Hi Guys n gals.

Im just after a bit of advice re:educating the plebs, ahem users. Im in the process of migrating one of our worn out servers to a brand spankin new dual Xeon 2.8 with 205 GB from 1 raid array (there are 2) on its own :)

Anyhow I knew we had huge mailboxes, people hording etc and we had no qoutas (politics) but f!ck me for 40 users the mail db totaled 28.5 GB - :eek: No wonder the poor server is creaking.

So im going to ask the users to have a real good cleanout. What I want to do is send a messege explaining to them how big that actually is (ie non techie terms for 'kin huge) and that they really do need to tidy up their mailboxes.

Any ideas

Tell them to clear stuff out, or you will do it for them :)

Seriously, you cannot win these days. Disc space is so cheap that saying 28 Gb of disc usage is too much will be laughed at.

Much better is to explain the benefits to them. I.e. their Outlook etc. will load much faster if the mailbox isn't so big.

If you can get management clout behind you, force a quota (of sorts) where any emails older than say six months are automatically archived rather than them just hanging about for eternity.

Another suggestion is for them to remove all the attachments. I know many people who use Outlook to store files that came as attachments. Get them to save the file in question to their server space then delete the email.

You will be fighting a loosing battle, but the above is worth a try.

Cheers

Ian

Forget about educating your users, don't faff and speak to management and point out the cost implications. They'll support you ;)

One other thing, PSTs suck big time for mail storage, so if mail has to be retained, store it on the server.

Hope you don't mind my 2 bobs worth.
I hope the management are suffering from your creaking server,
because if they are , they are more inclined to want something done about it.
If you just tell them that the server problems are caused by all the junk thats years old; they wont really care, as long as you make space for them.
If you tell them that there is danger of them losing a few hundred Mb's worth of mail, they will probably listen.
I would document a plan of attack. Look at it as a policy decision
for the future, you have an ideal opportunity to implement a policy
that will better suit supporting the email system as well as delivering the service users now just expect.
The misuse of mail systems as storage for company critical data must be nationwide by now.
Obviously its up to you how large users mailboxes are going to be.
I would give them 100 Mb each. Then allocate them larger areas on a different server for pst's. It is now almost pointless in telling users to put their pst's on home drives. A lot of companies
use quota's for home drives, as soon as a pst goes their its almost
full. If you allocate a disk(s) on a server for pst's, and tell the managent why you want it , they may realise the problem the
users have created for themselves.
If you dont have the clout to implement what you want to do without asking for management, document fully, what will happen
if the mail server crashes, and how it could affect the workforce.
IMHO loss of a mail server and data can bring the working day
of a company to a standstill. People just dont know what to do.
Its amazing, I worked in a company when they lost mail for 2 days.
Instead of getting on with their work, they just sat about moaning.
Probably not realising its them who contributed to the problems.
Your taking on a brave role Stuey, most people always ignore it,
its always someone elses problem.

Check the users 'deleted items' folders. I'll bet none of them are set to 'delete on exit'! We had one guy at my last job though who deliberately kept his deleted items - just in case he needed something ... que? Anyhow, it was explained to this 'gentleman' that his mailbox would not be backed up with everyone elses and he would have to do it himself ... problem solved.

As others have said, a 'management policy' is what is needed as otherwise everyone will complain about something.

Dave

Well for starts im gonna do the following:

1. Block all MPG/Junk etc files at the firewall. (should save shedloads)
2. Stop all exe files. (except for us support people)
3. FORCE messeges to archive after 3 months.

This groupwise server is gonna run schweet :)

One user btw, had a 3.4 GB Mailbox, when asked about it, it was every single mail/attachment he had recieved in 7 years with the company, even the ones saying "are you free for a meeting" type ones !!!

Don't ask them, TELL them! If you ask them then it will never get done.

Set deadlines by which mailboxes must be trimmed.

Threaten - IF the target is not reaced by (date) then I will delete mail automatically.

Keep records of your emails sent - so when they come whining about email being deleted you can prove to them and to management that they were notified several times.

Set rules on the server as have been described above, add a maximum attachment size limit (2mb is typical).

Once the system is tidy, keep it that way!







I wonder why my company hates me so much.... :confused:

Give em sh!t Stuey. Kick their ar*ses

Politics rules my place :(

Each user allowed a 500MB mailbox :o