Techniques for serving archived electronic mail

Abstract

A system for providing user access to electronic mail includes an email client and an email server. The email client receives and communicates a user interaction with an email message. The email server that receives the communication, determines whether the email message stored in a live database or in a backup storage. Upon determination that the email message is stored in a backup storage, the email server performs a message exchange with a backup storage system to perform the user-requested action.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of facilitating user access to electronic mail stored in a backup format, the method comprising:
 receiving a first request message comprising a first identification of a first email item and a first action associated with the first email item,
 wherein the first request message is based on a first protocol format; 
   determining by an email server, whether the first email item is archived in a backup format, wherein the backup format differs from a native format used by email items not archived;   communicating with a media agent to perform the action associated with the first email item;   receiving a second request message comprising a third identification of a second email item and a second action associated with the second email item,
 wherein the second request message is based on a second protocol format that is different from the first protocol format; 
   determining that the second email item is archived; and   communicating with the media agent to perform the second action associated with the second email item.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 associating, upon determining that the email item is archived, a second identification with the first email item,
 wherein the second identification includes information indicative of a backup media and a location on the backup media where the first email item is accessible from. 
   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the action comprises viewing the email item and wherein the associating the second identification with the email item comprises maintaining an association table and looking up the association table for the second identification based on the first identification of the first email item. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the action comprises deleting the first email item, and wherein the method comprises:
 modifying the second identification, without communicating with the media agent, to indicate that the first email item has been deleted.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communicating with the media agent to perform the action associated with the first email item further comprising communicating the first identification to the media agent. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the backup format stores data in an encrypted and de-duplicated format. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further including controlling user access to the archive folder based on user authorization; wherein the user authorization is based on a first username/password combination that is different from a second username/password combination for accessing live emails. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining whether the first email item is archived includes applying a bitmask to the first identification. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising pre-fetching at least one additional archived email item related to the first email item. 
     
     
         10 . A system for facilitating user access to electronic mail stored in a backup format, the system comprising:
 at least one processor;   a mail protocol processing module that
 receives a first request message comprising a first identification of a first email item and a first action associated with the first email item, the first request message based on a first protocol format, 
 receives a second request message comprising a third identification of a second email item and a second action associated with the second email item, and wherein the second request message is based on a second protocol format that is different from the first protocol format; 
   a mail archive management module that determines if the first email item and the second email item are in a backup format; and   a storage communication module that communicates with a media agent to perform the first action associated with the first email item and communicates with the media agent to perform the second action associated with the second email item.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising an association module that associates a second identification with the first email item. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the first action comprises viewing the first email item and wherein the association module comprises a table module that maintains an association table and a look-up module that looks up the association table for the second identification based on the first identification of the first email item. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the first action comprises viewing the first email item and wherein the communicating with the media agent includes: requesting restoration of an archived copy of the first email item in the backup format. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the first action comprises deleting the first email item, and wherein the storage communication module, in response to the first action and without communicating with the media agent modifies an identification associated with the first email item to indicate that the first email item has been deleted. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the backup format stores data in an encrypted and de-duplicated format. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , further including:
 an access control module that controls user access to the archive folder based on user authorization, wherein the user authorization is based on a first username/password combination that is different from a second username/password combination for accessing live emails.   
     
     
         17 . A system for providing user access to electronic mail, comprising:
 a first email client that receives a first user input with a first email item and communicates a first request message, wherein the first request message comprises the first user input to an email server, wherein the first request message is based on a first protocol format;   a second email client that receives a second user input with a second email item and communicates a second request message, wherein the second request message comprises the second user input to an email server, wherein the second request message is based on a second protocol format that is different from the first protocol format; and   the email server that:
 receives the first and second request messages, and determines a type of the first email item, wherein the email server is configured to receive communications in more than one type of protocol formats; 
 upon determination that the type is a live email item, performs a first action on a live email database; and 
 upon determination that the type is an archived email item, performs a message exchange with a backup storage system, 
 wherein the backup storage system stores the first email item in a backup format. 
   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the first action comprises deleting the first email item, and wherein the email server, in response to the first action and without communicating with the storage backup system modifies an identification associated with the first email item to indicate that the first email item has been deleted. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the email server associates, upon determination that the type is an archived email item, an identification with the first email item, wherein the identification includes information indicative of a backup media and a location on the backup media where the first email item is accessible from. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the email message in the backup format is stored in an encrypted and de-duplicated format.