Good to know! So the Outlook Advanced Search feature now uses “FAST”; does and the regular search (not advanced) still uses the local index with Exchange 2013 + Outlook 2013 (assuming the mailbox is cached, or is this also no longer a requirement)?
-Aakash Shah From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael B. Smith Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 10:54 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [Exchange] RE: OST files Exchange 2013 has a unified indexed search called FAST. It is faster than the search in Outlook. It is the search always used by OWA, EAS, and EWS. It is also accessible in Outlook via “Advanced Search”. PSTs are supported on file shares using SMB 2.0 or SMB 3.0. Note: they are not recommended – but they are supported. From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Aakash Shah Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 11:27 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [Exchange] RE: OST files Note that my default, the faster indexed search only works against cached mailboxes. So users are generally happier with cached mode turned on. We do disabled caching on shared mailboxes though since they all get added to the same OST file and generally, the larger the OST file, the more likely it is to become corrupt. If the Outlook Junk Email filter becomes a problem, this can be disabled. We currently do this since we use an alternate spam solution too. -Aakash Shah From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bonnie Pohlschneider Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 8:14 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [Exchange] RE: OST files Our users are primarily Citrix/Terminal Server based so cached mode (which creates the OST file) is disabled by default in that scenario. For the remainder of our users, we don’t force the setting one way or another but my personal preference is to leave cached mode off. We’ve seen issues over the years with server/desktop synchronization being out of whack, Outlook responsiveness being sluggish, and general confusion on the part of users with Junk Mail (we use McAfee MXLogic and it boggles their minds to think they would possibly have to check TWO junk mail locations… smh) when cached is enabled. The plus side is that mobile users have offline access to their mailboxes and it does take some of the workload off the Exchange servers. Never really had a problem with the OST file its self and I would agree with Damien that if there is a problem, just delete the OST and let it recreate. It may be time consuming on large mailboxes but definitely not the pain endured when using PST’s. Bonnie Pohlschneider Network Administrator, CRSI From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Richard Stovall Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 11:03 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Exchange] RE: OST files The only exception I have to putting users in cached mode is when they are accessing shared mailboxes. Those particular mailboxes are configured in non-cached mode, even if part of a profile that includes cached access to the user's own, non-shared mailbox. On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 10:49 AM, Damien Solodow <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: PST and OST files are quite different animals. The main issue with PST files was their tendency to corrupt when they got past 2gb but that was addressed with the Unicode PST format introduced with Outlook 2003. They are still an issue for other reasons (not supported on file shares and thus vulnerable to loss, very hard to discover/control,etc). OST files on the other hand are much less of an issue as it’s just an offline cache of the Exchange mailbox. They should live on a local drive to the user workstation (do NOT put them on a mapped drive) but are otherwise pretty forgetablle with Outlook 2003+. They occasionally get corrupt (usual symptom is Outlook stops updating) but you can just delete the file and let Outlook rebuild it. Using cached mode will take a significant burden off your Exchange servers. DAMIEN SOLODOW Systems Engineer 317.447.6033<tel:317.447.6033> (office) 317.447.6014<tel:317.447.6014> (fax) HARRISON COLLEGE From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] On Behalf Of David McSpadden Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 10:44 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [Exchange] OST files MS PSS is recommending to me to set cached mode on my users and utilize OST files? I thought I had heard PST and OST files are bad, very bad. Would like to be educated on the Pros and Cons of turning Cached Mode on. It is currently off via Group Policy. This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are property of Indiana Members Credit Union, are confidential, and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom this e-mail is addressed. If you are not one of the named recipient(s) or otherwise have reason to believe that you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete this message immediately from your computer. Any other use, retention, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. Please consider the environment before printing this email. ________________________________ Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. 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