The PST file mysteries

[Guest]

I'm about to install a new terminal server, and want to get rid of the error
message my users get on the old, when opening Outlook: "The path specified
for the file C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\archive.pst is not valid."

I don't know why this message appear. I know that there is a group policy
setting that deletes the roaming profile at log off, and another which states
the default location of the pst file to a folder in the home folder. The last
one is in effect also on the workstations.

We also have some troubles with "Use Cached Exchange Mode", which I suspect
has something to do with PST files.

I've inherited this undocumented enviroment, and I don't know how to
approach this, since I now very little about pst files in general.

Therefore, I'd like some help with these issues, but also, or instead, some
help on where to find technical information about pst files, cached exchange
mode, and these issues together with Terminal Services and roaming profiles.

Thank you for your time.

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

The error message is appearing because the auto-archive feature is on.

As for Citrix/Terminal servers, the site should look into using loop back
processing for group policy objects. This will allow the site to apply
additional restrictions on Citrix/Terminal server sessions and doesn't bleed
back to a users corporate desktop. To give you a rough idea of how to look
at this...

1) Put your Citrix/Terminal servers into their own OU. (e.g. Create a new
OU at the same level as Domain Controllers called Terminal Servers and put
your new server into it.)

2) Create a group policy object on the Terminal Servers OU that configures
applications like Outlook 2003 the way you want.
a) By this my cached mode defaulted to off
b) Auto-archive off

3) In the group policy object that is applied to the Terminal Server OU, you
want to turn on loop back processing.

Outside of that, keep in mind that users can have a roaming profile and a
Terminal Server profile. Each are distinct creatures and can be stored in
different locations on the network.

 

[Guest]

Thank you. Much appreciated. There is a GPO linked to the TS OU, which has
Loopback Processing Mode enabled, and lots of Office settings applied; and
there's a lot of things I want to/will change.

But even though I have been working with AD and GPO:s since 2000, I don't
know anything about PST files; why you need a PST file at all, considering
we're using Exchange, and I don't know what will happen if I for instance
turn off AutoArchive. Will this affect the users' experience? We use roaming
profiles, and in the said GPO there's a setting pointing to the same location
for pst files, as there is in the GPO in effect when users log on to their
workstations.
Why?
I can't seem to get any usable information about these pst files through
google.
Argh! What's up with the friggin PST files?

The error message is appearing because the auto-archive feature is on.

As for Citrix/Terminal servers, the site should look into using loop back
processing for group policy objects. This will allow the site to apply
additional restrictions on Citrix/Terminal server sessions and doesn't bleed
back to a users corporate desktop. To give you a rough idea of how to look
at this...

1) Put your Citrix/Terminal servers into their own OU. (e.g. Create a new
OU at the same level as Domain Controllers called Terminal Servers and put
your new server into it.)

2) Create a group policy object on the Terminal Servers OU that configures
applications like Outlook 2003 the way you want.
a) By this my cached mode defaulted to off
b) Auto-archive off

3) In the group policy object that is applied to the Terminal Server OU, you
want to turn on loop back processing.

Outside of that, keep in mind that users can have a roaming profile and a
Terminal Server profile. Each are distinct creatures and can be stored in
different locations on the network.

I'm about to install a new terminal server, and want to get rid of the
error
message my users get on the old, when opening Outlook: "The path specified
for the file C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\archive.pst is not valid."

I don't know why this message appear. I know that there is a group policy
setting that deletes the roaming profile at log off, and another which
states
the default location of the pst file to a folder in the home folder. The
last
one is in effect also on the workstations.

We also have some troubles with "Use Cached Exchange Mode", which I
suspect
has something to do with PST files.

I've inherited this undocumented enviroment, and I don't know how to
approach this, since I now very little about pst files in general.

Therefore, I'd like some help with these issues, but also, or instead,
some
help on where to find technical information about pst files, cached
exchange
mode, and these issues together with Terminal Services and roaming
profiles.

Thank you for your time.

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

In my honest opinion, PST files are not required or needed in an Exchange
environment. However the instance the user wants or site allows the use of
auto-archive, their needed.

Disabling Auto-Archive option for terminal server sessions will not impact
the user experience on Citrix/TS. Disabling the feature will not prohibit
the user from selecting File > Open > Outlook Data file and open any PST
file located on a network share. Personal observation, perhaps IT needs to
communicate back to the business that the idea behind thin client is to give
a very strict corporate desktop experience. When it is kept lean and mean
like this by disabling features, it means that the server can handle things
better and/or steps are being taken that users don't accidentally write
files to a location they won't have access to later.

By the way, PST is short for Personal Storage Table. Primarily used by
POP3/IMAP clients, but can be used in corporate Exchange environment to
support things like auto-archive. I've also seen PST files used when
Exchange mailbox limits are puny, CYA factor, and/or keeping things
offline/secure for compliance reasons.

Thank you. Much appreciated. There is a GPO linked to the TS OU, which has
Loopback Processing Mode enabled, and lots of Office settings applied; and
there's a lot of things I want to/will change.

But even though I have been working with AD and GPO:s since 2000, I don't
know anything about PST files; why you need a PST file at all, considering
we're using Exchange, and I don't know what will happen if I for instance
turn off AutoArchive. Will this affect the users' experience? We use
roaming
profiles, and in the said GPO there's a setting pointing to the same
location
for pst files, as there is in the GPO in effect when users log on to their
workstations.
Why?
I can't seem to get any usable information about these pst files through
google.
Argh! What's up with the friggin PST files?

The error message is appearing because the auto-archive feature is on.

