2x Exchange 2007 Questions

[FatalSaviour]

Hi All

I'm currently looking into the suitability of buying a small server to run SBS2008 on, so all of our company's e-mail is hosted in-house.

I'm fairly new to the whole server OS side of things, but I'm dedicated, and prepared to learn as much as I need to (plus a bit )

I have two questions really:

1. This is the reason I've been considering this in the first place. At the moment, we manage several e-mail addresses (accounts@yourcompany.com, info@yourcompany.com etc) that the workload is shared between. However, at the moment, this involves POP3 retrieval, so one person does a send/receive, and then forwards a batch on - not ideal!
Therefore, I'd like to have a mailbox (accounts@yourcompany.com for example), and then shared between multiple users... Is this possible?

2. Is it possible to send/receive mail from multiple domains with SBS2008/Exchange 2007? So both the boss can send mail from both the parent company (boss@abc.com) and a subsidiary (boss@xyz.com)?

Any other thoughts would also be very welcome.

Thanks everyone and Best Regards!

[gss03]

1. This is the reason I've been considering this in the first place. At the moment, we manage several e-mail addresses (accounts@yourcompany.com, info@yourcompany.com etc) that the workload is shared between. However, at the moment, this involves POP3 retrieval, so one person does a send/receive, and then forwards a batch on - not ideal!
Therefore, I'd like to have a mailbox (accounts@yourcompany.com for example), and then shared between multiple users... Is this possible?

In a nutshell yes!
Shared mailboxes is done easily with Exchange/ outlook

2. Is it possible to send/receive mail from multiple domains with SBS2008/Exchange 2007? So both the boss can send mail from both the parent company (boss@abc.com) and a subsidiary (boss@xyz.com)?

Yes, or if you have a fixed IP you can get it directly dropped into exchange. This is a much better solution, even though the POP3 connector for SBS has been rewritten.

If you've got more SBS questions ping me a message as I know deal with a hell of a lot of SBS on a day-to-day basis, or can point you in the right direction!

[Moby-Dick]

I've not done much with the SBS 2k8 - but a pop 3 connector is possible as said - its better to have proper SMTP records ( maybe via a 3rd party SMTP Spool/Anti Spam facility like postini )

you can certiainly receive mail from multiple domain names, but sending them out under multiple identities is a little harder off hand. ( think you would need multiple mailboxes per user - one for each domain)

[Jay]

I have just finished A 2007 roll out, when I'm not on my iphone (tomorrow) I'll knock you up a how to guide on your questions.

[FatalSaviour]

I've not got much else to add right now, but I just wanted to reply to thank the 3 of you for your quick responses and offers of help. This is my first real expedition into the world of SBS (it's not really in my job description! , and although I'm trying to learn as independently as I can, it's nice to be able to talk to friendly knowledgeable people when it all gets a bit much!

Much appreciated everyone, thanks a lot!

[Stringent]

SBS2008 is x64 only isn't it, as I remember you cannot upgrade a SBS2003 -> 2008 because of that. Sad the CALs for it are SO expensive.

[Jay]

All microsoft CALs are stupidly expensive!

[gss03]

SBS2008 is x64 only isn't it, as I remember you cannot upgrade a SBS2003 -> 2008 because of that. Sad the CALs for it are SO expensive.

Upgrade from SBS2003 -> SBS2008 is not possible

*MIGRATION* from SBS2003 -> SBS2008 is very possible and is documented too.

SBS2008 is x64 - with some high requirements with regards to hardware (minimum 4GB RAM and 60GB hard disk) - unlike SBS2003 which you could run on a P2 233 if you really wanted to!

[gss03]

All microsoft CALs are stupidly expensive!

CALs are stupidly expensive, but with SBS2008 you don't have to buy in packs of 5 as a minimum. They're selling them as singles too.

