How to modify shortcut content without restoring archived items - RestoreShortcutBody

Article: 100017521
Last Published: 2020-06-03
Ratings: 4 1
Product(s): Enterprise Vault

Problem

Enterprise Vault (EV) contains a feature called RestoreShortcutBody that allows an administrator to recreate the shortcut content in existing shortcuts. This is useful, for example, when the Mailbox Policy controlling the shortcut content has changed, and it is necessary to apply the changes retroactively to shortcuts that were already created with the old policy's content settings. It is also useful for correcting the preview links in the shortcut body when the Default Webapp URL has changed due to the enablement of HTTPS communication on the Site properties (see related article).

It should be noted, however, that RestoreShortcutBody will not recreate shortcuts that have been deleted from a user's mailbox, nor will it create shortcuts for items that were archived with a policy where shortcut creation was disabled. This option is effective only for existing shortcuts that need their content modified. In other words, if a shortcut is not present in the mailbox to begin with, then this process will have no effect.

Cause

The RestoreShortcutBody process will generate considerable load on the EV server(s) and the Exchange server(s). It will access and rewrite every shortcut that exists in the selected mailbox(es), and it will access the related saveset file for each of these shortcuts. It is not uncommon to see great increases in the amount of activity in the Exchange transaction logs or decreases in the responsiveness of the EV server while the process runs.

Additionally, because the shortcut items are being rewritten (i.e., replaced) in Exchange, users with large numbers of shortcuts can expect a one-time longer-than-usual synchronization from their mailboxes to their offline Outlook Data File (.ost) following the processing of RestoreShortcutBody.

Furthermore, there are additional special considerations when Collections are in use. Collection .cab files will be extracted in order to access each individual .dvs file (saveset) within the .cab file. Make sure there is enough drive space on each partition (including closed partitions) so that this extraction can succeed. After the .dvs files are updated, they will be collected again.

To minimize the unanticipated effects resulting from the use of RestoreShortcutBody, it is suggested to run the task against a single mailbox in order to determine the impact on the EV  and Exchange servers, then extrapolate to the scope of the whole environment and plan accordingly.

Solution

Changing the policy

First, change the shortcut content settings of the Mailbox Policy. These settings are found on the Shortcut Content tab in EV 2007 (7.5) and above.

EV 2007(7.5) and above



Next, synchronize all mailboxes so that the policy will apply to all future archiving (see related article 100017500).

Initializing  the update process

Finally, follow the steps below to apply the changes retroactively to all existing shortcuts.

Warning: Incorrect use of the Windows registry editor may prevent the operating system from functioning properly. Great care should be taken when making changes to a Windows registry. Registry modifications should only be carried-out by persons experienced in the use of the registry editor application. It is recommended that a complete backup of the registry and workstation be made prior to making any registry changes.

  1. On the EV server that hosts the Exchange Mailbox Archiving task, open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe)
  2. Navigate to the following key.
    • On a 32-bit system: HKLM\Software\KVS\Enterprise Vault\Agents
    • On a 64-bit system: HKLM\Software\WoW6432Node\KVS\Enterprise Vault\Agents
  3. Create a new DWORD with the name RestoreShortcutBody and a value of 1.
  4. Restart the Enterprise Vault Admin Service.
  5. Open the Enterprise Vault Administration Console, right-click on the Mailbox Archiving Task and select Run Now.
  6. Choose the appropriate option based on the version of Enterprise Vault:
    • Versions 2007 (7.5) and below under Run Mode, choose Report
    • Versions 8.0.x and above select Shortcut Processing
  7. Choose whether to run on selected mailboxes. Only mailboxes against which the task is run will have their shortcuts modified.
    • Note: This process is very expensive on both the EV and Exchange servers, it should not be run against all mailboxes in one run.
  8. Click OK. The Archiving Task will process the selected mailboxes and recreate the shortcuts in them using the current policy settings for shortcut content.
  9. Once the process is complete, change the RestoreShortcutBody registry setting to 0 or delete it, and then restart the Enterprise Vault Admin Service. This is very important to remember, as failing to do so will leave the RestoreShortcutBody functionality engaged on ensuing archiving runs, adversely affecting performance.

Monitoring the progress

EV does not contain a utility or report to display the progress of the RestoreShortcutBody process. However, the following procedure in Outlook can be used to monitor the progress of the process on a single mailbox.

  1. Open the affected mailbox in Outlook.
  2. Add both Message Class and Modified Date to the visible columns.
  3. Sort the items in the mailbox by Message Class to group the Enterprise Vault shortcuts, which will have a Message Class of IPM.Note.EnterpriseVault.Shortcut. As the RestoreShortcutBody process works through the mailbox, the Modified Date of each shortcut item will change to the current date and time.
  4. When it appears that the entirety of the list has been processed, a final check can be performed using the Advanced Find tool in Outlook to find all items where Message Class contains "shortcut," then sorting by Modified Date to verify that all shortcuts have been modified during the period of the RestoreShortcutBody process.

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