multiple Select: What are some advantages of implementing Exchange Online archiving policies?
- A) Regulatory Compliance
- B) Better Organization
- C) Increased Storage Space
- D) Improved Server Performance
Answer: A) Regulatory Compliance, C) Increased Storage Space, D) Improved Server Performance
Explanation: Implementing Exchange Online archiving policies helps in achieving regulatory compliance, providing increased storage space and improving server performance by moving older content to the archive.
True or False: By default, Archive mailboxes in Exchange Online are disabled.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: By default, archive mailboxes in Exchange Online are disabled and must be enabled manually by the user or through an Exchange Online archiving policy.
Multiple Select: Which of the following are options available for administering Exchange Online Archiving?
- A) Exchange Admin Center (EAC)
- B) PowerShell
- C) Microsoft Compliance Center
- D) Microsoft Information Protection
Answer: A) Exchange Admin Center (EAC), B) PowerShell, C) Microsoft Compliance Center
Explanation: Exchange Admin Center, PowerShell, and Microsoft Compliance Center are among the several tools available for administering Exchange Online Archiving.
Single Select: Where are the emails archived using Exchange Online archiving stored?
- A) Archive mailbox
- B) Deleted Items Folder
- C) Cloud backup
- D) Azure storage
Answer: A) Archive mailbox
Explanation: The emails archived using Exchange Online archiving are stored directly in the user’s Archive mailbox.
True or False: Users can access their Archive mailbox and search for items using Outlook or Outlook on the web.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Users can access their Archive mailbox, view content, and search for items using either Outlook or Outlook on the web (Outlook Web App).
Interview Questions
What is Microsoft Exchange Online archiving?
Microsoft Exchange Online Archiving is a Microsoft 365 cloud-based, enterprise-class archiving solution for organizations that have deployed Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, or Microsoft Exchange Online. It assists these organizations to effectively address archiving, compliance, regulatory, and eDiscovery challenges.
What is the primary purpose of implementing Exchange Online archiving policies?
The primary purpose of implementing Exchange Online archiving policies is to automate the process of preserving important data and deleting unnecessary data to maintain compliance, minimize litigation risk, and manage the data lifecycle effectively.
What is an In-Place Archive in Exchange Online?
An In-Place Archive in Exchange Online is an additional mailbox assigned to a user to provide additional message storage. With an In-Place Archive mailbox, users can keep their mailbox clean and organized by moving or storing old or infrequently accessed items to their archive.
What are retention policies in Microsoft Exchange Online archiving?
Retention policies are composed of retention tags that are applied to mailboxes to control the lifecycle of email messages and folders. These policies allow administrators to define how long to keep certain information and when to delete it.
How can SC-400 exam candidates verify effective implementation of Exchange Online archiving policies?
Candidates can verify the implementation by running the Exchange admin center’s policy reports. Additionally, they can also use the Compliance Administrator role center to review the audit logs for policy enforcement actions.
What are retention tags in Exchange Online Archiving?
Retention tags are used to apply retention settings to folders and individual items such as email messages. These can be applied implicitly by a retention policy, or explicitly by users, or by system default.
How can you increase the default size limit of an Online Archive in Exchange?
The default size limit of an Online Archive is 100 GB, and it can only be increased by contacting Microsoft Support.
What is the function of a ‘Personal tag’ in Exchange Online Archiving?
Personal tags in Exchange Online Archiving are retention tags that users can apply to their own custom folders, or individual items such as emails.
Can you recover items that are purged as per the retention policy in Exchange Online Archiving?
No, once an item is purged as part of the retention policy, it can’t be recovered.
Is it possible to have different archiving policies for the same mailbox in Exchange Online?
No, only one archiving policy can be applied to a mailbox at any given time.
What is a Litigation Hold in Exchange Online archiving?
Litigation hold, also known as legal hold, is used to preserve all mailbox content, including deleted items and original versions of modified items. It is typically used when the organization anticipates litigation, investigation, or audit.
What happens when a retention policy and a litigation hold is applied to the same mailbox in Exchange Online?
When a mailbox is on litigation hold, the hold takes precedence over any retention policy. The retention policy won’t permanently delete items from the mailbox or the archive.
Can you assign multiple retention policies to a single mailbox in Exchange Online?
No, only one retention policy can be applied to a mailbox at any given time.
How does the Microsoft SC-400 exam test aspirant’s knowledge on Exchange Online archiving policies?
The SC-400 exam tests aspirant’s ability to create, implement and manage Exchange Online archiving and its policies, understand the workings of tags, verify and troubleshoot implemented policies, and understand compliance requirements and eDiscovery challenges.
What do Managed Folder Mailbox Policies do in Exchange Online Archiving?
Managed Folder Mailbox Policies allow an administrator to control the lifecycle of messages in the mailbox user’s managed folders. The policy links the managed folders to the user’s mailbox and applies retention settings to those folders.