Does EV FSA supports MS Offline files?

Yes, FSA has been tested with Windows File Synchronisation on the following client platforms:

Windows 2000 Professional SP4
Windows XP SP2
Windows Vista

All have been tested against the following backend file servers:

Windows 2003 SP2
NetApp Filer OnTap 7.2
EMC Celerra DART 5.5

If a user attempts to synchronise a network share that contains placeholders, the first time the synchronisation occurs the placeholder will be recalled to the primary storage and then synced to the workstation. (The file will return to a placeholder the next time the archiving service runs). Upon subsequent syncs, the placeholder will not be recalled unless it has changed between syncs.

On NetApp this behavior will only work correctly with Enterprise Vault 2007. Prior to 2007, NetApp placeholders showed as 0KB. This would mean an offline sync would recall all placeholders during every sync no matter whether they had been synced before. If NetApp customers wish to use offline file sync, they should upgrade to EV2007 and run the NetApp placeholder conversion tool to convert all 0KB placeholders to the new format showing the correct original file size.

As an offline file sync could be recalling a large number of files in a short space of time, the default recall limits should be increased to prevent timeouts.

It has been observed at some customers that Microsoft Office files that have been archived fail to open once they have been synchronised to a laptop for offline use. There is a known Microsoft problem which is resolved with this Microsoft hotfix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936071/en-us/

Support for Offline Synchronisation will be greatly improved in an Enterprise Vault Version 8 service pack with the introducton of pass-through recall. Today any synchronised placeholders will be recalled to the file system before going to the laptop. Pass through recall will allow archived files to go directly to the laptop without first being recalled to the file server.