Network PST Confusion

[Guest]

All

I'm a bit confused

This article (http://support.microsoft.com/?id=297019) says Netowkr PSTs are bad
Yet another by MS (http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/xp/four/outd05.htm) supports the use of Network PSTs

If PSTs are no longer supported on network stroage, what is the recommended strategy nowadays for users to have access to mail in their personal archive? I know that by using some sort of 'near-line' storage 3rd party product I can 'automatically' archive mail based on age or size but these solutions are expensive

This is why in the past network stored PSTs were perfect for giving users access to thier archive, no matter where they sat. OWA is great for checking new mail but once again there is no access to a users' PST archive

If anyone knows what the recommended approach is, without shelling out for 3rd party products, please enlighten me

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

As the KB article says, "The .pst files are not meant to be a long-term,
continuous-use method of storing messages in an enterprise environment."
This article is really aimed at daily use of .pst files as a primary data
sore. I think the overall attitude is that storing .pst files on a network
drive is technically feasible, but discouraged. I see no reason not to use
it for personal archives, but you should show users close the archive file
when they're not using it. Archive files should not be in continuous use.

..pst files are also not a viable solution for the type of archives that many
corporates are required to keep for legal purposes.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

All,

I'm a bit confused!

This article (http://support.microsoft.com/?id=297019) says Netowkr PSTs are bad.
Yet another by MS (http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/xp/four/outd05.htm)

supports the use of Network PSTs.

If PSTs are no longer supported on network stroage, what is the

recommended strategy nowadays for users to have access to mail in their
personal archive? I know that by using some sort of 'near-line' storage
3rd party product I can 'automatically' archive mail based on age or size
but these solutions are expensive.

This is why in the past network stored PSTs were perfect for giving users

access to thier archive, no matter where they sat. OWA is great for
checking new mail but once again there is no access to a users' PST archive.

If anyone knows what the recommended approach is, without shelling out for

3rd party products, please enlighten me!

 

[Oliver Vukovics]

Sue,

sorry that i contradict the article of microsoft. I wrote this also the
first time for the outlook power magazin:
http://www.outlookpower.com/issues/issue200401/00001210002.html

To share outlook pst files in a network and to use it also in an enterprise
environment is for our solution with until now more than 3.500 customers
also no problem. Not for 2 users and not for 150 users like Bosch
Dieselsystems in Vienna our referenc customer.

The fact is, that there are more and more alternative solutions for outlook
sharing )based on PST sharing or synchronization solution like netfolders)
on the market and maybe (my meaning), MS say now, this is not a secure
method. First they say it is a solution, 2 years later they say it is not a
solution? Why?

Our experience is, that our customers have no problem to share the PST files
in a network.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Roady and I asked MS about this earlier in the week, and the official
position of Microsoft Support is that placing a .pst file on a network
volume is not a supported configuration, as the earlier cited KB article
says (and in contradiciton to the RK article).

That said, we all know that people do it and that the world hasn't ended.
But if they have problems with file corruption, they'll get no support from
Microsoft if the .pst file was on a network drive.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Oliver Vukovics]

Hi Sue,

[...]

But if they have problems with file corruption, they'll get no
support from Microsoft if the .pst file was on a network drive.

What is a network drive? Only with a domain controller or also in a
workgroup?. If i have a Server and i move my PST file to the server and I
work with this PST file on this server, also to save it with a central
backupsystem I didn´t get any support by MS if the PST will be corrupted?
My PST file is located on a Win2k server and i have also a Dial in connect
from home to this PST file, it is also not supported by MS?
After 7 years (beginning with Outlook 97), MS find out that they get
problems with a network PST file? It is very fast, I think. What do they
tell 2 user networks who use a briefcase. Buy Exchange, because no other
network system is supported by us? I would have a lot of questions if I
would use it.

Normally I must be glad that our program use the server PST files as a local
PST file and only our server is the network access. So our "network" PST
files must be supported my MS )).(?)

