Email Question

[Guest rkovelman]

I have users who archive there email to the server. I am starting to

find this creates issues. If we save it to there desktop there is no

issues BUT then we have no way to back it up. If you know of a

program to do this please let me know. I cant have them save it to

the server becuase we are about 20 gigs shy of hitting the exchange

limit. Suggestions and ideas?

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: Email Question

 

rkovelman <rkovelman@gruskingroup.com> wrote:

> I have users who archive there email to the server. I am starting to

> find this creates issues. If we save it to there desktop there is no

> issues BUT then we have no way to back it up. If you know of a

> program to do this please let me know. I cant have them save it to

> the server becuase we are about 20 gigs shy of hitting the exchange

> limit. Suggestions and ideas?

 

Hi - for future reference, note that Exchange questions are best posted in

microsoft.public.exchange.admin....and always remember mention the version &

SP level of everything relevant when you post to any MS server newsgroup, as

answers often vary by version.

 

That said - if this data is important at all, it belongs in managed storage

on the server - not PST files. PST files are fragile, error-prone, and

unsupported over a LAN/WAN link. Do your best to ban them from your

network - disable autoarchive for all users, etc. See

http://www.exchangefaq.org/faq/Exchange-5.5/Why-PST-=-BAD-/q/Why-PST-=-BAD/qid/1209

for a nice little rant.

 

You should be using mailbox quotas (set defaults on the store, exceptions

where needed per mailbox) so that there is no chance that your store will

hit the max size & dismount. You'll need to figure out the quotas that make

sense - max size of mailbox * total # of users + enough room for whatever

deleted item retention settings you have. All mailboxes should have a quota

(even the big corner office dudes) - it will force them to do their own

housekeeping. Yes, it sucks. But yes, we all have to do it.

 

If you're running low on space, here are your basic options:

 

1) Train all users to regularly go through their mailboxes & delete old junk

they don't need (e.g., "Mary is leaving early today")

2) Upgrade to Exchange Enterprise (and make sure you can still back it up &

restore it in a reasonable timeframe)

3) Get Exchange-side archiving software (and another server to run it on) -

GFI, Quest, Symantec, etc.

 

I no longer recommend using public folders for mail storage as they won't be

around much longer - and easily become unmanageable.

 

For anything else, try the Exchange newsgroup....but please don't simply

re-post your original message as though you hadn't even read my reply! :-)