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Standalone Exchange 2003 v. Exchange SBS

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ovs8

Technical User
Mar 15, 2004
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Hi there,

Is there any difference in functionality and features between Exchange 2003 and Exchange SBS?

thank you
 
no.

Difference is that your paying an all-in-one package of server to buy the products instead of purchasing them seperately...

 
Just the fact that you can't have any more than 75 users with SBS and there isn't an Enterprise version of SBS2003 which allows you to have multiple stores or stores bigger than 16Gb.

The store limit will be increased to 72Gb or so in XC 2003 SP2 however.

Neill
 
75GB will be the limit when Exchange 2003 SP2 releases.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark
 
>no.

>Difference is that your paying an all-in-one package of server to buy the products instead of purchasing them seperately...

This is sadly not the case. The applications included in SBS are somewhat bastardised (and limited) versions of the full products. For many small buisnesses this won''t be a problem, but the moment you find that you need to move beyond the SBS limits ... well, be prepared for a lot of pain
 
There is a feature pack you can purchase from Microsoft to unlock SBS and break out of the restrictions, I am not sure on the cost of this though.

AM
 
I have to respectfully disagree with strongm, we do a lot SBS implementations and aside from the limits on the number of users and the fact that SBS needs to be the FSMO role holder there is little difference. In fact you can actually gain some functionality such as the Remote Web Workplace (RWW), a feature which has been so successful that it is being ported over to a Medium IT Server.

There is no difference in the SBS Exchange from any other Exchange Standard server.

Contrary to popular misconception, you can add additional servers to an SBS network and you can also make them DCs and GCs, just not FSMO role holders or DHCP servers.

As ashleym has pointed out you can purchase the transition pack if you need to step up beyond the 75 user limit. The cost is roughly the same as if you were to purchase the seperate products for Exchange, SQL & ISA and you need to purchase new CALs. Where you save is on the fact that your AD remains intact as does all of your data etc. Once the transition pack has been loaded you retain all the functionality of SBS such as RWW but you no longer have the 75 user limit and you can break your products such as Exchange off to other servers. (Note: you must order seperate media for this, the transition pack will let you use the same keys as from SBS)

Bottom line for making a dicision to go with SBS or not should be:
1. Max number of users you need to support
2. Will you need more than one information store
3. Budget

Additionally evaluate if you need either ISA or SQL as they are only included in the SBS Premium Edition. We tend to use the need for SQL as the litmus test for our customers since ISA can be replaced by an inexpensive firewall like a linksys for most small businesses who won't necessarily miss the application level filtering that ISA can do.


I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark
 
>There is no difference in the SBS Exchange from any other Exchange Standard server

Yes, it is a full version of Exchange Standard - except that it can only be installed on the SBS. Which is the limitation of all the backoffice applications bundled in the SBS package - they all have to go on the same server.

Sure, as markdmac says, you can add more servers - but they can't be SBS (you are only allowed one of those in your AD forest, and it has to be the root), so they would have to be full versions. And you use up a CAL for each server you add. And you can't have child domains. Or trusts. And you can't move any of the SBS applications onto these newly added servers.

However, as long as you can live with and understand these limitations SBS is ideal for the small businesses with limited IT resources that it is aimed at.
 
Correct on all accounts strongm. Note that as specified above you can move the Exchange to another server later down the road if you order the transition pack.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark
 
I installed Sbs server in my office for testing. we have 40 users and application run sql 2000 server is working fine on it i have 5 user cal licence. is any problem arising when i configure exchange server with 5 CAL for 40 email ID's .Is it required to buy a licence to configured. now when our users login to server (all users ) it shows the licence exceed error. pls give suggetions
 
Yes, you need to purchase SBS CALs for 35 users.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark
 
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