cuiinc
asked on
Huge Outlook Mailboxes
I have a broad-scope kind of question, regarding Outlook mailboxes, for IT managers out there.
Our users have been corresponding with biz partners for the last decade, predominantly through Outlook. We have some mailboxes that exceed 20 GB; each mailbox is cached on the user's workstation. Additionally, many users need to access/share multiple mailboxes, and since they use Outlook Anywhere this means that we have several HUGE cached profiles on one laptop.
I can't demand that my users delete their business info... on the other hand, I don't understand how some businesses can afford to globally dictate that mailboxes remain under 1 GB (for example). Any suggestions out there for mailbox management?
(We use Exchange 2007 and Outlook 2007)
Thanks!
BF
Our users have been corresponding with biz partners for the last decade, predominantly through Outlook. We have some mailboxes that exceed 20 GB; each mailbox is cached on the user's workstation. Additionally, many users need to access/share multiple mailboxes, and since they use Outlook Anywhere this means that we have several HUGE cached profiles on one laptop.
I can't demand that my users delete their business info... on the other hand, I don't understand how some businesses can afford to globally dictate that mailboxes remain under 1 GB (for example). Any suggestions out there for mailbox management?
(We use Exchange 2007 and Outlook 2007)
Thanks!
BF
Paul MacDonald
I force 90% of my users to maintain mailboxes under 50MB. The rest have limits under 200MB. They are encouraged to use PST files to archive old mail, and simply delete anything of no use. No one needs access to gigabytes of old mail.
Most enterprise firms will use an archiving solution such as Symantec Enterprise Vault to ensure management of mailbox sizes and performance on Exchange servers
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I encourage my users to use PST files because it encourages them to think seriously about what they need to keep and what they don't. If I just backed everything up, they'd just keep everything.
And when they lose it? And its not backed up at all? Its who's fault?
https://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/A_1856-Why-you-shouldn't-use-PST-files.html
https://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/A_1856-Why-you-shouldn't-use-PST-files.html
ASKER
Thanks for all the responses so far.
Personal archiving is definitely not an option for us, as we need to keep everything secure, backed up, and centrally managed. I will definitely check out Exchange 2010 archiving solutions. How well does this work with remote users (smtp over http)?
Personal archiving is definitely not an option for us, as we need to keep everything secure, backed up, and centrally managed. I will definitely check out Exchange 2010 archiving solutions. How well does this work with remote users (smtp over http)?
E2010 should keep the data available for remote users. It's a good solution, just remember that you have to pay extra for it.
With Exchange 2010 you can also see and search the archives using Outlook Web App (OWA).
I force 90% of my users to maintain mailboxes under 50MB. The rest have limits under 200MB. They are encouraged to use PST files to archive old mail, and simply delete anything of no use. No one needs access to gigabytes of old mail.
@paulmacd - what an old fashioned attitude to users needs. i agree with @Neilsr storage is soo cheap why are you sticking to 1990's attitudes towards mail use? Why do you think you know what users want to do with their email and the amount of time is wasted just trying to stay under some arbitary storage quota.
i can't believe there are still system managers out there who are still so short sighted!
I've been deployment Enterprise Vault for a while and it has some advantages over Exchange 2010 especially if you're thinking about E-Discovery. Exchange 2010 native tools aren't that great and are not really designed to be used for legal matters from what I found.
ASKER
could have elucidated a bit further...