How to find the .DVS file name corresponding to an Enterprise Vault archived item (versions 2007 and earlier)

When users are unable to open an archived item through the EV mailbox shortcut or file placeholder, it may be necessary to find the corresponding .DVS file to help determine if the archived item actually exists on disk.  In EV 2007 and earlier, a DVS file is a complete archived object.

For Microsoft Exchange archiving follow the steps below (not applicable when Vault Store partition is located on EMC Centera):

1. Open Microsoft Outlook and select the archived item.

2. Press CTRL + SHIFT and left-click any one of the EV toolbar buttons to open the EV Diagnostic window.

3. Click the Vault Information button.  

4. In the section titled Selected Item Properties, scroll down to the Saveset ID.  A character string should be displayed similar to:
 

140400000000000~200812042231320000~0~EE3C5E02AA0946E49F3362BDE9986C5

 

The first three number sequences correspond to the DVS file name located in the corresponding Vault Store Partition:
 

140400000000000~200812042231320000~0.DVS

The path to the file is indicated in the second sequence of the Saveset ID/file name.  In the example above, this file is located in the partition folder under \2008\12\04\22.

Note: The file may not be in the expected location when collections are enabled on the Vault Store partition.  Open the properties of the Vault Store partition to determine the collections status of the Vault Store partition:

 

1. Open the Vault Admin Console (VAC)

2. Expand Vault Stores and select the appropriate Vault Store name.

3. On the right, the Vault Store partitions are listed.  Open the Properties of the Vault Store partition and select the Collections tab.

4. Use collected files will be checked and grayed-out when collections is enabled.

When Collections is enabled, the Collection Identity for the Saveset is recorded in the Vault Store database.  The Collection files are located in the "day" folder of the partition using the naming convention, Collection##.CAB, where ## is the Collection Identity.
 

In the example above, the cab file would be under \2008\12\04.

To determine the Collection Identity:
 

1. Identify the Transaction ID of the Saveset.  This is the last component of the Saveset Identity.

Ex. 140400000000000~200812042231320000~0~EE3C5E02AA0946E49F3362BDE9986C5

In this example, the IdTransaction is " EE3C5E02AA0946E49F3362BDE9986C5"

 

2. Convert the Transaction ID into the IdTransaction value.

This is performed by placing "-" after the first 8 characters, then after the next 4 (three times). With a trailing ' 0 ' (zero) to make a 32-bit value.

Ex. Transaction ID :  "EE3C5E02AA0946E49F3362BDE9986C5" 

IdTransaction  :  " EE3C5E02-AA09-46E4-9F33-62BDE9986C50"

 

3. Run the following SQL Query to identify the CollectionIdentity Value and the RelativeFileName (Folder path and Filename) of Collection CAB.

   (This is an example using the IdTransaction value identified earlier in article)

 

USE VAULTSTORE_DB_NAME -- Modify to correct vault store name 

SELECT IdTransaction, Saveset.CollectionIdentity, Saveset.IdPartition, RelativeFileName

FROM Saveset
JOIN Collection ON Collection.CollectionIdentity = Saveset.CollectionIdentity

WHERE IdTransaction = 'EE3C5E02-AA09-46E4-9F33-62BDE9986C50'

 

Note: IdPartition will show which Vault Store Partition the file is in.  The value begins at 0 which would translate to Partition 1 of the Vault Store.

 

For FSA (File System Archiving) follow the steps below:

1. On the target file server open up a command prompt and type:

fsutil reparsepoint query "c:\directoryName\shortcutname.ext" - where shortcutname.ext is the name of the File Placeholder (shortcut).

2. On the right side of the output the name of the associated .DVS file will be visible after "SavesetID=". It is necessary to remove all the dots (.) in between the numbers.

3. The last characters of the name will be ~0.

4. The .DVS file is located in the corresponding Vault Store Partition location.

 

Note: A 20491 Event will be recorded in the Enterprise Vault Event Viewer log on a Windows file server which contains the SavesetId value.  

 

On the EV server the IIS log will contain calls to   GET /EnterpriseVault/download.asp which will also contain the SavesetId value.