Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming wrote:
I am torn between deploying Microsoft Exchange 2016 and Linux-based
SMTP servers like sendmail, postfix, qmail and exim.
Relative ease of installation and configuration is an important
consideration factor.
Microsoft Exchange 2016, Domain Controller, and Active Directory are
relatively easy to install and configure. Linux-based SMTP servers are
extremely difficult to install and configure and of course, extremely
time-consuming.
Based on experience at a number of jobs, Exchange may appear to be easy to
configure, but as soon as you get past the utterly basic configuration,
when management or other departments want more, it then becomes a major
headache.
I work for a US federal contractor these days, on site (civilian sector)
and they just gave up, and moved to M$ cloud for it. And most people HATE
IT.
Searching, if you're not using Outlook, is either terrrible or nonexistant
(they've started auto-archiving here, and I'm hearing there is no search).
In addition, if you go to 365, you are NOT BUYING the software, you're
renting the service. You will be paying every year, and a service contract
will cost, and, presumably, cost more every year.
Linux, once you get over the learning curve, is not that difficult to
administer. and there's a lot of online help (just don't expect us to do
your job for you, as a few folks who've posted here over the years seeem
to expect). You can also get contract help. If that's important, you might
consider upstream, who do provide paid support.
And it will cost a lot less than M$.
One of the features of Microsoft Exchange 2016 is that you can create
additional folders on your Inbox in the server (server-side). Can
Linux-based SMTP servers do that?
I don't know of any mail system that you cannot do that in. Every one
allows that.
<snip>
Besides the above considerations, how about security? Traditionally,
Linux is far more secure than Windows.
Yup. And fixes come a *LOT* faster, often in hours or days, as opposed to
M$'s "there's no probem, it's your fault (insert one week to three
months), ok, ok, we've got a fix
Judging by security, Linux-based SMTP servers ought to have a higher
percentage of the market share?
Back in the last century, the old mainframe line was "nobody ever lost
their job by recommending IBM"; since the nineties, it's been
"recommending Windows", because that's all they know. We won't say how
much M$ pays, both for advertising, FUD, and illegal under the table
payments to manufacturers.
