Handle email accounts on server 2003

[TomJunior]

Hi,

We currently host our email through our website provider, but I now have 2 problems:
1. We need to archive 100% of our email, but right now that's left to the employee that is downloading it onto their laptop. And if their computer crashes...

2. We have email addresses from 2 domains. I would like each employee to have one email box and route all the emails to the proper domain, but this really isn't a major issue compared to #1.

I know I can set up emails on the server, but without Exchange server, can I do archiving? Does the user name of the email have to match the user name of the account? How do I allow our ISP to still host our website while my server collects the email?

Any advise for a direction is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
T

 

[mikestips]

Hopefully you are talking aobut a few users. a very simple way would be to set up a rule on outlook for the emails to forward a copy to you on each laptop. and you can setup a rule on your outlook to organize them for each person to a different pst.

 

[Clowntrigger]

You didn't mention how your users were accessing their email. You can change the client options to leave email on the server, but you have to trust they will not monkey with the config and start pulling email and deleting it from the server. I would set the secondary email domain to forward to your primary domain. That way your users will receive all email at the primary email address. You should be able to do this on the mail server. You need to verify that your mail server will support the amount of mail you are going to archive. If you have a lot of email, it may be time to bring it in house with exchange or some other server based email solution.

With POP, your mail is saved for you in your mailbox on the server. When you read your mail with an application such as Eudora or Microsoft Outlook, it is downloaded to your computer and no longer kept on the server (unless you have selected the "Leave mail on server" option in your e-mail application). You should use POP if:

* you use POP now and are satisfied with it;
* you generally work with your e-mail only in a single location or on a single computer;
* messages you save are stored safely, with adequate backup protection, on your e-mail computer.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), on the other hand, allows you to store all or part of your mail on the server. IMAP allows you to create and manipulate folders or mailboxes on the server, search for messages or keywords, or delete messages. You can view just the heading and the sender of the message and then decide whether to download it. Your messages and folders are available to you regardless of what computer you use to read your mail. Both Eudora and Microsoft Outlook/Express can use IMAP to read mail; You may want to switch to IMAP if:

* you need access to your new and old mail at multiple locations, e.g., office, lab, home;
* you use POP with the ?leave e-mail on server? option. IMAP handles this more efficiently, especially as the Inbox gets larger.

 

[TomJunior]

> it may be time to bring it in house with exchange or some other server based email solution.


That's probably what I'll need to do. Thanks!

 

[scheesman]

Especially if you need archiving for legal reasons, the last thing you want to do is have your users doing it. Your ISP may be able to archive it for you, but as others stated, Exchange will probably be your best choice. You can look at bringing it in-house, or look at Hosted Exchange. From a price standpoint, it can definitely make sense.

Exchange (as well as any real email program) can handle multiple email aliases per mailbox, and those can be different users and different domains.

Usernames don't need to match email addresses. Actually, many organizations use two different standards so they aren't publishing usernames. From a security standpoint, one of the first things you need when hacking a system is a valid username.

Your ISP can still handle your web site, while your email can be anywhere. If your DNS is set up properly, it is easy to point them to different hosts.