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

From what I've been able to gather, .pst files are supported only on the
local drives of the machine running Outlook. If you access a .pst file on
another machine, you're in an unsupported configuration. It doesn't matter
what kind of network it is.

Assuming that you're using the Briefcase to make a local copy of a .pst file
on another machine, that would be fine, because Outlook would be working
from the local copy. Any other system that copies the .pst file to the local
drive before Outlook opens it would also be fine.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

Hi Sue,

[...]

But if they have problems with file corruption, they'll get no
support from Microsoft if the .pst file was on a network drive.

What is a network drive? Only with a domain controller or also in a
workgroup?. If i have a Server and i move my PST file to the server and I
work with this PST file on this server, also to save it with a central
backupsystem I didn´t get any support by MS if the PST will be corrupted?
My PST file is located on a Win2k server and i have also a Dial in connect
from home to this PST file, it is also not supported by MS?
After 7 years (beginning with Outlook 97), MS find out that they get
problems with a network PST file? It is very fast, I think. What do they
tell 2 user networks who use a briefcase. Buy Exchange, because no other
network system is supported by us? I would have a lot of questions if I
would use it.

Normally I must be glad that our program use the server PST files as a local
PST file and only our server is the network access. So our "network" PST
files must be supported my MS )).(?)

Roady and I asked MS about this earlier in the week, and the official
position of Microsoft Support is that placing a .pst file on a network
volume is not a supported configuration, as the earlier cited KB
article says (and in contradiciton to the RK article).

That said, we all know that people do it and that the world hasn't
ended. But if they have problems with file corruption, they'll get no
support from Microsoft if the .pst file was on a network drive.

Sue,

sorry that i contradict the article of microsoft. I wrote this also
the first time for the outlook power magazin:
http://www.outlookpower.com/issues/issue200401/00001210002.html

To share outlook pst files in a network and to use it also in an
enterprise environment is for our solution with until now more than
3.500 customers also no problem. Not for 2 users and not for 150
users like Bosch Dieselsystems in Vienna our referenc customer.

The fact is, that there are more and more alternative solutions for
outlook sharing )based on PST sharing or synchronization solution
like netfolders) on the market and maybe (my meaning), MS say now,
this is not a secure method. First they say it is a solution, 2
years later they say it is not a solution? Why?

Our experience is, that our customers have no problem to share the
PST files in a network.

--
Oliver Vukovics
Public OutLook: Outlook Groupware without Exchange
Public SyncTool: Outlook PST Notebooksynchronization
Awarded on CeBIT 2003 and 2004: www.outlookstore.com


Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook] wrote:
As the KB article says, "The .pst files are not meant to be a
long-term, continuous-use method of storing messages in an
enterprise environment." This article is really aimed at daily use
of .pst files as a primary data sore. I think the overall attitude
is that storing .pst files on a network drive is technically
feasible, but discouraged. I see no reason not to use it for
personal archives, but you should show users close the archive file
when they're not using it. Archive files should not be in
continuous use.

.pst files are also not a viable solution for the type of archives
that many corporates are required to keep for legal purposes.


All,

I'm a bit confused!

This article (http://support.microsoft.com/?id=297019) says Netowkr
PSTs are bad. Yet another by MS
(http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/xp/four/outd05.htm)
supports the use of Network PSTs.

If PSTs are no longer supported on network stroage, what is the
recommended strategy nowadays for users to have access to mail in
their personal archive? I know that by using some sort of
'near-line' storage 3rd party product I can 'automatically' archive
mail based on age or size but these solutions are expensive.

This is why in the past network stored PSTs were perfect for giving
users
access to thier archive, no matter where they sat. OWA is great
for checking new mail but once again there is no access to a users'
PST archive.

If anyone knows what the recommended approach is, without shelling
out for
3rd party products, please enlighten me!

--
Oliver Vukovics
Outlook im Netzwerk ohne Exchange: Public OutLook:
Outlook PST Synchronisation for Notebooks: Public SyncTool
Empfohlen von der PC Pro. 11/2003: www.outlookstore.de