Case Study

INS Leverages Quest’s MessageStats™ and Reporter

to Reduce Client’s Project Costs and Improve Efficiency
Overview
INS offers a comprehensive set of business and technology consulting services and software solutions
“Without Quest’s MessageStats and Reporter,
to help organizations reduce operational risk, increase productivity, and support revenue growth. Jack
the length and cost of this project would have
Bridgman, a consultant at INS, is a firm believer in Quest Software’s products and deployed them when at least tripled.”
dealing with a major government client in Denver, CO.
- Jack Bridgman,
Consultant, INS
The Challenge
This particular client had a very complex and challenging environment. First, there was an extreme need
for high security because this agency involves police, under-cover detectives, security related to Federal
concerns and classified government work. Bridgman was faced with eight different divisions and domains, one
Exchange organization managed by multiple locations and a large number of servers—450, to be exact—with
different support teams managing them.

When Bridgman performed an Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange health check, he discovered that the Headquarters
client had a variety of issues, ranging from DNS and Group Policy problems to access controls, and informal Santa Clara, California
policy and procedures planning and distribution. For example, each enterprise administrator did not have Services
a complete combination of credentials (identification and password) to administer the enterprise systems.
Consulting agency working with a local
Each one only had half of a system password so two enterprise administrators would have to confer with one government agency as the client
another in order to combine and use the complete credential. Though it was challenging, Bridgman had to
Critical Needs
propose a solution to remedy his client’s inefficient management system and be sensitive to internal politics,
A solution to diagnose and discover
communication problems and the need for tight security. network services and resources in order
to improve company efficiency without
The Quest Solution alarming security-sensitive areas

Bridgman selected Quest’s MessageStats and Quest Reporter to diagnose his client’s infrastructure and Solution
to report on the exact details of the problems he discovered. MessageStats provides Microsoft Exchange Quest MessageStats and Quest Reporter
reporting and analysis to measure e-mail traffic, reports policy compliance and SLA defense and ensures Results
sufficient capacity while assessing Exchange migration readiness.
• Uncovered potential security risks in
Exchange environment
Reporter enables administrators, security officers and helpdesk staff to collect the data they need, whether for
• Completed client’s messaging
configuration change auditing, a security assessment of their Windows infrastructure or for Active Directory assessment on-time and under budget
pre- and post-migration analysis. Reporter ensures adherence to sound network management practices by • Enabled client to implement a charge
auditing compliance with corporate standards for user, group and share permissions management. back system based on e-mail storage

After his assessment, Bridgman recommended that his client embrace better Exchange design, move
to a SAN-based Exchange platform and reduce the number of domains from eight to one—without
compromising security. Through the use of MessageStats the different departments of the client were
measured for e-mail usage and compared to standard industry costs for that usage. A value was then
assigned to each department, which indicated the potential chargeback amount incurred by each
department. This brought a justification to IT for supportive costs and budgeting increases. Also, through
the use of Reporter, Bridgman was able to analyze security permissions of files, shares, and resources. In one
domain alone, Bridgman discovered that 35 pages of disabled accounts still existed in the system.
Domain consolidation was a challenge from a security and political perspective. There was some resistance
to this idea, but Bridgman was able to show justification as to why this was necessary and beneficial to the
client. By using Reporter’s discovery tools, Bridgman was able to identify the organizational units within
Active Directory that could have been protected with security enforcement, and separate those from non-
authorized users. Through the use of Reporter, Bridgman was able to understand and diagnose issues such as
DNS resolution, the impact of turning off recursion, and develop a solution to optimize their environment.

The Bottom Line

The Quest tools made a significant impact on both the time and cost of this project. Bridgman notes,
“Without MessageStats and Reporter, the length and cost of this project would have at least tripled.” During
the final week of the project, Bridgman had to make an executive presentation to the CIO, as well as the staff
that he had been working with and answering to. He provided the group with reports from MessageStats
and Reporter. He notes, “The team was impressed by the depth and detail of the information and the issues
we discovered. In fact, the CIO is considering making Quest Software applications a standard for use across
the enterprise, especially MessageStats.”

The client also received an unexpected benefit from the Quest products. Bridgman and his team were able
to provide the CIO and the IT department the ability to estimate storage costs for mail messaging. They
were also able to use standard industry practice figures (gathered from some third-party analysis groups)
to determine the cost of e-mail storage plus the cost of messaging sent within the firewall, and outside of
the firewall to the Internet. “Because we were able to verify and certify the cost of these messages, we were
able to provide charge back dollar amounts by department (and by individuals within those departments)
to the CIO. If budgets had to be allocated based upon storage of e-mail, we could actually provide the IT
department with the exact costs of storing e-mail for different departments across their environment. The
CIO can now implement a charge back system, which is something he could not do before. And he can
justify what he would be asking for and why.”

About INS
INS offers a comprehensive set of business and technology consulting services and software solutions
to help organizations reduce operational risk, increase productivity, and support revenue growth. Our IT
Infrastructure Consulting Services deliver secure, business-centric infrastructures that integrate network,
security, and storage technologies with best-practice operational frameworks. Our Immedient Business
Solutions streamline and enhance business processes for enterprise project management and collaboration
and analytics. And our Diamond IP Software provides flexible and scalable software solutions for managing
today’s complex IP networks. We have delivered tens of thousands of successful engagements worldwide
over more than a decade of operation. INS is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and has offices in the U.S.,
Europe, and SE Asia. For additional information, please contact INS at 1-888-767-2788 in the U.S.,
44 (0) 1628 503000 in Europe, 65 6549 7188 Asia, or 1-408-330-2700 worldwide.

About Quest Software, Inc.

Quest Software, Inc. delivers innovative products that help organizations get more performance and
productivity from their applications, databases and Windows infrastructure. Through a deep expertise
in IT operations and a continued focus on what works best, Quest helps more than 18,000 customers
worldwide meet higher expectations for enterprise IT. Quest Software can be found in offices around
the globe and at www.quest.com

Quest Software Incorporated • 5 Polaris Way, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 • www.quest.com • e-mail: info@quest.com
© 2006 Quest Software Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA

CSW_INS_110106_AG