Since email is the source of so much vital information, users are reluctant to delete old messages, which turns their email system into a personal email filing cabinet. In essence, users create their own email archives using PST files. Most companies impose quotas that limit the amount of storage each person can use for emails. Without these quotas, server disk drives would overflow and email systems would crash.
As email volumes grow rapidly, archiving solutions can solve a number of problems, including controlling and managing the spiraling growth of email messages; ensuring that all users adhere to corporate-communication policies; maintaining a trail of information exchanges in the event of litigation; allowing organizations to comply with government document retention regulations;
and helping guard against data loss.
WHITEPAPER
DEATH TO PST FILES
A SYMANTEC HOSTEDSERVICES WHITE PAPER
www.messagelabs.com info@messagelabs.comWHITEPAPER
IntroductionEmail is one of your company's most critical-and most widely used-assets. According to a 2009 study by The Radicati Group, the average corporate email user sends and receives 167 email messages per day. The report estimates that 1this number will increase to 219 messages per day by 2013.This steady flow of email messages means managing email is more difficult than ever. A company must provide employees constant access to their email accounts and manage copies of every important email to comply with regulatory requirements. If a company is faced with a lawsuit, it must have the ability to easily place legal holds on emails and conduct efficient e-discovery. Since email is the source of so much vital information, users are reluctant to delete old messages, which turns their email system into a personal email filing cabinet. In essence, users create their own email archives using PST files. What is a PST file?Most companies impose quotas that limit the amount of storage each person can use for emails. Without these quotas, server disk drives would overflow and PST stands for Personal email systems would crash. Storage Table. A PST file is used by Microsoft Outlook to store email The Problems with PST Files messages, calendar items A Personal Storage Table, or PST, is used in Microsoft Outlook to store email and other Outlook data. messages, calendar items and other data usually kept in Outlook. In contrast In contrast to normal to normal Microsoft Exchange Server information, which is stored on a server Microsoft Exchange and accessed by Outlook, a PST file is typically stored on a user's local hard disk Server information, or, in a corporate environment, on a file server. Users often employ PST files to which is stored on a circumvent server storage quotas. server and accessed by Because these personal folders are stored on individual work stations rather Outlook, a PST file is than on a centralized server, they can present vexing management challenges typically stored on a and business risks. Here are five common problems that occur when corporate user's local hard disk employees use PST files: or (more often in a corporate environment) 1. PST files contain business-critical information, yet they are housed on a file server. Users locally. often employ PST files to circumvent server The increasing need for organizations to retain, search for and retrieve enterprise email can be undermined by the local use of PST files, which may storage quotas. contain personnel data, customer information, product and marketing plans or corporate financial data. Having these files housed on end users' computers makes it nearly impossible for corporate IT personnel to store, find and manage the important business information that the files contain. Every email that disappears into the "black hole" of PST files takes a piece of the company's knowledge with it. If the file's owner leaves the company, the information in the PST file might never return to company control. A PST file stored on a laptop is unlikely to be encrypted, so if the laptop is lost or stolen, a thief would have ready access to the email stored in the machine.
2 www.messagelabs.com info@messagelabs.comWHITEPAPER
2. PST files have a huge impact on storage and backup.Most employees who use personal folders have multiple copies of documents stored in their PST files. Multiply that situation by hundreds of messages per user and hundreds or thousands of employees, and the impact on enterprise storage requirements is enormous. Also, any opened PST file requires a full backup, even if the file has only been viewed. Since the combined size of all employees' PST files can easily reach hundreds of gigabytes or even terabytes, the files can affect the capacity and performance of an enterprise's backup servers.
Even when PST files aren't completely lost, they can cause significant problems, for example when multiple users at once contact the company's help desk to attempt to recover corrupted PST files, these ties-up valuable resources who3. PST files are prone to data loss or corruption. could be working When their maximum two-gigabyte size is pushed to the limit, PST files on more strategic are vulnerable to data corruption. Unfortunately, they also have limited recovery capability, ... [download for more]
