Mail journaling

By default, after the Notes® Router processes a message, it does not retain a copy of the message. That is, after ServerA successfully sends a message to ServerB, the Router on ServerA deletes the message from its MAIL.BOX database. Likewise, when ServerB successfully transfers or delivers the message to the next server on the routing path, the Router on ServerB removes the message from its MAIL.BOX database.

To comply with laws or regulations that apply to your business, your organization may be required to save a copy of every message processed by the local mail system and permanently store or otherwise process the message copies. For example, government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) require a business to retain all messages related to the transactions they undertake.

Mail journaling enables administrators to capture a copy of specified messages that the Router processes by the Domino® system. Journaling can capture all messages handled by the Router or only messages that meet specific defined criteria. When mail journaling is enabled, Domino examines messages as they pass through MAIL.BOX and saves copies of selected messages to a Domino Mail Journaling database (MAILJRN.NSF) for later retrieval and review. Mail journaling works in conjunction with mail rules, so that you create a journaling rule to specify the criteria for which messages to journal. For example, you can journal messages sent to or from specific people, groups, or domains. Before depositing messages in the Mail Journaling database, the Router encrypts them to ensure that only authorized persons can examine them. Journaling does not disrupt the normal routing of a message. After the Router copies a message to the Mail Journaling database, it continues to dispatch the message to its intended recipient.

Domino mail journaling differs from message archiving. Journaling works dynamically, making a copy of each message as it passes through MAIL.BOX to its destination and placing the copy in the Mail Journaling database. A copy of the message is retained, even if the recipient, or an agent acting on the recipient's mail file, deletes it immediately upon delivery. Archiving is used to reduce the size of an active mail file database by deleting messages from one location and moving them to an offline database, usually in another location, for long-term storage. Archiving acts on messages that have already been delivered. Journaling is performed automatically by the server; while archiving is a manual operation, performed by end users on their own mail files. End users can search for and retrieve messages from a mail file archive, but only an authorized administrator can examine a Mail Journaling database.

You can use Domino mail journaling in conjunction with third-party archiving programs to fulfill long-term storage needs.

To provide access to certain journaling routines, Domino implements several Extension Manager (EM) hooks. EM hooks enable an executable program library, such as a dynamic link library or shared object library, to register a callback routine that will be called before, after, or before and after Domino performs selected internal operations. Using EM hooks, developers can customize mail processing. For example, EM hooks to the Journaling task could be used in conjunction with a third-party archiving program to route certain messages directly to an archive center. For more information about Extension Manager, see the IBM® Lotus® C API Toolkit for Notes/Domino under Additional documentation resources in the related topics.