exchange server advice please

[filipino65]

Hi , our IT guy has left, and as i'm the only one with IT skills ( mcse nt4 - not done much since thou) , I've been asked to now look after our small network, we have less than 20 users, and have a exchange server, not sure if its 5.5 or 2000, as i'm working away from home for a couple of weeks, my boss wants to get rid of the exhange server, as its been a problem it the past, whats the best way, i was thinking of making 15 email accounts on our ips, and using outlook on each of the users pc with pop3 accounts, storing the emails locally in a pst file created by extracting the emails, for each user from exchange server to a pst file, would that be ok for 15 users ? or what would be a better way. using a pop3 server ??

thanks for any advice

leon

[Oops_my_bad]

What was wrong with Exchange server?

Only thing I'm thinking about seperate POP3 mailboxes is it can be a pain to manage

[filipino65]

thanks TeddyKGB from another manc, in the past, its hung, problems starting exchange, hardly ever had any maintenace done on it, the server it self is an old compaq server, basically it seen better days, i know its a pain setting up 15 pop3 accounts but someone told me the max is 5, and then you need to use exchange server, maybe in the days of dailup, surely our 8mb down, 512k upload can handle 15 pop3 accounts and people accessing web sites ???, we just want to get rid of the server.

[steveg]

From a bandwidth point of view, you can have as many pop3 accounts as your host will supply, overhead on this is not going to be significant really. If everyone is going to have outlook open all day, you can always adjust how often it check for new emails, but I really dont think this will be necessary.

If your exisiting hardware that exchange is installed on is old then you have few other options - one being web based, such as RM Easymail.

Have you spoken to your LEA to see if they offer any email hosting?

Personally I like having things in house, and have recently installed exchange into the primary school I work at. If you do have spare hardware availible, there are free email servers you can use, which have been discussed on here before.

Steve

[webman]

Have you considered looking into Google for your email?

[filipino65]

thanks guys, yes i've thought about gmail, but we have our own domain, and i've been told we have unlimited email adresses on it, so for 15 people i was thinking to finally kill off the exchange server before it dies, and just give everyone a pop3, i know its a bit of a pain to set up, but most of the users are in the same office, and once i've done it, one less server and once less app that can give me a headache

it looks like most of you think i should keep the exchange server then ? , i did exhange server 5.5 in 2000 for my mcse in nt4 , but forgot nearly all of it , but i'm sure if i flip thru the books again, most will come back, if we have exchange 2000 would i have problems only having studied exchange 5.5 ? or are the basics still the same? , i was thinking of setting up a server and exchange server at home so i could 'play' around with it..

any more help i be grateful

thanks again

[ajbritton]

The big thing that Exchange gives you is the ability to share resources. You can set up a 'shared' email or calendar that multiple users can access. This is next to impossible with POP3 as whatever client you use has to download the information to a local store. I do not know of any POP3 email client that can handle simultaneous (and therefore shared) access to a local mail store.

[snrweb]

Its common to go back to pop3 + PST files if you've had a hassle with exchange. Stuff you lose is:

1. central admin of mailbox users/passwords
2. shared folders & calendar
3. central point of backup
4. distribution lists & the like

It will also take longer for your mail to get to colleagues as it goes out to the ISP and in again whereas Exchange does local delivery.

TBH for 15 users, i would make the effort with exchange. If it were 5 users then i would let it go.

The only real difference you will note from Exch 5.5 is that all the mailbox management is done in Active Directory now, so its much easier.

I would get a new server and new installation of Exch 2003 and start afresh. It really is easier than it sounds. Setting up a pilot/demo is a good idea. You can download 180 day versions of exch and windows 2003 or even Small Business Server.

[ajbritton]

I would get a new server and new installation of Exch 2003 and start afresh. It really is easier than it sounds. Setting up a pilot/demo is a good idea. You can download 180 day versions of exch and windows 2003 or even Small Business Server.

I agree with that. Setting up of Exchange 2003 is a lot smoother than 5.5.

[webman]

Or to keep costs down (and in my opinion if you want superior features) I'd recommend Zimbra.

[john]

Exchange is not a bad program to install in the new version, must get on with doing my new 2007 one for home (adds that to the other 5000 jobs to do)