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MessageStats 7.8.1 - Quick Start Guide

About This Guide Requirements for Installing the MessageStats Components Prerequisites for Gathering from Microsoft Exchange Planning a MessageStats Installation Appendix A: IIS Configuration Issues

Licensing MessageStats

Typically, if you download a trial version of MessageStats, a trial license is emailed to you. After you purchase MessageStats, you will receive a license file from your sales representative that is used to activate your purchased license.

To license MessageStats
1
Copy the license file to the desktop of the computer where the MessageStats MMC client console is installed, or to another convenient location.
2
Launch the MessageStats client console.
3
Connect to the MessageStats Server.
If you have more than one MessageStats server, complete steps 4 to 7 for each server.
4
Right-click on the server node, and select License.
5
Click Update License.
6
Browse to the license file you copied in step 1.
7
Select the license, and click OK.

Starting MessageStats

When you start the MessageStats console, MessageStats checks to see if a MessageStats Database connection exists. If a connection does exist, MessageStats automatically loads existing configuration settings. If a connection does not exist, you must establish the database connection.

To start MessageStats
•
Select Start | Programs | Quest | MessageStats | Quest MessageStats Console.

Using MessageStats

After you have installed MessageStats, you can use it to gather information from your Exchange servers. MessageStats supports many complex implementations for complex Exchange environments. At the most basic level, however, MessageStats has the basic steps described in the following table.

 
Table 5. Steps for getting started with MessageStats.
Step
Description

Connect to your Exchange organization

You select the Exchange server from which you will gather information for the Exchange Organization.

To connect to an Exchange organization
1
Select the Exchange Organizations node.
2
Right-click and select Connect.
3
Enter the NETBIOS name for an Exchange CAS server name (or Mailbox server name for Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2019)
4
Specify a mailbox. Enter the mailbox in one of the following formats:
- Display Name
- Alias
- SMTP Address
5
Click Next.

Configure a gathering task

Tasks define the information you want to gather, and when you want to gather it.

To create an initial gathering task
1
Select the folder containing the enumerated Exchange organization, object, or container.
2
Right-click, and select Create Task.
3
Select Default Gathering.
4
Click Next through the remaining wizard pages.

View task progress

You can view the progress of the configured task. This step is not mandatory.

To view job progress
•
Click the Tasks node from the treeview and select a task.

View reports based on the gathering

You can use the web-based MessageStats Reports interface to view reports based on the gathering tasks that you have created.

To view reports based on the completed gathering task
•
Select the MessageStats Reports node from the treeview, then select a report.
- OR -
Select Start | Programs | Quest | MessageStats| Quest MessageStats Reports.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

There are two main functions of MessageStats: importing tracking logs and other Exchange information, and creating appropriate reports based on the imported data. This step-by-step walkthrough takes you through the most common usage of MessageStats.

Typically, you would manually perform an initial import of information immediately after installation using the Create Task wizard to create a Default gathering task. Once the initial import is complete, you would schedule the Default gathering task to automatically gather data each day going forward. The data collected by the MessageStats task processors on each successive import is added to the existing data in the database.

Configuring Tasks

Tasks define the information that will be gathered from tracking logs and Exchange sources, and the frequency with which the gathering is repeated. You can create tasks by selecting an Exchange object or container node, then creating a task based on the selected object.

MessageStats also provides a Default Gathering option which disables some of the large public folder and distribution group gatherings in order to avoid extensively long gathering times. You can enable those gatherings or create a new task to include the remaining gatherings.

To create an initial gathering task
1
Select the folder containing the enumerated Exchange organization.
2
Right-click, and select Create Task.
3
Select Default Gathering.
4
Click Next.
To create additional gathering tasks
1
Select the folder containing the Exchange object or container you want to use as the basis for the task.
2
Right-click, and select Create Task.
3
Select a task template.
4
Complete any additional task configuration.
5
Click Next.
Viewing MessageStats Reports

MessageStats Reports allow you to view usage statistics through a collection of preconfigured reports. You can also change relevant report parameters using on-page quick filters. Several reports have additional variations, such as default grouping order. Within each variation you can change the filter, group, and sort criteria for each of these reports.

You can create report subscriptions so that MessageStats will automatically notify a recipient list on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis that specific reports are available.

MessageStats also provides you with a custom reports feature. Using this feature, you can create and save custom reports for later use.

For the current list of MessageStats Reports, see the MessageStats Reports User Guide.

To view MessageStats Reports
1
Select Start | Programs | Quest | MessageStats | Quest MessageStats Reports.
- OR -
Select the MessageStats Report node in the MessageStats Console.
2
Click the report you want to view from the available list.
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