RE: Keeping large PST's open

[Matthew Carpenter]

Title: Message

I do not even want to know the cost incurred in keeping mail archived for 7 years!! How do you structure that and not go broke? We recycle our backups every 3 months and they cry about tape cost   -----Original Message----- From: Ely, Don [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 8:40 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Keeping large PST's open   Ummm...  PST's burned to a CD are not accessible due to the "Read Only" attribute.   As for your 5 year storage requirement, that is what tape backups are for.  We're required to keep 7 years worth of mail for the FDA and SEC, we don't nor will we ever use PST's, not to mention, I won't support them.  That's what a backup strategy is for.  30mb for a storage limit might work for you, but it certainly doesn't work for every one.   The other side of this coin is SIS, otherwise known as Single Instance Storage.  Exchange works wonders with this feature, you should read up on it.  In addition, disk space is cheap, feed your Exchange server some of that disk space on the SAN and you'll be a happier admin.   5GB is definitely not the norm for mailboxes, Kevin is a case in his own there.  My mailbox is a whoppin 500mb, but it doesn't even compare to the 2GB my CFO has and I'm not going to complain to him about it since I have a rather large RAID array that will support larger mailboxes.    PST's actually use more disk space than the Exchange IS.  I believe the ratio is something like 1.2:1.  In addition to that, PST's can degrade PC performance dramatically due to memory usage.   In short, what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.  While your solution might work for you, it is not one I would ever advocate nor would I find it acceptable...     -------------------------------------------- Don Ely Network Engineer Tripath Imaging, Inc. (336) 290-8293 - Direct (336) 516-4519 - Mobile [EMAIL PROTECTED] - email http://www.tripathimaging.com -----Original Message----- From: Thompson, Elizabeth [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 9:18 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Keeping large PST's open Working at a college, I see a wide range of users. Some users are required by the state or grant institiution to hold onto all correspondese for a "project" for 5 years. We estiblished "reseanable" (30 meg) limits on their mailboxes (IS) and expect them to keep them clean. This means that they can't hold e-mail there for 5 years. (who would want to anyway?)   While PSTs and OSTs may not be the best idea (yes I know all about their issues), they are a storage type we can provide. Opening the limits on the IS for 5 gig folders like Kevins would be impossible. Our people just will abuse that sort of limit. they would never delete anything! My bosses, and I agree, that a 30 meg limit is more then acceptable limit for a mailbox via Exchange.   We store the PSTs on the file server (which is on a SANS) and they are backed up. When the psts get around 650 megs in size, I burn it to a cd and have them start a new one. I copy the cd version on to the hdd but leave it in read-only attribute so they can't add to it but can access the info. (remember in our case, the e-mails and attachments may need to be "held" for several years) They use the "new" PST on the server for storing info. I actually only have 2 usuers who have required this. A few have gotten to 300 megs then clean it up on their own because they find they can't find anything..... We only allow 1 PST on the server per user at a time...   Elizabeth Thompson Service and Support Technician CCBC - Catonsville         List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm