Exchange disaster plan question

[mlchris2]

I am moving a POP3/SMTP server to Exchange and working on a plan...

The exchange server will be housed in a Colocation center along with our productions server. We connect to this location via a Direct connect T1.

I have two concerns with this config....

1. how will the connectivty to the Exchange server effect my T1 traffic? Will I see more traffic with Exchange than my POP3/SMTP server?

2. If my T1 line fails, I need to find a way to connect to the exchange server. I know there is a Webversion, but could I have the Exchange server configured to a public address and connect over the Internet?

I may have more ?'s but this is it for now.

thanks,


Mark C.
Network Admin - Digital Draw Network

 

[Zelandakh]

1. No.
2. Get a back off SMTP server at your ISP. A decent provider won't go down so it isn't an issue.

 

[Xanaxo]

What do you have for a backup connection to the server if your T1 drops? How many users do you have? Where are the users located?

If what you are saying is that all of your users are going to be coming across the T1, and if that T1 drops you need a backup plan then here are my thoughts.

MAPI connections will use more bandwidth than a POP3 connection or an open SMTP session. If the users are external, you can utilize Exchange 2003/Outlook 2003 and RPC over HTTP to take advantage of the vast functionalities of the MAPI client vs. POP3/IMAP4 without the security risks associated to allowing direct MAPI communications remotely. I can speak more to this later if you are interested.

With Exchange 2003 you can use POP3/IMAP4/MAPI/OWA(http) clients. This will allow you to access your mail like you do now with POP3 clients which should produce similar bandwidth consumption to what you see now provided what you use now is going over the same link. There is a very nice http client built in with Exchange 2003 called Outlook Web Access. It has a low bandwidth option that you can force if you need to conserve it. It all comes down to the amount of users you have, and how active they are on your systems.

Honestly I do not think there is enough information here about your network topology right now, and what you plan for it to be, for me to give you an accurate answer. Hopefully you get some of what I am saying here and it will lead you in a direction we can go from here.


Steven Parent [MSFT]

 

[mlchris2]

So one person tells me I will see no bandwith change and another tells me I will. I think I'll go with the later of the two... the answer seems better than just "NO".

I am using a combination of Public T1 and modified routing when my PTP T1 goes down.

I have roughly 30 corporate users. All users are located in the corporate office, with the exception of 1 who works in a remote office in another state.

All of the companies production servers are located in our Colocation center. All network traffic that has a destination for any production server goes through our PTP T1, everything else goes out the Public T1...

We have 30 Outlook 2003 clients connecting via the PTP T1 and 1 remote user that connects via the internet to our mailserver. All mail accounts are POP3/SMTP accounts.

Ultimately, I need to find out if the bandwidth usage on my PTP T1 will be greater once I start running 30 MAPI accounts... I think I recieved a good answer of YES. But is this bandwith enought to have my mail server located at the corporate office?

I also need a FAST/EFFECTIVE solution to still use Outlook 2003 and connect to the Exchange server via our Public T1 when our PTP T1 goes down. If it involves switching all 31 users to a POP3 account, I wouldn't consider that FAST/Effective. I know we have the Outlook Web Access option, which is a perfect solution for most. Does Web Access provide access to Calendar and Address books, Distributions lists, etc? If so then that might be a solution. If there is no other option, then I go to plan "Z" and host the Exchange server at the corporate office and not have to worry.

However another goal is to keep all production servers at the Colocation... if necessary.



Mark C.
Network Admin - Digital Draw Network

 

[Xanaxo]

OWA does give you Calendaring, Public Folders, GAL searching, Contacts and more.

With regard to network utilization: There is no quick answer, but you will use more with MAPI. Here is a document that will help you figure out the math around this. I hosted it on my webserver because I couldn’t find it on Microsoft’s anymore, but it should give you an idea on what it takes to figure out the impact you will take. I will say that with 30 users you shouldn’t have a problem. The added functionality of MAPI over any other client you will love at a minimal expense to bandwidth.

I imagine you can find a way to tunnel a connection through your public interface if your PTP T1 drops to get your traffic to the exchange server. Having the box local would obviously be the simplest solution with less variables to break while improving fault tolerance.

Enjoy.. I hope it helps.. I spent a bit of time chasing down this paper.

http://www.parentspad.com/docs

Steven Parent [MSFT]

 

[mlchris2]

Thanks Steven,

Your right... I would give up a little network bandwidth to run Exchange. I researched and asked other people I know running Exchange and they dont see a big enought difference from their old POP3 server.

I think I better test wiht my MSDN Exchange box and figure out someway to route if the PTP goes down... I am sure there are options. Worst case I tell the end-user to use OWA...

thanks for the great info... it really helped.

 

[Zelandakh]

Yeah - MAPI uses SLIGHTLY more than POP3/SMTP. But for 30 users on a T1, you probably won't notice. Was what I meant.

But personally, I'd locate Exchange on the LAN and have externals come up the line to the office for OWA which will give far better access.

 

[mlchris2]

Another question........

I have 2 2k3 Server - Web Edition licenses and need to find a spot for them.

Can Exchange 2003 server operate on Web Edition?

 

[Xanaxo]

I have not heard of this. However I am not very up to speed on licensing.

Steven Parent [MSFT]

 

[mlchris2]

I found out...Exchange Server 2003 does not run on Windows 2003 Server Web Edition...

Mark C.
Network Admin - Digital Draw Network