Mapped Drive Not Accessible through VPN

We have a windows server 2003 domain. I have a user w/ a xp pro laptop who
frequently works out of the office. He works on documents in My Documents,
which is redirected to a share on the server. Offline Files and
synchronization is configured. He uses a VPN to connect to his email, and
also to access a network drive which is mapped to the company data drive.

When I first set this up, there was a problem when he connected the VPN. His
computer went "online" and tried to work off the server for his "My
Documents" folder. This was unacceptable, because it made everything terribly
slow, so I configured the slow link group policy to disable syncronization
when he's on the VPN. That worked nicely.

The problem: Now when he is offsite and connected via VPN, the computer
stays "Offline" and he cannot access the company data drive (J), unless he
goes online, but then that slows everything down to a crawl. I have tried
various configurations and cannot seem to get around this problem. I know
that if I would make the J: drive available offline he could access this, but
this is not possible since the J: drive is huge.

So the problem as simply stated as possible is this: When the computer is
offline the J: drive cannot be accessed. When the computer is online it is
unacceptably slow.

I think this is a Microsoft design flaw. I was on chat for an hour w/ a
msft person, and he could not help me. What should I do? Ditch offline
files altogether?

Offline files are really designed for a making a couple of files off line
here and there. Does this user have the entire contents of your company
drive made off line. If this is the case then i would suggest this is
stopped immediately as it will effect performance.


"Darrell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1E88ECA3-D7AC-4EEF-854D-(E-Mail Removed)...
> We have a windows server 2003 domain. I have a user w/ a xp pro laptop who
> frequently works out of the office. He works on documents in My Documents,
> which is redirected to a share on the server. Offline Files and
> synchronization is configured. He uses a VPN to connect to his email, and
> also to access a network drive which is mapped to the company data drive.
>
> When I first set this up, there was a problem when he connected the VPN.
> His
> computer went "online" and tried to work off the server for his "My
> Documents" folder. This was unacceptable, because it made everything
> terribly
> slow, so I configured the slow link group policy to disable syncronization
> when he's on the VPN. That worked nicely.
>
> The problem: Now when he is offsite and connected via VPN, the computer
> stays "Offline" and he cannot access the company data drive (J), unless he
> goes online, but then that slows everything down to a crawl. I have tried
> various configurations and cannot seem to get around this problem. I know
> that if I would make the J: drive available offline he could access this,
> but
> this is not possible since the J: drive is huge.
>
> So the problem as simply stated as possible is this: When the computer is
> offline the J: drive cannot be accessed. When the computer is online it is
> unacceptably slow.
>
> I think this is a Microsoft design flaw. I was on chat for an hour w/ a
> msft person, and he could not help me. What should I do? Ditch offline
> files altogether?