MarkHastings

Microsoft Outlook Exchange Server - Pros and Cons?

Hello all, my company is installing an exchange server for email. I believe we are getting a new server with (Microsoft 2002 server) installed.

What are the pro's and con's about an Exchange server. I am very concerned about viruses (especially the new ones that haven't been added to the latest definitions)

DonRoeber

Pros: Corporate BigWigs will be happy, because it's what everyone else at the golf course has.

Cons: Expensive, Security Nightmare, Virus Nightmare, Not Standards based, very difficult to restore from backup.

And that's just getting me started.

See if you can have them put the Exchange server behind a firewall, and put a standards based secure MTA infront of it, just to pass the mail to the Exchange server after doing virus & spam handling.

Are you in the IT department?

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He was quickly joined by a dwarf dressed as a nun.

Dave E H

Many users really like Outlook. That's the reason to use exchange. Other than that, it's a pain from the IT perspective.

John_Berger

The fact is NOT that many users "really like Outlook." The fact is that very few of them are aware of alternatives - and free alternatives at that. Because of Microsoft's anti-trust tactic of implementing Outlook into Windows, most people don't bother to look for alternatives. And because many IT shops kiss Microsoft's ass, it's very difficult to get anything other than Outlook onto users' desktops.

Along the same lines you'll probably claim that "many users really like Internet Explorer". My response to that is to see my response above.

From an IT perspective, sendmail on UNIX still dramatically outperforms Exchange in almost all aspects EXCEPT management, thanks to the cutesy graphical interface that's inherent in Windows applications. Unfortunately, manageability is the excuse that most IT managers try to use to get it in house. "Oh, {whine whine} sendmail is so difficult to use." Forget that a single UNIX box with sendmail can outperform an entire Exchange farm.

{ sigh }

I'll get off my soapbox now.

Scott DeToffol

Outlook is not included with Windows. You're thinking of Outlook Express which does not work with Exchange.

For a small-medium company, the speed performance of a mail server is not the issue and the management of the server is probably the most important issue.

Also, trying to find someone to setup and manage a UNIX based system is typically much more difficult than finding equivalent skills for Windows-based products.

John_Berger

But you apparently don't realize how many companies use the full version because and only because of people's familiarity with the Express version, regardless of whether or not there is a more cost-effective client solution out there.

I figured it out on my own using only the Internet at a time when I was a UNIX newbie. E-mail, POP server, DNS ... learned it all on the Internet. If I can do it, so can anyone else -- God forbid.

MarkHastings

No, I am asking on behalf of someone who is.Sorry to get you going, but - What do you mean by "Not Standards based"?

We are currently using a Linux based server (which works fine), but he (our engineer) wants to change everything to Exchange. His main thinking is to be able to check email from outside the company, but this logic sounds odd to me since any pop3 based email program can be used.

I guess he wants to also use the "Calendar" program to schedule meetings, but is it really wise to completely change an existing mail server (which has been functioning fine for the past 6 years) with something different just for these functions?

We (me and the IT person) are very concerned about the problems and issues that will arrise from this switch.

Scott DeToffol

I realize just fine, thanks. "People's familiarity" with Microsoft's software is probably the primary reason to go with it. The willingness of users to actually use software is incredibly important to the success of any software roll-out. And shortening the end-users learning curve reduces costs.

IMO, too many administrators let the anti-Microsoft bias get in the way of looking at the total cost of ownership and make platform decisions based on what they want, not what their users want.

Max Leung

Hey Mark, ask your IT friend to check out this anti-spam add-on for Microsoft Outlook (not Express, yet):

http://www.cloudmark.com

I'm not sure if it plugs into Exchange Server, but at least it will stop 99% of all incoming viruses and spam.

I'm using the consumer version. It's supposed to be $1.00/month for private use, although for some reason I didn't have to pay anything. It may be still in beta however.

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DonRoeber

Exchange uses SMTP to connect to the rest of the world, but once a message is inside the Exchange software, it's stored in a proprietary Microsoft format. Other mail storage mechanisms are often well documented, with the source freely available (Berkley mbox format is very popular, as is the qMail Maildir format). The more standards based something is, the easier it is to work with, or to move to another product, as long as that other product maintains support for your chosen implementation.


Yeah, that's a strange reason. For me, dependability is always more important than features, especially when dealing with something as critical as email. If he wants remote access to his email, then yes, a POP3 client would work, but there are also other options. A very popular option here on campus is webmail. IMP is a very good webmail client that works with any POP or IMAP server. http://horde.org/imp It takes about a day to install for the first time.