Establishing local quarantine thresholds using Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

You would like to know about the local quarantine thresholds in Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange.
 

Resolution

You can specify the thresholds for the local quarantine and how you want Symantec Mail Security to respond when a threshold is met.

When you establish the quarantine thresholds for the local quarantine, you can specify the following limits:
 

• Maximum number of items The maximum number of messages or attachments
• Maximum size of quarantine The maximum file size (in megabytes or gigabytes) of the quarantine
• Retain items in quarantine The maximum number of days to retain a message or attachment in the quarantine

You can also specify the actions that you want Symantec Mail Security to take when a threshold is met.


To establish local quarantine thresholds:

1. In the console on the primary navigation bar, click Monitors.
2. In the sidebar under Views, click Quarantine Settings.
3. In the content area, under Quarantine Thresholds, check "Maximum number of items" to limit the number of quarantined items, and then type the maximum number of messages or attachments to retain in the quarantine. This item is checked by default. The default value is 1000.
4. To limit the Maximum size of the quarantine, do the following:

• Check "Maximum size of quarantine". This item is checked by default
• Type the maximum size of the quarantine. The default value is 500.
• Click the drop-down menu and select MB or GB. The default value is MB.

5. Check "Retain items in quarantine" to limit how long an item is quarantined, and then type the number of days. The default value is 90.

To specify an action to take when a quarantine threshold is met:
 

1. Under "When a threshold is met", check "Notify Administrator" to send notification messages to an administrator list.
2. Check "Notify others" to send notification messages to additional people.
3. In the "Notify others" box, type the email addresses of the people to whom you want notifications sent. Separate email addresses with commas.
4. Check "Delete oldest items" to remove items that meet a threshold. This option is not enabled by default. If "Delete oldest items" is not checked and a quarantine size threshold is reached, the event is logged. Symantec Mail Security sends a notification to the recipients that are specified on the "Quarantine Settings" page.
5. Under "Administrator Notification", in the "Subject Line" box, type your subject line text.
6. In the "Message Body" box, type the administrator notification message body .You can use variables in the message body.
7. On the toolbar, click Deploy changes to apply your changes.

NOTE: Once the quarantine threshold is exceeded, it will take some time before the amount of items stored in quarantine is brought back within the set limits.
During this time, the Quarantine temporarily holds more items than the maximum number you specified.