Informal Survey: Attachment Size Limit?

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Reed
  • Start date Start date
D

David Reed

I'd like a bit of an informal survey, to find out what other Administrators
use as a file attachment restriction/limit, and under what type of internet
network connection they work with.

I am working with a DSL connection, where our connection speed is roughly
equivalant to a T1 line. I have a file attachement limit of 25 meg on our
Exchange 2000 server.

I am receiving complaints from senior project managers and senior management
that the file attachement size is to small. Is it really, or is it being
poorly used? They use the email server as a storage solution, and email
proposals, reports and graphs to each other, usually captured using COPY and
PASTE, so they are all in .BMP formats.

Have other experienced this? And how did they work with it, and how do they
deal with the political landmines of putting well-meaning limitations on the
network, without upseting lusers?

Regards,
 
I'd like a bit of an informal survey, to find out what other Administrators
use as a file attachment restriction/limit, and under what type of internet
network connection they work with.

I am working with a DSL connection, where our connection speed is roughly
equivalant to a T1 line. I have a file attachement limit of 25 meg on our
Exchange 2000 server.
Click to expand...

So is limiting attachment size done in SMTP server properties message
size limit? What happens to the ones that exceed the size? Are they
bounced back or dropped?
I am receiving complaints from senior project managers and senior management
that the file attachement size is to small. Is it really, or is it being
poorly used? They use the email server as a storage solution, and email
proposals, reports and graphs to each other, usually captured using COPY and
PASTE, so they are all in .BMP formats.

Have other experienced this? And how did they work with it, and how do they
deal with the political landmines of putting well-meaning limitations on the
network, without upseting lusers?
Click to expand...

You can't do anything without upsetting lusers imho. They want it
all, want it to work flawlessly 100% of the time, and never want to
have to learn anything. I am constantly dealing with people sending
out huge file attachments to all users and hosing my E2k server. I am
just now trying to set limits but don't know how its going to work
yet. I am trying to get across to the users than they can actually
learn to resize pictures. I pretty much get met with blank stares.
The boss's #1 priority is we don't piss anyone off. Never been very
good at not pissing people off, myself. Worst part is many of the big
pictures going out are pictures of someones ugly kid.

I too would be interested in hearing about how others handle this.

thanks,

Hal
 
Shoot, I have my limits set at 5 meg! When I started work here three years
ago there wasn't a limit at all. Needless to say I have pissed off a few
people who think it is pertinent that they send out a 15 meg powerpoint
slide show to everyone in their address book.

If they need to e-mail something bigger than that they must put it on CD and
snail mail it or FTP it. Of course, some of the suits have their 'personal'
limits, which are larger.

It really depends on your business though. An engineering firm may need
large size limits if they need to email technical drawings, etc.
 
15MB attachment size limit, 2M leased line (E1)

Tell the users to paste their picture into word which will automatically
compress it (if it's a fairly recent version), then attach the doc to the
mail.

Explain the risks of hitting the 16GB limit (if it's standard Exchange),
backup and recovery times, increased risk of store corruption, worse
performance etc. etc.
 
Hi Mark,

I'd love to hear more about how you can set "personal" limits? I've been of
the impression that the limits were set across the network, and couldn't be
tweaked at the individual level?

(more on me to follow regarding this subject)

Thanks,

David
 
If using Exchange server you can set mailbox size individually or using
group policy. I have a few mailboxes created for outsiders to log into the
network and they have a 1 kb size to prevent them from using the mailboxes
for mail.
 
Hi Diane,

Really?

Can you give me details, or a link to the KB, on how to do this?

Regards,

David


Diane Poremsky said:
If using Exchange server you can set mailbox size individually or using
group policy. I have a few mailboxes created for outsiders to log into the
network and they have a 1 kb size to prevent them from using the mailboxes
for mail.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)



David Reed said:
Hi Mark,

I'd love to hear more about how you can set "personal" limits? I've
Click to expand...
been
of
the impression that the limits were set across the network, and couldn't be
tweaked at the individual level?

(more on me to follow regarding this subject)

Thanks,

David

CD
and on
our
Click to expand...
limitations
on
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
In the ADUC, open the user's properties and on the Exchange general tab,
select storage limits to override the defaults. If a suit complains his box
is too small, you can easily increase it without increasing everyone's. You
can set limits per storage group too or with policies, in the ESM.

--


David Reed said:
Hi Diane,

Really?

Can you give me details, or a link to the KB, on how to do this?

