Hi folks.
We have Exchange 2007Outlook on the desktop is 2003I have 2500 usersThey get a full PS 4.0 desktop that outlook is part ofWe have one file server that they map H to (home)
We are running into scaling problems in our Exchange environment. In order to keep up we have to add a lot more spindles to the environment. The SAN is at the threshold where we’d have to buy another one in order to pull this off. So I’m looking at alternatives. We currently block cache mode and we also do not have any public folders, it's blocked as well. So all 2500 users directly leach off the exchange environment. We are also in the process or rolling out MS CRM which is making matters worse.
I'm looking for some info on setting up Outlook on a Citrix desktop to run in cache mode storing the ost file(s) in the users Home drive (network). We were able to do this with lotus Notes in the past and it worked great. The lotus Notes install has 2 parts, Application and Data. I’d install the App on the Citrix server and the Data portion to the user’s H drive. So the users would work off the file server while the domino server fed the local copies mail. This took all the direct connection load off the Domino server. I'm hoping this is possible with Outlook. I’m not sure how to redirect the ost file(s) to H:\Outlook.
Anyone out there running this cache mode configuration?
Senior Administrator (Citrix)USI HoldingsNo matter where I am i'm never where I want to be.
OSTs are basically PSTs and should not be used across network drives (regardless of Terminal Server). See this for more info:
http://www.shawnbass.com/Blogs/tabid/58/EntryId/9/The-exact-reason-why-you-should-not-allow-PST-files-on-the-network.aspx
Shawn
http://www.shawnbass.com
Attend my "Unofficial" 5-day Citrix Master Class. http://www.shawnbass.com/training.aspx
Hi Chris,
Have a look at this post -http://www.brianmadden.com/forums/t/18068.aspx.
Regards,
Jason
I've been looking into/considering the same thing. I wish there were a better solution. maybe just use OWA.
According to MS: You cannot use the following Outlook features when you run Outlook in a Terminal Services environment:
Offline store (OST) files.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179161.aspx
We just had MS in house to evaluate our Exchange environment and suggested this as an option. But I think he meant in general, He suggested we ping Citrix for some documentation.
This is some good info you guys posted. It's exactly what I was looking for.
Typical. Management brings in a Contractor who promptly suggests something you can't do. Yep. No cached mode in TS 2K3 (there's a reason for that).
"He suggested we ping Citrix for some documentation." - Uh, big surprise there 8|
$20.00 says Citrix will tell you it's a Microsoft problem! Does your outfit have a support agreement with Citrix? If you do I bet your boss will probably have you on the phone with Citrix every day trying to get his moneys worth!!
If it looks like a dog, barks like a dog, and smells like a dog... ...It probably is a dog.
-As far as .pst's on the network? Been doing it for years. I wouldn't recommend for road warriors (laptop users) though, which is what offline folders were created for. Wish I had more useful info, but I'd have to learn more about your Exchange and SAN config. I take it they're clustered and from what you're alluding to, you have a disk bottleneck.
Samuel A. RodriguezSr. Systems Administrator
Just a couple of thoughts.
1) You are correct, this is not a Citrix problem (neither Citrix nor a problem). CEM is disabled in Terminal Server (MS) and it would actually be a problem if it wasn't)
2) i believe having the mailbox available on the laptop is not as critical as it used to be as there is wireless access everywhere these days. More importantly, it's a security risk...way too many laptops get ripped off these days...
Have users connect securely to your Citrix farm while they wait to get on the plane or at the hotel...
Rudy
Brian's idea of publishing a link (content) to OWA is not a bad idea (it supports cached mode). Might be worth looking into - maybe create a pilot group & see. You could provide e-mail to the general masses in this fashion and full-blown Outlook to managers, directors, and up. ??
Chris: Would love to enable this functionality. And in a small environment, or an environment where you have a great place for OST files, the performance is not an issue. I don't understand why MS didn't make this at least a reghack option. I've got all kinds of small biz customers who use PST files on TS all the time, with absolutely no issues... the server/memory/disk is pretty much idling.
And then there are many customers I'd love to move to MS Exchange Online, but these folks use TS for their full desktop, so without offline caching it's pretty useless. Opening emails takes forever compared to when they had POP and PST. Another opportunity missed.
I think it's an issue when Outlook is installed on TS, a different DLL or something is put in place that locks this out.
Just found some info on an unrelated but similar issue that made me think of a possible solution... What if there's a single DLL file or similar that is different in Office depending on whether or not you've installed on a terminal server? I'm going to root around with some file compare snapshots between a WS2003 and Office installation versus an XP install and if the number of different files is relatively manageable, I might try replacing them to see what happens.
Of course, will be doing this on a TS that isn't yet deployed so I'm unconcerned about it hosing the installation.
If anyone else has any other ideas, like Application Compatibility shims or similar, please do post.