Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000???

[Zcript3r]

I manage a site of about 50 users. I have:

NT 4.0 SP6a PDC running on Dual Pent. Pro 200MHZ
128 MB RAM

NT 4.0 SP6a BDC running on 166Mhz Pent., Exchange 4.0, 196 MB RAM.

New Win2K Standalone Server running on Dell Dual 733 MHZ, 512 MB RAM.


I am moving the Exchange Server to the new Dell Server. My problem is deciding whether I should run Exchange 5.5 or 2K?

Does anyone have any insight from the 30,000 foot level regarding both upgrade paths?

I know that to go Exch2K, I need to upgrade to Active Directory. I am absolutely GREEN when it comes to Active Directory, and would like to try to keep myself IN the frying pan during this upgrade.

It seems that from prior posts, 5.5 will run great on Win2K. Problem is I know that with the way Microsoft runs, 3 years from now, 5.5 will no longer have any support (Just like 4.0 has no support now), and I will have to upgrade anyway.

Are there benifits for a small site like mine over and above those that 5.5 bring to the table to forge ahead with the entire Windows 2000 AD + Exchange 2000 Upgrade?, or are the beneifts better acclimated to large multi-site corporations?

Thank you in advance for any input!!!!!
Rob

 

[vb8304]

Good question Rob. If you do plan to upgrade to Win2K and use Exchange 2000 it will definitely require some good planning. Is there any chance that you will be able to receive any training on Win2K or Exchange 2K? This will help with making a sound decision, especially when it comes to the design of your Active Directory. I will say this, after using Exchange 2000 I do not want to go back to using Exchange 5.5. It's as if Exchange grew up and became an Integrated messaging system with Win2K and AD. Where you used to have 2 different directories to take care of, User Manager and Exchange 5.5, AD integrartes them into one directory service. Very nice.

Vince.

 

[Xybertron]

If you only want what comes out of the box to work then I would say put 5.5 on a Win2k server. Change LDAP port for 5.5 if the server is a DC and your done.

E2K is awesome for big databases and doing cool stuff.

And there is still support for 4.0 but it is a best effort. With 5.5 and E2K we work until we fix it. Dan
Microsoft Exchange Support @ Microsoft