Terminal Services and Outlook Offline Folders

[Stephen]

Per the following links:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2003/three/ch8/OutC02.h
tm#sub_1
and
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;246052

Users cannot use Offline Folders(ost) when using Outlook
on Terminal Services. The configuration desired is to
allow users to connect to Terminal Server (2003), map
drive that is on Terminal Server clients ("\\tsclient\c"),
then synchronize the ost on that drive.

Does anyone know why this is limited?
Is there any workaround?
Any other suggestions for a solution other that do no
involve having the Terminal Server Client connect
directcly to the Exchange Server?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

I imagine Microsoft's logic is something like this: The purpose of offline
folders is to provide a local cache that the user can use when connected to
the network. A user connecting via Terminal Services is not disconnected
from the network . Therefore, supporting offline folders would be redundant
and a waste of network resources resulting in poor performance and reduced
functionality.

 

[Stephen]

Sue,

I can appreciate that, but what if users needed to connect
to terminal services remotely (offsite) through a firewall
and complete IP connectivity is forbidden. It seems a
little restrictive to assume all Terminal Services
sessions are "local" to the network.

WinXP's Remote Desktop allows you to write to an offline
file, so why not Terminal Services (both are based off the
same technology, RDP)?

I think Microsoft is limiting the product of Terminal
Services by putting these restrictions such as this. They
are expressly forbidding this functionality. Maybe
Microsoft failed to have the foresight that this would be
useful or maybe I am missing something.

But imagine this scenario:
Remote user connects to Terminal Server, maps local drive
synch offline folder. Disconnects from Terminal Services,
opens Outlook from OST, reads email, calendar. Then
reconnects and sychs offline folders (mail is sent and
recieved). This way the user can always have a the email
cached locally (on laptop) and never has to rely on have
internet connectivity to read email.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

I don't think that's not the assumption at all. The idea is that the "local"
cache would actually be on the Terminal Services machine, because that's the
drive that's "local" to Outlook running on Terminal Services, not the local
drive of the client PC connnecting to Terminal Services.

The scenario you describe would quite likely be unsupportable, since it
would involve copying down an .ost file that could be 50-200mb or more. You
also have a security issue, because an .ost file is tied to the Outlook
profile that created it. It is not loadable on its own, like a .pst file.

If you want an ost file (or equivalent) on the remote client PC, either use
VPN, switch to Exchange 2003, or take a look at HiPerExchange and XKey from
http://www.seasidesw.com