Exchange 2000 or 2003? 2

[sohtnax]

I am currently outsourcing my email to Interland, and would like to bring it in-house. I have about 110 mailboxes, am using Outlook 2000 on the desktops, and Windows 2000 Operating Sytems for servers and desktops.

Just wondering what the pro's and con's would be if I were to pick one over the other, what software and licenses I would need to purchase, and what the hardware requirements would be for each. Would soemthing like a Compaq DL360 be sufficient or should I be looking at the DL580's? Also keep in mind that I intend to have my sales staff use Blackberry's to access their email, contacts, and calendar.

Thanks!

 

[sabrinaduncan]

If you want a hardware recommendation, you might want to specify processor speed and memory. These are much more important than a brand or model number.

If you buy 2003, you can always downgrade to 2000 and go back later if you wish. It would be foolish to buy 2000.

 

[Silmeron]

One thing to keep in mind is that depending on which version of Exchange you go with, you'll have to have a similar license for Windows Server. For example, Exchange 2000 will only work on Win2k Server. Exchange 2003 will only work on Win2k3 Server, etc.

I found that out nearly the hardway unfortunately, we're running all Windows 2003 servers at my office, and my MSDN copy of Exchange 2000 wouldn't install...

 

[xmsre]

Exchange 2003 works with W2K SP3 or later. Exchange 2000 will not work with Windows 2003.

If you go with an FE/BE scenario to put an OWA server in the DMZ, E2K3 standard can be a frontend server. Exchange 2000 standard cannot, only Enterprise.

Make sure you have enough spindles to split out the logs and DB. 6 is the minimum, a mirror for the OS, a mirror for the logs, and a mirror for the DB. Do not make one big RAID 5 and carve out logicals. Performance will suck and you will be sorry.

If you don't have mailbox limits, consider going with E2K3/E2K enterprise on the mailbox server. Hitting the 16G hardcoded store limit in standard can be painful.

Dual processors are recommended. Make sure you add in Anti-virus and other services running on the box when calculating memory requirements. It's a good idea to go with W2K/W2K3 advanced server if you have over 1G of RAM. This will give you more options when tuning virtual memory.

Good connectivity to Global catalogs is essential. You'll want 2 for redundancy. DCs should have enough RAM to fit the entire dtds database in the filesystem cache.

A good setup in an environment your size is:

1. Two DCs. Each a GC running DNS, WINS, and DHCP. Divide your address range into two scopes, and put one scope on each dhcp server.

2. One exchange server. See CPU, RAM, and Disk notes above.

3. One ISA server. Firewall, webcache, and SSL offload for OWA.

4. A backup server with an attached tape, SDLT or LTO.

5. A support contract with your hardware vendor that allows you to meet your SLA in case of failure of a component that is not fault tolerant. The terms depend on the needs of your organization.


You can add in file/print, SQL, and whatever other services your organization requires.

John
MOSMWNMTK

 

[MidwestAdmin]

Great comments from John

I would suggest NOT putting an owa server in the dmz. If using ISA and FE/BE servers the MS best practice is to keep all Exchange servers behind the firewall.

 

[xmsre]

In such a small organization, you probably wouldn't use an FE/BE scenario. The problem in this case comes when the internal server name does not match the FQDN on the SSL certificate. You won't be able to manage public folders in ESM. A good alternative is to off load SSL on ISA.

John
MOSMWNMTK