Best way to back up FortiMail emails to external storage (S3 / SMB / Local Server)?

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
December 2, 2025
3 replies
643 views

Hi everyone,
I’m working on setting up a reliable email-backup workflow for our FortiMail system and wanted to get advice from others who’ve done this before.

Environment:

FortiMail (on-prem)
Around 800–1000 active mailboxes
Daily volume ~40–50GB
Retention requirement ~90 days
Need an automated solution + quick restore option

What I’ve already tried / considered:

FortiMail’s built-in archive export works, but local storage fills up fast.

Periodic manual export for certain users (not practical long-term).

Thinking of pushing backups to an external SMB/NFS storage or an S3 bucket for safer retention.

Also tested a small third-party utility like Advik Email Backup Wizard just to check mailbox-level export formats (EML/PST/MBOX), but I’d still prefer a more integrated FortiMail-side method if possible.

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Harper_King

New Member

For backing up FortiMail emails to external storage:

Use FortiMail’s built-in archive with remote storage – configure an SMB/NFS mount or S3-compatible storage as the archive location. This avoids filling local disk.

Automate exports via scheduled archive jobs to push new emails daily.

Consider mailbox-level exports (EML/PST) only for specific cases; for full retention, the archive approach is more scalable.

Test restore workflow regularly to ensure quick recovery.

This approach keeps backups offsite and manageable while staying integrated with FortiMail.