RE: [ActiveDir] OT: PST files

[Depp, Dennis M.]

My recommendation is to look at an archiving solution for your Exchange mail.  These are offered by several companies including IXOS, EAS, and Legato to name a few.  My belief is if mail is important enough to keep, it should be kept in a central managed servers.  While PSTs on a file server meet this requirement PSTs are an inefficient storage medium.  (due to loss of single instance storage (sis).)  Many of the archive vendors maintain SIS and claim better compression ratios than mail stored in the Exchange information store.  Also these solutions replace the email with a stub.  This stub allows users of Outlook seamless access to their mail.  There is also a central management console that could be search the entire archive if desired.  This could be beneficial in legal cases.    There are a few drawbacks with storing PST files on a file server.  If the drive the PST files are on ever fills up, every PST on the drive that is opened will be corrupted.  There is also the problem of backing up PST files if the user keeps Outlook open all the time.   Dennis From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Celone, Mike Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 4:16 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: PST files I'd also be interested in how everyone handles these files.  Right now we run Exchange 5.5 and have a 350MB limit on user's mailboxes.  However for many users this is not enough space.  Many of them send huge files through email or are just unable or unwilling to give up old emails.  What we've been doing is setting up users with PST files on their home drives so this way we still have a backup of them and we suggest they use them as archives.  Most of our users have at least a 100Mbit link to their file server so speed isn't too much of an issue even though PST files are not suggested to be used over a LAN link.    Our solution is far from perfect and doesn't even work that well.  It still presents problems when PST files get huge and go corrupt.   Has anyone ever looked into programs like Veritas Storage Migrator?   Mike From: Pelle, Joe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 3:47 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: PST files I'm sorry for the off topic post, however I'd like some input from the field on a subject we've been throwing around for a while now.   That is: what do we do with PST files in Outlook?  We're replacing EVERY desktop or laptop in the company and have the opportunity to GET RID OF PST files.  Our users abuse the HE11 out of them.  The PST files get so big that they end up corrupt - or- take a half an hour to open b/c the file size is 800 - 1 GB...  It's tough to manage!!!   What are your thoughts on this?  How do others manage this?   Your comments, thoughts, etc are greatly appreciated!   Joe Pelle Infrastructure Architect Information Technology Valassis / IT 19975 Victor Parkway Livonia, MI 48152 Tel 734.591.7324  Fax 734.632.6151 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.valassis.com/   This message may have included proprietary or protected information.  This message and the information contained herein are not to be further communicated without my express written consent.