Suggestions, outlook, two pc's, two locations

[Mike]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out the best way to setup outlook
for a user who will work in the office two days per week,
and at home three days per week, with pc's in both
locations. We have a VPN connection at their home back
to the office. Our e-mail is supplied by our ISP, and
here's what I'm thinking, but looking for suggestions.

1) Put her outlook.pst file on a network share (like I
do for all of our at work users), and hope that the VPN
connection is always up, and she can connect both to the
network share at home and at the office. I seem to be
having a little trouble with her VPN becoming
disconnected periodically, and I just have to connect to
the router and re-connect it. I've talked to Linksys
about this, but haven't figured out what's causing it.
2) Copy her outlook.pst file to both machines, so they
have the same data, and set both pc's to download the
mail, but leave a copy on the server for 7 days or so,
and she will have to download to both.

Any suggestions, or other thoughts?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Greg Mansius [MSFT]]

Mike,

Putting a .pst file on a network share is technically not supported.

305519 OL2002: Why .pst Files Are Unsupported Over a LAN or WAN Link
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305519

So, you might want to have them use a laptop with the .pst file on the
laptop's drive.

Also, not to sound like I want to sell you a copy of Exchange, but this
user's situation would fit perfectly with the offline folders feature
(.ost). This way, if they ever get disconnected from Exchange they can still
have access to the local copy of their mailbox (stored in the .ost file).

Hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

Greg,

Yes, I kind of knew that it wasn't supported, but for our
situation, it seems to work fine, except for these
situations where I try to do it across the VPN
connection, and then it scares me a bit.
The reason I have everyone's .pst on a network share is
for backups. We are a small non-profit organization, and
I don't have the finances to purchase a program or
hardware that will allow me to backup everyone's PC, so I
have shares on a server that I do backup with everyone's
docs and e-mail.
Anyhow, I would love to run exchange, and in fact have
the software, but I have never ran an exchange server,
and really need to figure out how to educate myself on it
before I attempt anything in that regard.
So, you didn't address my #2 item, having .pst files on
both PC's (which one is a notebook, but she doesn't want
to lug it back and forth, so we got her a PC for home),
would you think this is the best answer for now?

Thanks for your help!

Mike

-----Original Message-----
Mike,

Putting a .pst file on a network share is technically not supported.

305519 OL2002: Why .pst Files Are Unsupported Over a LAN or WAN Link
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305519

So, you might want to have them use a laptop with the .pst file on the
laptop's drive.

Also, not to sound like I want to sell you a copy of Exchange, but this
user's situation would fit perfectly with the offline folders feature
(.ost). This way, if they ever get disconnected from Exchange they can still
have access to the local copy of their mailbox (stored in the .ost file).

Hope this helps.

--
Greg Mansius [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out the best way to setup outlook
for a user who will work in the office two days per week,
and at home three days per week, with pc's in both
locations. We have a VPN connection at their home back
to the office. Our e-mail is supplied by our ISP, and
here's what I'm thinking, but looking for suggestions.

1) Put her outlook.pst file on a network share (like I
do for all of our at work users), and hope that the VPN
connection is always up, and she can connect both to the
network share at home and at the office. I seem to be
having a little trouble with her VPN becoming
disconnected periodically, and I just have to connect to
the router and re-connect it. I've talked to Linksys
about this, but haven't figured out what's causing it.
2) Copy her outlook.pst file to both machines, so they
have the same data, and set both pc's to download the
mail, but leave a copy on the server for 7 days or so,
and she will have to download to both.

Any suggestions, or other thoughts?

Thanks,

Mike

.

 

[Greg Mansius [MSFT]]

Mike,

The only problem with having multiple .pst files is synchronization. I can
easily see these two files getting out of sync. It's workable, but prone to
problems. Another suggestion would be to get the user a USB drive. They
could keep the .pst file on the drive and carry the drive to/from work.

Thanks,

--
Greg Mansius [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Greg,

Yes, I kind of knew that it wasn't supported, but for our
situation, it seems to work fine, except for these
situations where I try to do it across the VPN
connection, and then it scares me a bit.
The reason I have everyone's .pst on a network share is
for backups. We are a small non-profit organization, and
I don't have the finances to purchase a program or
hardware that will allow me to backup everyone's PC, so I
have shares on a server that I do backup with everyone's
docs and e-mail.
Anyhow, I would love to run exchange, and in fact have
the software, but I have never ran an exchange server,
and really need to figure out how to educate myself on it
before I attempt anything in that regard.
So, you didn't address my #2 item, having .pst files on
both PC's (which one is a notebook, but she doesn't want
to lug it back and forth, so we got her a PC for home),
would you think this is the best answer for now?

Thanks for your help!

Mike

-----Original Message-----
Mike,

Putting a .pst file on a network share is technically not supported.

305519 OL2002: Why .pst Files Are Unsupported Over a LAN or WAN Link
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305519

So, you might want to have them use a laptop with the .pst file on the
laptop's drive.

Also, not to sound like I want to sell you a copy of Exchange, but this
user's situation would fit perfectly with the offline folders feature
(.ost). This way, if they ever get disconnected from Exchange they can still
have access to the local copy of their mailbox (stored in the .ost file).

Hope this helps.

--
Greg Mansius [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out the best way to setup outlook
for a user who will work in the office two days per week,
and at home three days per week, with pc's in both
locations. We have a VPN connection at their home back
to the office. Our e-mail is supplied by our ISP, and
here's what I'm thinking, but looking for suggestions.

1) Put her outlook.pst file on a network share (like I
do for all of our at work users), and hope that the VPN
connection is always up, and she can connect both to the
network share at home and at the office. I seem to be
having a little trouble with her VPN becoming
disconnected periodically, and I just have to connect to
the router and re-connect it. I've talked to Linksys
about this, but haven't figured out what's causing it.
2) Copy her outlook.pst file to both machines, so they
have the same data, and set both pc's to download the
mail, but leave a copy on the server for 7 days or so,
and she will have to download to both.

Any suggestions, or other thoughts?

Thanks,

Mike

.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to setup outlook
for a user who will work in the office two days per week,
and at home three days per week, with pc's in both
locations.

I use an iPAQ to keep my PSTs in synch!