Email Servers?

[Daniel]

Anyone have suggestions for Windows based email servers?

I started a new job, and the one office has only about 10-12 people in it is running Exchange 2k already, which I'm sure cost an arm and a leg. I've seen some other options tossed around, i.e. IMail from ipswitch. Does anyone have any specific suggestions of good simple email software for a small office? I'm not planning on pulling exchange down here since they already have it but they want to setup other offices and I'm not sure what else to go with.
thanks,
Daniel

 

[Workin']

Well, if they are running Exchange already and don't want to get rid of it they might as well use Exchange at the other offices, too. It's not that expensive compared to any other full-featured mail server for Windows. Plus then you'll only have to support one program instead of 2, which will likely save more money in the long run than however much extra Exchange costs to acquire initially.

 

[Daniel]

I was thinking that too but someone else suggested moving off exchange, its not 100% my call but I am looking for some other options in case they decide to take that route, any ideas?
thanks,
Daniel

 

[Garion]

One thing I can guarantee.. If you take away Exchange from users who have had it for a while, you're going to have a revolt. It's very full-featured, with calendaring, shared contacts, etc. iMail is pretty good, but it's really just an e-mail server, with no other bells-and-whistles.

one sugestion: Buy a new Exchange server that can run all people in the whole company. It works pretty well across a WAN. Not blazingly-fast, but it's very functional. This assumes, of course, that your offices are connected together via a VPN or a WAN. This saves on licencing fees, additional hardware and administration. Centralization is good!

- G

 

[IgorTs]

leave exchange alone, perfect mail server in good hands.

 

[Daniel]

Ok thanks, seems that even with only a few people exchange is still good, just seemed like overkill for when it was first set up but I guess it will grow well with them so they should just leave it.
Part of the problem with the setup is they don't take advantage of any of the collaborative features, I think they would like them, I just got a new book on it so I can try to brush up and show them how much more they can get out of it. As for right now even half of the people there keep logging into aol and sending mail from there, why I don't know though.

 

[wlee]

I'd recommend .MDaemon. It's much less expensive than Exchange and far easier to config and keep running. It does support MAPI and all that other Exchange type garbage, but I like to keep users on plain POP3. That way there is no such inter-dependencies as when you have integrated calender,etc.

 

[Cable God]

stick with exchange, easier to administer for someone who's not a guru at linux, and you can get phone based support for those disasters that occur sometimes.

 

[SaigonK]

Ever think of going to Lotus Notes?
Does calendering, journals etc etc etc....

 

[Garion]

You know, I think you might be approaching this the wrong way. Ask your users and management what they want - Do they want a fully-featured (but expensive) app for corporate e-mail, collaboration, calendaring, contacts, etc. like Exchange or are they just looking for something simple, cheap, and basic that just does e-mail. If they want the latter, Mdaemon is a great tool that I really like, as well. If they want to pay for the former, then Exchange it is! IMHO, a sysadmin/architect should ASK what people want and how much they want to spend, then try to find the best solution to meet their requirements, not arbitrarily pick something on his own..

- G

 

[Santa]

Offload as much of the decision making to your users and upper managment as possible. That way when a bill comes up or a problem arises you can say they chose it or at the very least it was the best fit to their requirments.

Your best bet is to just connect the outside offices to your current exchange server and then you will be done with it instead of trying to install seperate mail servers in each locations.

Now this is assuming your differnt locations are still considered one company.

As much as some people do not like exchange it does work and if you do have the software already purchased why waste that investment?

Also think about support. Centralized administration is key but if you can't centralize it at the very least can you support it from afar? If you don't work on the mail server day in and day out but you have to support it will you be able to? Will hiring someone to support it at the other office location full time be out of the question? Lots of questions you can answer yourself or have upper managment answer for you.

 

[mrbass]

stalker.com CommunigatePro runs on about 20 or so Operating Systems. Been using it the past 3 years it's been solid.

 

[Woodchuck2000]

I would heartily recommend exchange 2K (even though I'm only running 5.5) It's very well featured, easy to administer and runs without a hitch from day to day.

 

[theXing]

Does anyone know of any good FREE ones? That are EXTEREMLY SECURE, and have SSL enabled functionality? DoS is hard to do?