Best way to access Exchange server from the Road

[PalmIdiot]

I am running Exchange 2000 and Outlook XP clients. Currently my clients access their mail from the road via OWA, however some have been complaining about it and want to access their mail via their Outlook XP clients. How do you feel is the best way to set this up while giving them the best performancec and the greatest access to resources?

-Should I setup a different profile with IMAP access?

-Give VPN access and just have them contact the Exchange server from the road?

-Any other ideas?

 

[ashleym]

You can do IMAP, but it is very server intensive, it would depend on the hardware specs of your server and how many exchange mailboxes you have on your server.

VPN is an excellent option as it offers complete security, however it can be clunky if users are connecting via slow links remotely.

Ashleym

 

[PalmIdiot]

It almost all cases, it would be a dial-up connection from a hotel. If they use IMAP, will they have access to their contacts and stuff liek that?

 

[zehrhead]

Have you looked in to something like Citrix? I am dealing with the same issue and that's what we're researching right now. Also considering a VPN connection with offline syncronization of Exchange mailboxes, but that will probably be even slower than OWA on a dial-up. Darwin
Philadelphia PA
"I'm not paranoid, who told you that!"

 

[PalmIdiot]

Darwin, What kind of costs are you looking at with Citrix.

 

[Xybertron]

I use OWA on 56k. Dan
Microsoft Exchange Support @ Microsoft

 

[PalmIdiot]

I love OWA, but some of my clients don't like using it with large attachments and some of the functionality of it. So, I guess what I like doesn't matter..... So I have to figure out some how to use Outlook. Thanks

 

[ACraib]

SP2 for Exchange improves the functionality for OWA. (Pop up reminders for new mail etc)

My users use VPN and phone lines and don't seem to have any problems ... except when somebody sends them a 50Mb PowerPoint file

 

[PalmIdiot]

What type of VPN are you using?

 

[ACraib]

Cisco VPN Client connecting to a Cisco PIX. And using WorldComm as our ISP for local POPs.

 

[PalmIdiot]

Is the cisco client software free? and if so how do you get it. I have a Cisco Pix 515 at our site we could use for VPN access. I am not sure if I want to use that or PPTP connections through W2K

 

[ACraib]

I think so .... we were sent a copy by our US office. I've just had a look on the Cisco web site and it's there for download ... once you've logged in.

It's not the nicest softwarew around ... but my users have managed OK with it ... and beleive me that's saying something

 

[PalmIdiot]

How difficult was it to setup your VPN with the PIX 515? I assume when your clients dial in, they are always getting random IP addresses? I would have a similar configuration.

 

[ACraib]

I don't hink it was that difficult though I didn't config the VPN on the PIX ... it was done by the Network Admin in our Chicago office. Sorry

 

[zehrhead]

Citrix is not cheap. We have Watchguard firebox with VPN capability so we may go that route. My main beefs with OWA are no spell checker, slow performance over 56K dial-up, and limitations with working "offline".



Darwin
Philadelphia PA
"I'm not paranoid, who told you that!"

 

[ACraib]

A spell checker can be added with a product called the OWA Plus Pack from

http://www.messageware.com.

 

[tom11011]

I have wrestled with this for a long time. Back when we had exchange 5.5 running on winnt, everything was great. Outloook provided full functionality no problem.

Now with win2k and exch2k, full outlook/exchange connectivity is possible, but to intensive. If they are dialing up with AOL accounts, forget it! DSL and Cable work great. I haven't tested a regular ISP with dialup though.

I posed this very same question to MS during a support call a while back and they seem to think the best solution is for me to buy a bank of modems for performance reasons. Ya, right.