> let me set the stage,
>
> I am the administrator of an windows server 2003 environment, running
> exchange 2003 for 50 users, the company is a construction firm.
>
> I have a growing issue with the now daily barrage of multiple large
> (by large I mean 8mb +) file attachments we are having hit our mail
> server.
>
> the majority of these are auto cad files and pdf's to comprise tender
> documents and project files for ongoing construction jobs.
>
> first question,
>
> the NDR report generated to the external sender when they send for
> example an 11mb attachment, the sender gets the NDR, but the intended
> recipient is not notified. I would like to notify the recipient of
> large files being rejected, how do I do this?
>
> second question,
>
> what is the Microsoft approved solution for dealing with exchange as
> a large file trasmission system, I have set my exchange server to be
> restricted to 8mb send and 8mb receive, I am getting it in the neck
> at present from the board and a number of the contracts managers as
> they say this is just unworkable and no one else on the tender list
> is bouncing large files so when they call the original senders of the
> bounced messages they are being perceived to be awkward.
>
> However I know from viewing the NDR list on my exchange server that
> if I removed the limit we would grind to halt as we would exceed the
> limit of our exchange server at 75gb in no time at all.
>
> third and last question
>
> exchange server really isnt intended as a file store in my mind,
> however I need some concrete evidence to support this to my users and
> also I need an alternative method for delaing with the transmission
> and reciept of large files. any suggestions?
>
> Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this, I
> appreciate your patience and I thank you in advance for any
> solutions, ideas and suggestions you may have to offer.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> I'm setting up my reply to crosspost to exchange.admin, as that group gets a
> lot more traffic and you'll probably have more replies that way.
>
> I don't know what the MS official stance is, but I don't know that it
> matters in that every company is different. It's true that Exchange is a
> pretty crappy file server - and with E2003 Standard you will soon run out of
> space if people decide to keep everything forever in there. That's a pretty
> good argument against using it as a file server right there.
>
> There are third party products that can strip out attachments (changing them
> to links) so you can store the files in your actual *file* server. Try
> google or searching www.slipstick.com for some options. And for really large
> attachments...your company should probably invest in an FTP server so that
> your clients can upload/you can download and vice versa.
>
> I don't know how to let a recipient know that an inbound message bounced due
> to a size limit - they'll certainly get another email or phone call from the
> sender, though.
>
> If your management wants to keep things as they are, migrating to E2007
> might be a good idea due to the store limit increase (essentially
> unlimited). But you'll still have hardware/disk space issues and will have
> to be able to back up and restore your data within a reasonable timeframe.