Purpose of the Service

Email is backed up specifically for the purposes of enabling Tufts to recover from a disaster. Email is a highly available service that keeps three "live" copies of each mailbox between two separate data centers at Tufts. These back-ups are kept as a precaution.

Retention Period for Email

Each mailbox database is backed up throughout the day and then back-ups are aged to retain at oldest a copy of mail that is 21 days old. In the event of a Disaster, Tufts will seek to restore the most recent good copy of mail for the entire environment.

Self Service Recovery

Tufts employs the use of "Recover Deleted Items" for all mailboxes. In instances of accidental deletion of objects from a mailbox (email, contacts, calendar) IT groups are encouraged to use Self-Service recovery. For instructions on how to recover deleted items, see the article below:

Recover Deleted Items

Recovery Deleted Items is available for an object 60 days after an item is removed from the "Deleted Items" folder in an Exchange mailbox.

Recovering Mail after an individual leaves the University

When an individual leaves the university, they receive automated emails leading up to the closure of their account indicating they should take steps to clean up their access and Data. During this grace period, individuals are given four reminders over the span of one month to indicate that their email account will be removed.

If a request comes in for restoration of a mailbox from an individual that has left the university, the departure date will need to PRECEDE the retention period in order for a restoration to be possible. As back-ups of the mail environment are intended for disaster recovery, such requests may be approved only on a case-by-case basis.

Requesting a Restore

If self-service restoration has already been attempted and the restoration date is within the retention period, the following request should be sent to it@tufts.edu to be evaluated and escalated for ESS.

Full name and Tufts Username requesting a restore
Date in which a restore is requested for
Reason why a full mailbox restore is necessary
Scope of the Restore - is the entire mailbox being requested or just a single folder

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