As for Citrix/Terminal servers, the site should look into using loop back
processing for group policy objects. This will allow the site to apply
additional restrictions on Citrix/Terminal server sessions and doesn't
bleed
back to a users corporate desktop. To give you a rough idea of how to
look
at this...

1) Put your Citrix/Terminal servers into their own OU. (e.g. Create a
new
OU at the same level as Domain Controllers called Terminal Servers and
put
your new server into it.)

2) Create a group policy object on the Terminal Servers OU that
configures
applications like Outlook 2003 the way you want.
a) By this my cached mode defaulted to off
b) Auto-archive off

3) In the group policy object that is applied to the Terminal Server OU,
you
want to turn on loop back processing.

Outside of that, keep in mind that users can have a roaming profile and a
Terminal Server profile. Each are distinct creatures and can be stored
in
different locations on the network.

I'm about to install a new terminal server, and want to get rid of the
error
message my users get on the old, when opening Outlook: "The path
specified
for the file C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local
Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\archive.pst is not valid."

I don't know why this message appear. I know that there is a group
policy
setting that deletes the roaming profile at log off, and another which
states
the default location of the pst file to a folder in the home folder.
The
last
one is in effect also on the workstations.

We also have some troubles with "Use Cached Exchange Mode", which I
suspect
has something to do with PST files.

I've inherited this undocumented enviroment, and I don't know how to
approach this, since I now very little about pst files in general.

Therefore, I'd like some help with these issues, but also, or instead,
some
help on where to find technical information about pst files, cached
exchange
mode, and these issues together with Terminal Services and roaming
profiles.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Guest]

I believe this is about what I needed to know. Thank you very much.

/J

In my honest opinion, PST files are not required or needed in an Exchange
environment. However the instance the user wants or site allows the use of
auto-archive, their needed.

Disabling Auto-Archive option for terminal server sessions will not impact
the user experience on Citrix/TS. Disabling the feature will not prohibit
the user from selecting File > Open > Outlook Data file and open any PST
file located on a network share. Personal observation, perhaps IT needs to
communicate back to the business that the idea behind thin client is to give
a very strict corporate desktop experience. When it is kept lean and mean
like this by disabling features, it means that the server can handle things
better and/or steps are being taken that users don't accidentally write
files to a location they won't have access to later.

By the way, PST is short for Personal Storage Table. Primarily used by
POP3/IMAP clients, but can be used in corporate Exchange environment to
support things like auto-archive. I've also seen PST files used when
Exchange mailbox limits are puny, CYA factor, and/or keeping things
offline/secure for compliance reasons.

Thank you. Much appreciated. There is a GPO linked to the TS OU, which has
Loopback Processing Mode enabled, and lots of Office settings applied; and
there's a lot of things I want to/will change.

But even though I have been working with AD and GPO:s since 2000, I don't
know anything about PST files; why you need a PST file at all, considering
we're using Exchange, and I don't know what will happen if I for instance
turn off AutoArchive. Will this affect the users' experience? We use
roaming
profiles, and in the said GPO there's a setting pointing to the same
location
for pst files, as there is in the GPO in effect when users log on to their
workstations.
Why?
I can't seem to get any usable information about these pst files through
google.
Argh! What's up with the friggin PST files?

The error message is appearing because the auto-archive feature is on.

As for Citrix/Terminal servers, the site should look into using loop back
processing for group policy objects. This will allow the site to apply
additional restrictions on Citrix/Terminal server sessions and doesn't
bleed
back to a users corporate desktop. To give you a rough idea of how to
look
at this...

1) Put your Citrix/Terminal servers into their own OU. (e.g. Create a
new
OU at the same level as Domain Controllers called Terminal Servers and
put
your new server into it.)

2) Create a group policy object on the Terminal Servers OU that
configures
applications like Outlook 2003 the way you want.
a) By this my cached mode defaulted to off
b) Auto-archive off

3) In the group policy object that is applied to the Terminal Server OU,
you
want to turn on loop back processing.

Outside of that, keep in mind that users can have a roaming profile and a
Terminal Server profile. Each are distinct creatures and can be stored
in
different locations on the network.

I'm about to install a new terminal server, and want to get rid of the
error
message my users get on the old, when opening Outlook: "The path
specified
for the file C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Local
Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\archive.pst is not valid."

I don't know why this message appear. I know that there is a group
policy
setting that deletes the roaming profile at log off, and another which
states
the default location of the pst file to a folder in the home folder.
The
last
one is in effect also on the workstations.

We also have some troubles with "Use Cached Exchange Mode", which I
suspect
has something to do with PST files.

I've inherited this undocumented enviroment, and I don't know how to
approach this, since I now very little about pst files in general.

Therefore, I'd like some help with these issues, but also, or instead,
some
help on where to find technical information about pst files, cached
exchange
mode, and these issues together with Terminal Services and roaming
profiles.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Frankster]

You have a choice of using locally stored PST files (or remotely stored - on
a file server - not in the Exchange database) or using the Exchange database
for user's email storage. Probably most Exchange implementations use
Exchange DB storage, but some are configured for local (downloaded from
Exchange) PST storage.

One thing to think about with PST storage is that a PST file, assuming it is
stored on a network, is easy to backup when the user is offline. And easy to
restore later if necessary (it's just a simple file). Whereas, if you use
the Exchange DB for mailbox storage you have to encorporate a (reletively)
sophisiticated system for backup, usually incorporating "agents" to properly
backup the Exchange DB. Some folks prefer the simple backup/restore of a PST
file. It's also easy to make as many copies as you like and store them in
various places.

-Frank