Microsoft exchange server 2007

[akaneria]

Could anyone tell me what the use of Microsoft exchange server 2007 is?

Are there any sort of programs that allow computers within a network to send internal mail to each other?

We curently have our email hosted by eclipse internet, and we use outlook express to send and receive email's, what does the exchange server do compared to that?

thanks

[Jay]

Basically the same only you host it. Its a bit expensive though unless you use SBS 2003. Internal mail can also bedone with emwacs mail, its a tiny program but you must not allow external SMTP to connect to it. Can I ask why you want this info?


Have a look at www.mailsite.com, its very very good and free for 20 mail boxes. Its not a simple setup though and if you don't unedrstand the concepts behind exchange then I would advise you do not try to do this.

[akaneria]

there are 2 parts to my queries:

1. basically i have 5 computers at my office, which i want to setup an internal mail system, they are

connected to an adsl router but only 1 is allowed access to the internet. Can you recommend any

free/nonfree programs that can be used to send internal mail only around the network? They are
windowsXP. one machine can be used as a server.

2. my current office broadband, website & mail is with eclipse internet, i want to move my broadband to another cheap provider (o2) but keep the mail and website with them, but will allow it, but will charge another £15 per month to keep the website and mail running!! when infact when its with the broadband it only cost £4 extra to run on top of the £17.99 broadband.

any ideas?
thanks

[Jay]

this is very very simple but i'm not sure how it would work on XP, give it a go

http://www.five-ten-sg.com/util/html/ims.htm

download from here

http://www.filewatcher.com/m/IMSi386...44406.0.0.html

like I said, make sure you do not allow any external access to this server as it will be an open rely.


Is it a catchall address you have?

[akaneria]

would this program work with either microsoft outlook or outlook express?

[Jay]

yes. Its just a SMTP server / pop3

[akaneria]

sorry to sound so stupid, but are there any more simpler version for windows xp?

[Splash]

How important is email to your business? I would strongly advise against using Windows XP as a mailserver - for your requirements SBS is pretty much the ideal fit. You could pay someone to build and install it for you, making sure that you set a decent backup regime and then pretty much leave it as is - it doesn't sound to me (and please don't take this the wrong way) like you have the know-how to be setting up and running your own mailserver, so having a third party do it for you would make the most sense to me.

[Moby-Dick]

going to have to agree with SPlash here - SBS2003 is right up your street - there's much more than basic email functionality that comes with exchange server - the calendering function alone is pretty handy. SBS will also give you a mini intranet site for company wide information and can be used to sync email with mobile devices and provide remote control over your work computers , allowing people to work form home.

2 Things to note :

1 - I wouldn't attempt this alone , SBS is one of the easier products to set up out of the box , but does require a bit of skill to get the best out of it.
2 - Make sure all your workstations are XP Professional or you'll end up having to buy some new workstation licences.

[akaneria]

hi guys, thats true guys,
i don't really have the know how, but thats what this place is for, to learn.
Anyway this stuff may be just out of my league, i know how to install xp, build computers and configure other bits of software but doing somthing as simple as setting up an internal email system seem pretty tough! lol

but i will give it a go!

[Moby-Dick]

in that case you'd better start here :

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...g/default.mspx

read through the guides

also work out if you can afford it - I think a 5 CAL SBS licence is about £200 , plus the hardware for it to sit on ( dont be tempted to install it on a PC - its going to be powered up 24 hours a day and if it fails it going to cause you some major headaches - so buy once and buy right. )

have you got a domain name registered ? does your ISP allow a static IP ?

[akaneria]

yes i have a domain name registered and by broadband is also with a static ip address

[Splash]

Have you checked that the new ISP will allow you to host servers? Not all do.

[akaneria]

dont think it does

[b0redom]

To be honest mate, it sounds like you're best of leaving your external facing email and website hosted with your ISP.

If you're interested in emai which will not leave the company/learning about it in general, either get a PC and stick Linux on it, and configure up dovecot and postfix - or get the company to buy a copy of SBS as mentioned above.

Do not connect up your internal email server to the Internet. You are asking for trouble, and are likely to be blacklisted very quickly (ie you'll be unable to send email).

[akaneria]

is sbs small business server 2007?
Thats another thing i need to learn how to use, suppose i will have to install it somewhere and just start messing around with it! lol