Advice on Archiving

[NoWittyName]

I run Exchange 2003 (run within HyperV) for 160 staff (being reduced from to 220 shortly, and was 270 last year) and am not in a position to upgrade to 2010 or implement a third party archiving solution. At the moment we allow users 500mb for exchange (many users have above this) and archive to psts above this quota. In total we have 140GB on the exchange server and about 400GB in psts.

Current problems are that psts are unmanaged and becoming a growing problem, when a staff member leaves its not uncommon for users to copy and paste the old archives multiple times so they can all have access. Laptop users have them on their local drives and these are not then backed up.

I am currently reviewing the implemented solution and need some advice on alternatives. Some thoughts are to put in a second Exchange Server just for staff who have left (we have a spare license). I would also like to import all the psts back into exchange and deny psts on the network (I realise there will be no single instance storage on the import)

I was also considering having two Exchange servers, one fast one for small mailboxes and a slower one for large mailboxes in the hope that shaping the delivery of the traffic would encourage them to keep their mailboxes small - we have lots of 'cakes in the kitchen' emails which would keep them motivated!

Can anyone give some insight to this common dilemma? The solution needs to non-complex as I am also dealing with reduced IT staffing.

Thanks





Master of Disaster.....Recovery

 

[58sniper]

Laptop users have them on their local drives and these are not then backed up.[/qoute] .pst files MUST be on the local drive. They are not supported anywhere else, and MS strongly recommends NOT putting them anywhere but the local machine.

Upgrade to Exchange Enterprise, create more storage groups and databases, and be done with it. Absolutely no need for two servers (I could run 160 users from a nice workstation).

The issue is storage. You need to make sure your storage system is designed for performance NOT for capacity. Big difference that drastically affects ends user experience, system stability, etc.

But then again, 2033 is 7 years old, and two versions back. Lots of storage and performance enhancements in 2010.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[NoWittyName]

Thanks for the input, yes I agree 2010 is better, and have trialled the migration, the archiving function is dissapointing, but compression is good (considering you lose single instance storage). Its not an option to upgrade due to my time in undertaking the work and learning a new system and training staff to support it. We would also need to upgrade the Blackberry server which needs outside support, so would cost £££.

So from your suggestion are you suggesting to import all data psts back into Exchange, but separate into different DBs? Perhaps one/two for old staff, n for current staff

The installed version is Enterprise.

Thanks for your input

Master of Disaster.....Recovery

 

[NoWittyName]

The rational behind the second server for staff leavers was for backups, we would do the nightly backup on the main exchange server, and a monthly VM export on the staff leaver server


Master of Disaster.....Recovery

 

[58sniper]

I wouldn't split the users vs old staff on DBs. I'd split the users evenly between the two (or more) databases. This is because you reduce the impact of a failed/offline DB. If all of your active users are on one DB, and that database dismounts (for whatever reason), you've impacted all of the users. If, say, you split active users between 2 DBs, and a DB dismounts, you've only impacted 1/2 the users.

Keep in mind as well that Blackberry Enterprise Server introduces a tremendous amount of I/O on your Exchange storage solution (often 3-7x the amount of just the mailbox alone).

As for archiving, you'd doing your business a world of good if you eliminated .pst files in your environment and brought that data back into Exchange.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/