I have Exchange 2003 with Outlook 2003 clients. Most users are using default Archiving settings to archive their data on their local hard drive, which we do not backup. Is there a way to: 1. Change the default archive location of all users from server? 2. And/or archive the file on 2 locations (local for better performance and network for backup)?

Hi saminny, I presume you are talking about Outlook AutoArchive to PST files. Frankly, in my personal opinion and experience, using such methods to back-up email in an enterprise is a bad, bad move. I discussed why in my blog post a couple of months ago at http://tigermatt.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/why-you-shouldnt-use-pst-files/. If you have a large user base, it would be much more efficient and cost effective for you to do server-side backup using an Exchange-aware server-side backup solution. In Exchange 2003, this would mean going third party, or if you are upgrading to Exchange 2010 in the near future, archiving support is included in this latest Exchange release as a matter of course. With specific reference to your first question, PST files are not supported over network shares. Running a PST to a share name on a file server would not be supported nor is it recommended. It might work, but there is a greater risk of it leading to corruption issues, particularly in the event of a network connectivity problem. -Matt

I agree with Matt. However if you wanted to, you could use Group Policy to set the location. Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:EMA 2K7,EDA Win 7,ES,SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com

Hi Matt, Thanks for your answer. So Can I conclude that there is no need to archive specially when you have Exchange 2007? It is possible to disable Archiving through Exchange 2007 server or group policy?

Hi saminny, It's Exchange 2010 which has the archiving support. Exchange 2007 doesn't, but chances are, if you're on 2007, you have a relatively high spec deployment with plenty of capacity for mailbox data storage. Exchange 2010 still requires the process configuring (you have to give each user an archive mailbox too) but it is pain free compared to PST files. AutoArchive can be switched off by Group Policy using the Office 2007 Group Policy ADMX extensions, available from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92d8519a-e143-4aee-8f7a-e4bbaeba13e7. Use the Outlook ADMX file in Group Policy. There is also an option to completely disable the use of PST files. -Matt