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caryers
Contributor
Contributor

Outlook Configuration thoughts for VDI Environment

I would imagine On-line mode for the Outlook client would be the prefered method to configure Outlook which is installed on my golden image.

Is this the overall thought process for most Exchange/VDI users out there?

If so, what would be the best mechanism to configure the On-line mode over Cache mode for all VDI users or at least set at the Media Pool level? I know this is a local Outlook setting. However, isn't this set the 1st time when a user logs on?

Should GPO be used to set the Outlook client to use on-line mode? If not, does it get set during on the golden image?

Thanks forum!  Scott

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14 Replies
mittim12
Immortal
Immortal

Yes, online mode would be the best option for VDI desktops.  You can try to configure with a GPO or some type of custom prf file.  

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chaz112182
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

hello we went with online mode for a couple reason:

1) it is hard to predict the space required b/c we dont govern mailbox size and every user is different

2) cache mode relies on a local copy of the mailbox which will increase i/o

we implement online mode using GPO. it's relatively easy, if you can't get it going reply back and i will point you to the required GPO setting.

what version of outlook are you rolling out on your golden image? we went with outlook 2007 and there are some special considerations you must take into account if using outlook 2007 + online mode in regards to advanced searching.

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caryers
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the feedback. We do have quotas for our mailboxes which is set at 500 MB per user. We are using Outlook 2007 w/ SP1. I do know where in GPO where you would set online-mode or cache-mode. More importantly, we need to make a final decision where we are going to create our VDI VMs within our AD tree.

One of two solutions, either create a VDI OU of the root of our AD tree and place all VDI VM workstations in there, or place then under all the different departmental OUs. The later would be much more admin overhead. Do you have any thoughts to the OU placement of the VDI VMs?

What are the other Outlook 2007 specific considerations you were referring to in your last post?

Thanks Scott

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caryers
Contributor
Contributor

If I set this on the Golden image for say one user and snap shot the VM, will this non-default setting stick for all new users?

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chaz112182
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

a) we use one OU for our virtual desktops. we block inheritence so that we are 100% sure that only the settings we want are applied.

b) i dont think setting outlook cached mode for one user and then snapping would work b/c i believe that setting is specific to the mapi profile. you will need to create a mapi profile for each individual user. you may be able to get it to work, but i always try to defer to group policy whenver possible. in my experience it's just easier that way.

c) the issue we ran into with outlook 2007 and online mode was that using the instant search feature yielded inconsistent results. also when opening advanced find the filters were grayed out. we ended up having to install windows desktop search on the golden image so to alleviate our the search problems. we receieved many complaints about that during our initial rollout so hopefully this will save you the headache. if you do a google search for outlook 2007 advanced find you'll see what i'm talking about.

let me know if you have any further questios and please sure to mark this correct if it answers your questions. 

cheers.

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mittim12
Immortal
Immortal

It will not stick  for the new users.   The best way to do this is either a GPO or prf files.  Here is a link on how to setup a prf file to customize outlook profiles, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179062.aspx.

Also some profile management tools have a way to generate outlook profiles.  I know Appsense does and If I'm not mistaken ProfileUnity does this too. 

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chaz112182
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

i can confirm that profile unity has that ability as well. 

but again easiest thing to do is to create the GPO.

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slaclair
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

I use folder redirection to a network share via GPO for user profile items, including Application Data.

At that point there is a PST location setting within the office administrative template which I point to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Outlook which carries over outlook settings.

You may want to give that a shot and see if it meets you needs.

Steve

VCAP5-DCD/DCA/CIA, VCA4-DT
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chaz112182
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

i use folder redirection as well ,  but only for desktop and my docs.  curios how your experience has been with redirecting app data ???

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slaclair
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

I can only speak for office products but I have had no complaints/limitations with redirecting application data for the office suite.

In addition the default spot to save PST's is within app data and it is common for people to save them there and we were "losing" a lot of PST's prior to redirecting appdata

VCAP5-DCD/DCA/CIA, VCA4-DT
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nolent
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

c) the issue we ran into with outlook 2007 and online mode was that  using the instant search feature yielded inconsistent results. also when  opening advanced find the filters were grayed out. we ended up having  to install windows desktop search on the golden image so to alleviate  our the search problems. we receieved many complaints about that during  our initial rollout so hopefully this will save you the headache. if you  do a google search for outlook 2007 advanced find you'll see what i'm  talking about.

Could you elaborate on this? What OS are you running and what do you mean by inconsistent results.

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VMMikeC
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I just wanted to chime in here to give a response to your AD design question. I can see using separate OUs if you think you will need to apply different GPOs for different departments. Of course you can still manage this with one OU using security filtering, but that also becomes an admin burden at times.

I haven't decided if we will use online or cached mode for Outlook. I think online mode does make the most sense, however I do not get to make all the calls Smiley Wink

Mike

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Michael_L1
Contributor
Contributor

I was able to download Office 2010 Administrative templates for Office 2010 and I was able to disable Use Cached Exchange for new and existing Outlook profiles. It forced all users into online mode; here is the link to the download http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=18968.

There should be a download for Office 2007.

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blakebevard
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

If you would like to try using cached exchange mode, here is a link to a discussion where we talked about what was necessary in order to get everything set up to make things work as optimally as possible.

http://communities.vmware.com/message/2072819#2072819

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