Small Business Server 2011 Standard - Exchange?

[lsab1987]

Hi,

We've acquired a Dell PowerEdge R310 Server with Small Business Server 2011 installed.
We're interested in setting up Microsoft Exchange for our emails, as we currently have roughly 20 email accounts.

My question is:
Does Small Business Server 2011 come with Exchange? And if so, what do we need to get it set up etc?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kurio71]

Standard comes with Exchange.

Level 1 Support Technician

 

[lsab1987]

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Can we use Exchange as a Client on the server and continue to use our existing mail servers? Or can you only use Exchange on a mail server?

 

[kurio71]

Exchange isn't an email client.

Level 1 Support Technician

 

[lsab1987]

My mistake, I phrased that badly.

Can Exchange be used to store emails locally, i.e. On the server but actually use our mail server with say, ServerStream to process and send the emails.

We're basically looking for a solution to send our mail via our existing mail servers, but centralise all emails locally, and allow us to access sent items on a verity of devices at any time.

Is Exchange suitable?

 

[kurio71]

That's above my basic knowledge.

Level 1 Support Technician

 

[yamyam]

Hi,
You can set up an exchange pop collect to that will collect the mail from your existing mail servers. You then configure the mail to be in SBS at a 5 minute interval. The mail will then be stored locally in the specific users mailbox.

 

[lsab1987]

Hi yamyam,

Thanks very much, that's promising news.
Can it be set to be quicker then 5 minuets?
And do you know of any guides on how to implement this? As I can't seem to find anything myself.

 

[ShackDaddy]

You can't set it quicker than 5 minutes. If you want that functionality you should look at PopBeamer or PopCon.

Exchange is best used by itself, not to support some other mail server.

Another option, if they really don't want to migrate off their current POP server, would be to set each user up with both their current settings and additionally an Exchange server mail profile. Set the mail profile to save the mail on the Exchange server, but still use the non-Exchange account by default. That will allow you to continue to use the current servers and client setup, but also save the mail on the Exchange server for more convenient centralized backups.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net
TrainSignal.com

 

[lsab1987]

Will that second method allow sent messages to be saved on the Exchange server?

 

[ShackDaddy]

Yes, it would. You would stop using .pst files completely, and you'd actually copy all the current .pst data on to the server by moving it from one "inbox" in Outlook into the other.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net
TrainSignal.com

 

[lsab1987]

Excellent, was getting concerned about our 6GB .pst files, horrible things...

Will this require any third part sooftware? And is there a name for this type of setup or guide available? As we're need someone to implement it for us.

Many thanks.

 

[ShackDaddy]

No third-party software required. If you had to name this setup, I guess you could say it's a dual-account mail setup on the Outlook client, using Exchange to store the mail but an external SMTP host to send it out. That pretty much captures it. There's no good guide for getting there, but it's not that complicated a setup.

As far as implementation, what region are you in? I might have some contacts in the same city you are in. Alternately some remote-support organizations are springing up these days that might take care of it for you over the wire.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net
TrainSignal.com

 

[lsab1987]

I'm based in East Sussex in the UK.
I'll probably look into remote support, as it will be the easiest and most affordable option.

Thanks for your help and advice, much appreciated.