Bit of a bugger that now the SBS CAL doesn't include an Outlook licence anymore :-(

[Paul Boy]

Bit of a bugger that now the SBS CAL doesn't include an Outlook licence anymore :-(

Really!! i didn't know that

[aidanjt]

Here's what you do:
1) Grab an old computer gathering dust (for free)
2) Download, burn, and install CentOS 5 (for free, excluding the few pence for the DVD+R)
3) Follow this guide (for free)
4) Add as many mail clients as you want (for free)
5) ???
6) Sit back and profit!

Total cost = 2 or 3 hours of your time...





And a DVD+R.

[Moby-Dick]

Here's what you do:
1) Grab an old computer gathering dust (for free)
2) Download, burn, and install CentOS 5 (for free, excluding the few pence for the DVD+R)
3) Follow this guide (for free)
4) Add as many mail clients as you want (for free)
5) ???
6) Sit back and profit!

Total cost = 2 or 3 hours of your time...





And a DVD+R.

Fine if you want to use such awesome protols as IMAP or POP

but Exchange does offer a touch more than that - its far from perfect and in a very small office situation I'd possibly be tempted to have a play , but SBS is designed to be run without a huge ammount of experience and as such fits that niche of providing enterprise class features at a relativly low cost.

People moan about licence cost but as an investment in your business , its a splash in the pond.

[aidanjt]

Fine if you want to use such awesome protols as IMAP or POP

but Exchange does offer a touch more than that - its far from perfect and in a very small office situation I'd possibly be tempted to have a play , but SBS is designed to be run without a huge ammount of experience and as such fits that niche of providing enterprise class features at a relativly low cost.

People moan about licence cost but as an investment in your business , its a splash in the pond.

Still, better £5,000 (or sometimes a *lot* more) in your pay raise than in somebody else's pockets. And if it doesn't work out, you still have the option of splashing out lots of money for the 'easy' way, and all you'll have lost is a few hours of your time (and a DVD+R).

[Moby-Dick]

I'm not sure where you got that figure from

It depends on the value of the business to me - if email was a business critical function , do you really think it would be entrusted to an "old" PC and software with absolutly no recourse if it all goes pearshaped.

Many small businesses really dont have time to sit around knee deep in newgroups and support forums to try and resolve some of the more "interesting" challenges based around a system. What they save on licencing they will possilby spend getting someone in to resolve issues when it goes a wrong ( which is possible for windows too , but windows support is a lot cheaper )

I am biased , working in a 95% windows environment , but not a Microsoft fanboy ( dont get me started on Hyper-V , its ESX or nothing ) - I just happen to support 150,000 exchange mailboxes.

[aidanjt]

I'm not sure where you got that figure from

New 'server' hardware, software (OS, and various security utilities licensed for servers), extra client licenses, etc). A quick rough guestimate for a medium sized office network.

It depends on the value of the business to me - if email was a business critical function , do you really think it would be entrusted to an "old" PC and software with absolutly no recourse if it all goes pearshaped.

Old PCs have been running reliabily as gateways for years. Just because they're old, it doesn't mean they have no use, or that they're inherently unreliable. Super-expensive hardware is no replacement for a backup plan.

Many small businesses really dont have time to sit around knee deep in newgroups and support forums to try and resolve some of the more "interesting" challenges based around a system. What they save on licencing they will possilby spend getting someone in to resolve issues when it goes a wrong ( which is possible for windows too , but windows support is a lot cheaper )

Community support is free, commercial *NIX support is there if you want to pay for it, there is a choice. So you can have one person googling a problem and bettering themselves in the process. Or you can have one person phoning commercial support and spending nearly the same amount of time being talked through a problem. Both methods work, the latter is better for people who have to maintain a network set up by someone else. The same applies for both platforms, naturally.

[MaddAussie]

How many users are you thinking of putting on SBS? It has hard ceiling of 75 users (in the real world you shouldnt go above 50 TBH) If you are anywhere near this limit or think you might be in the next 5 years or so then think about going to a discrete solution than an eggs all in one basket SBS box