Exchange server to cater for 4 networks accross 2 sites!

[Jimbo]

Hi all,

 

First time poster so go easy...I'm going to be asking some pretty dumb questions but hey ho. 8O

 

We are a large special school based accross two campuses about a 1.5 miles apart. Each campus has two networks, a curriculum and an admin.

 

Currently only our SMT and admin teams use email from basic pop3 accounts.

 

I need all my staff on email to improve our schools communication. Each member of staff has their own romaing XP profile that I need to hook up to an exchange mailbox.

 

Considering users accross both campuses and all 4 networks need exchange mailboxes but all from the same cn**.co.uk email domain - How do I go about setting this up?

 

BTW. I know absolutely nothing about exchange. (if you had not already guessed!)

 

Cheers in advance for any replies- Jimbo.

[binky]

What you could do with 2007 is install 1 server (at least) at each site running the Mailbox Server role and the Client Access role, and then have another server, on your main server, running UM, Hub and Edge Transport roles. Then each campus can be set to the specified Client Access Server. If you want more than one network, put a server with the mailbox and CA roles on each network and make sure they can connect to the main server.

[Jimbo]

Ouch...

 

I knew this would be expensive and complicated.

 

Thank you very much for the reply....

[kearton]

Do you *have* to use Exchange?

[Jimbo]

No...Anything that gets the job done.

[Geoff]

Would a webmail based system be sufficient?

[Jimbo]

I doubt it because we need a global address book and calender sharing. Although if a webmail system would do that we would certainly consider it.

J.

[webman]

Jimbo: I'd recommend Zimbra then. Global Address Book, Shared Calendars, Shared Documents, web-based, free and open source, no CALs required. Beats the pants off exchange.

 

Geoff and CyberNerd I know for sure use it, and we're in the middle of testing it.

[Jimbo]

I'll check it out straight away! Sounds bloody fantastic!

 

Are there any issues with Confidentiality?

 

Can you customise the appearence of the client/web interface?

 

Cheers. J.

[bossman]

Hi Jimbo:

about the confidentiality factor, we trust you not to tell another soul about what you have read here ok :)

[Geoff]

Can you customise the appearance of the client/web interface?

 

It's theme-able. You can also turn features on or off on a per user or group basis. So you can strip it down for the kids, but keep all the calendering and GAL for staff.