Package - Archives

After a package has been archived, it is no longer available to users on the system. However, administrators can download the archive file and extract it within the archived time period. Administrators can write their own programs to separate the archive and display the contents, or use the Package Archive Viewer provided by Ipswitch.

Archive Format

The archive file is a zip file that contains all the package and attachment files for the archived period. Each file is named with the ID of that file from the system with no extension. The files are not encrypted.

The individual package files contain package information in XML format.

Example of an archived package file

<msgarchive>

 <msg>

  <head>

   <address>

    <from>

     <type>user</type>

     <username>jsmith</username>

     <realname>John Smith</realname>

    </from>

    <to>

     <type>user</type>

     <username>helga</username>

     <realname>Helga Finlayson</realname>

    </to>

   </address>

   <timestamp>6/10/2004 4:58:58 PM</timestamp>

   <attachment>

    <id>3665038</id>

    <originalfilename>picture.jpg</originalfilename>

    <size>56621</size>

    <integrity>1</integrity>

   </attachment>

   <subject>Example Package</subject>

  </head>

  <body>

   <![CDATA[

   John,

   Here is a test message for you.

   --Helga

]]>

  </body>

 </msg>

 <readstatus>10</readstatus>

 <history>

 </history>

</msgarchive>

The first section of the archived package file is the package itself, contained in the msg tags. The head section contains information about the sender, the recipients, the timestamp, the attachments, and the subject of the package. The body section contains the message itself inside CDATA tags, complete with any HTML formatting contained in the original package.

Next will be meta-information about the package from the system at the time it was archived. The readstatus element will contain the read status of the package when it was archived. The possible codes are 0 if no recipients have read the package, 5 if some recipients have read the package, and 10 if all recipients have read the package. Finally, any history items regarding the package will be provided in the history section.

Package Archive Viewer

The Package Archive viewer is a command-line application that parses the entries in an archive and generates HTML representations for viewing. The archive viewer requires Microsoft .NET Framework.

To download and install the archive viewer:

On the Ipswitch MOVEit Transfer file server at http://www.myipswitch.com, go to the ...\ MOVEit \ MOVEit DMZ \ Extras folder and locate MsgArchiveViewer.zip. Unzip the file into a directory.

To use the archive viewer:

Download the zipped archive files from MOVEit Transfer and extract into a directory. For example, C:\MsgArchiveViewer\Archives.
Select an output directory where the program will write the message HTML files, the attachment files, and the package index file
Run the program at a command prompt.
Arguments:

--inputpath specifies the unzipped archive files location

--outputpath specifies the output directory

Example:

msgarchiveviewer --inputpath=c:\msgarchiveviewer\archives --outputpath=c:\msgarchiveviewer\output

If any paths contain spaces, use quotes. For example:

msgarchiveviewer "--inputpath=c:\msg archives\input" "--outputpath=c:\msg archives\output"

For more information about the progress of the command, add the --debug option.

To view the files:

After the program is finished running, look in the output directory for a file named index.html. Open this file in a browser. This is the package index file written by the program, and contains a complete list of the packages found in the input directory. Clicking on a package will show you the individual package itself. Sender, recipient, timestamp, and subject information are all included at the top of the package, and a list of attachments is included at the bottom. Clicking on an attachment link will direct you to the attachment file itself.