Regards,

David


Diane Poremsky said:
If using Exchange server you can set mailbox size individually or using
group policy. I have a few mailboxes created for outsiders to log into the
network and they have a 1 kb size to prevent them from using the mailboxes
for mail.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)



David Reed said:
Hi Mark,

I'd love to hear more about how you can set "personal" limits? I've
Click to expand...
been
of
the impression that the limits were set across the network, and
Click to expand...
couldn't
be
tweaked at the individual level?

(more on me to follow regarding this subject)

Thanks,

David

Shoot, I have my limits set at 5 meg! When I started work here three
years
ago there wasn't a limit at all. Needless to say I have pissed off
Click to expand...
a
few
people who think it is pertinent that they send out a 15 meg powerpoint
slide show to everyone in their address book.

If they need to e-mail something bigger than that they must put it
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
on
CD
Click to expand...
meg
on using
COPY how
do limitations
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Diane,

I think maybe there was some confusion over mailbox limits, vs. size limits
of attached files? Or am I wrong?

I was trying to find out about limiting the size of email attachments at the
mailbox/user level? (and overriding the default of the Exchange server?)

Regards,

David

Diane Poremsky said:
In the ADUC, open the user's properties and on the Exchange general tab,
select storage limits to override the defaults. If a suit complains his box
is too small, you can easily increase it without increasing everyone's. You
can set limits per storage group too or with policies, in the ESM.

--


David Reed said:
Hi Diane,

Really?

Can you give me details, or a link to the KB, on how to do this?

Regards,

David


Diane Poremsky said:
If using Exchange server you can set mailbox size individually or using
group policy. I have a few mailboxes created for outsiders to log into the
network and they have a 1 kb size to prevent them from using the mailboxes
for mail.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Hi Mark,

I'd love to hear more about how you can set "personal" limits? I've been
of
the impression that the limits were set across the network, and couldn't
be
tweaked at the individual level?

(more on me to follow regarding this subject)

Thanks,

David

Shoot, I have my limits set at 5 meg! When I started work here three
years
ago there wasn't a limit at all. Needless to say I have pissed
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
off
a on may
need meg
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
oops... yes, limits are by SMTP.

--



David Reed said:
Hi Diane,

I think maybe there was some confusion over mailbox limits, vs. size limits
of attached files? Or am I wrong?

I was trying to find out about limiting the size of email attachments at the
mailbox/user level? (and overriding the default of the Exchange server?)

Regards,

David

Diane Poremsky said:
In the ADUC, open the user's properties and on the Exchange general tab,
select storage limits to override the defaults. If a suit complains his box
is too small, you can easily increase it without increasing everyone's. You
can set limits per storage group too or with policies, in the ESM.

--


David Reed said:
Hi Diane,

Really?

Can you give me details, or a link to the KB, on how to do this?

Regards,

David


If using Exchange server you can set mailbox size individually or using
group policy. I have a few mailboxes created for outsiders to log
Click to expand...
into
the
network and they have a 1 kb size to prevent them from using the mailboxes
for mail.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Hi Mark,

I'd love to hear more about how you can set "personal" limits? I've
been
of
the impression that the limits were set across the network, and couldn't
be
tweaked at the individual level?

(more on me to follow regarding this subject)

Thanks,

David

Shoot, I have my limits set at 5 meg! When I started work here three
years
ago there wasn't a limit at all. Needless to say I have pissed
Click to expand...
off
a
few
people who think it is pertinent that they send out a 15 meg
powerpoint
slide show to everyone in their address book.

If they need to e-mail something bigger than that they must put
Click to expand...
it
on
CD
and
snail mail it or FTP it. Of course, some of the suits have their
'personal'
limits, which are larger.

It really depends on your business though. An engineering firm may
need
large size limits if they need to email technical drawings, etc.

I'd like a bit of an informal survey, to find out what other
Administrators
use as a file attachment restriction/limit, and under what
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
type
of 25
meg is
it and
how
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi

12Mb limit. We also have ADSL (finally), but we have to be aware that many
people are still using ISDN or even modem.

I occasionally need to allow our graphic designer to send larger files,
although I'm going to set up an ftp server for him to use in future: maybe
that's a better solution for you?

I also believe it's part of my role to educate: explain problems *and* give
workarounds - it's difficult for people to complain if you do this. For
example, and mentioned elsewhere in this thread: Powerpoint presentations
tend to be pretty huge. I told people to use the export to JPG feature
where possible. In my tests I've shrunk files to around one-hundredth of the
powerpoint document size!

HTH

Paul Simpson
IT Manager
Eurobath International Limited, UK
 
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