Exchange Setup 1

[Pylie]

Quick Q :

I have a website and email hosted by a 3rd aprty with currently runs thru OE6.

I am looking to control the email in the office more securely and want to implement EX5.5, and server etc.

If I own the domain etc is there anything stopping me from having all of my office email for 80 users on a new box in the office as opposed to having it supported by the Hosting Co ?

Straight forward or am I missing the point ? ;-)


Thanks

P

 

[netometer]

Hi!
I would say that installing an email server and managing your e-mail locally is a right step for your network.
Exchange 5.5 is a good and very dependable messaging platform but it is not supported anymore by Microsoft. If you do not have the enterprise edition your e-mail server will be limited to 16 GB for the messaging store and that is far from enough for today’s “spoiled” users. Another restriction is the OS platform – you can install Exchange 5.5 only on NT4.0 or Windows 2000 server. Anyway, if you’ve maid your mind you can follow Steps 1-5 on the following video (screencast):

http://www.netometer.net/video/tutorials/move55/index.html

Don’t forget to apply the NDR patch for Exchange 5.5:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837794

You can get it from here:

http://www.netometer.net/downloads/tools/KB837794.zip

One thing that you should have in mind is that most probably the company which is currently hosting your e-mail is also implementing some kind of antispam and antivirus solution. Once you start using your own e-mail server you have to take care of filtering the viruses and spam. There are many suitable software packages – some of them integrated with the e-mail server (the new ones do not integrate with Exchange 5.5) others requiring a separate e-mail gateway.

I guess that the price of Exchange 2003 and the CALs for it is the main reason for trying to implement Exchange 5.5 on a new system. If that is the case you might consider implementing SBS 2003 (I thing that the limit is 75 users or devices) or the most successful Exchange contender – Scalix. There is a community free edition for Scalix and there is an Enterprise version (a SBS version is available too).
You can take a look at the step-by-step videos for the Scalix installation and Active Directory integration (yes, you can manage your users and their mailboxes from the Active Directory Users and Computers ADUC snap-in):

http://www.netometer.net/video/tutorials/scalix/install/index.php

Dean

http://www.netometer.net/support/

 

[Pylie]

Ok then : If I go for Exchange 2003 do I have to let the 3rd party company know that I want to run my email thru Exchange as opposed to OE6 ?

Can the mail be hosted onsite as opposed to 3rd party ?

Thanks

P

 

[kevadept4]

Hi P

you have to answer a couple of questions before you go ahead with this. What Domain structure to you run at the moment? Is it NT4 or 2000 or 2003?

Try to ascertain what mail server the 3rd party are using. I belive when you say OE6 this is outlook express 6, is this correct?

Once we get the above information we can have a clearer view on what we can do to help you with this issue.

Kev_adept4

 

[Pylie]

Indeed - OE6 - Outlook 6.

All PCs are XP - Servers are 2003.

At the moment our email is POP3.

 

[kevadept4]

OK,

If you are running a W2k3 AD infrastructure then I would go for Exchange 2003. Does your current provider use Exchange 2003? If they do, do they hold your mail data on their servers. What I mean by this is that in OE6 you can select to keep messages on the server.

Do you have an always on link to the internet through a firewall?

Have you looked a mailsweeping antivirus solution for your business?

These things needs to be considered before moving the mail into your site.

Kev (Adept4)

 

[Zelandakh]

If you have 80 users then you need to look at the overall costs.

Cost out:
Exchange Server 2003 (assume Enterprise not Standard at that many users)
Server hardware with on site support for hardware failure
Client access licences for Exchange
Outlook 2003
Sufficient disks / spindles to run Exchange properly
Backup device
Backup tapes
Backup software
Antispam software

If you do not have the in house expertise of someone who knows Exchange very well, you will need 2 days (possibly more) to do the work.

How does this cost compare to outsourcing?

 

[VJMAX01]

I have acquired Win2000 advance server and installed it I also have acquired Exchange Server 5.5, my domain is registered and my web server is running on the same computer as the exchange server. My problem is that I need a cheat on how to configure exchange 5.5 to host and send emails. If there is a cheat on how I would surely appreciate it. Need help in the configuration of Exchange.

 

[zbnet]

I'm really not so sure this is the right road to go down. Any business running production email services themselves should really value the service enough to spend decent money on supported h/w and s/w.

Setting up a legacy environment (and I'm seriously wondering just where you managed to get hold of the Exchange 5.5 media) like this is just asking for trouble - especially as you have not a single clue how to configure it or manage it. I'm not being nasty, we all have to start somewhere, but believe me this isn't the time to start learning how to configure and support Exchange 5.5.