Well with 40 people you're paying 280 euro a month. Some quick
currency conversions tells me that an Exchange server for an org your
size would likely set you back between 2300 and 3000 Euro from Dell.
280 goes into 2300 8.2 times - or it will pay for itself in 9 months.
If you're already managing AD and other infrastructure, Exchange
isn't going to add that much overhead. Create the mailboxes for your
users, import the PSTs or whatever they have now, and make sure it's
getting backed up and updated (which I'm sure you're already doing
with your other servers). Has the DSL been reliable so far? If so,
then I wouldn't worry about it. If not, either get a better DSL
provider or find someone to be your MX or backup MX.
Regarding bandwidth, ADSL goes to 6mbps these days - what limitations
are on your circuit? Outlook 2003 in cached mode doesn't chew that much.
Thanks,
Brian Desmond
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
c - 312.731.3132
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:ActiveDir-
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Javier Jarava
> Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 11:57 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] Maybe OT: Shared Calendars w/o using
Exchange?
> Tips/Suggestions/Recommedations?
>
> Hi!
>
> Thanks for the prompt reply...
>
> As for "hosted" solutions, I guess that I don't much care wether the
> backend is Exchange, SBS or whatever the hosting company choses to
> provide ;) From what I've seen
> (http://www.arsys.es/aplicaciones/correo-exchange.htm,
> http://www.acens.com/seccion.web/correo/acens-exchange/678 - yes, we
> are based in Spain - or http://www.mi8.com/ to show that I'm looking
> elsewhere) basically what you get is a webbased admin panel and a
> number of accounts that you configure... not too much control but
> "good enough".... Of course, I'd love to get recommendations for other
> providers or to be shown that "not all of them are similar" ;)
>
> As for the lack of a server for 40+ users, well, that's not really
> true: We have an AD (2003) domain (basic setup: single forest, single
> domain, 2 DCs) for the users, it's just that the email is hosted on a
> external server, to avoid downtime and lessen the administrative load
> on "network admin" (we don't have a full time person for that). Also,
> we currently have 2 main offices in Spain (conneted by DSL) and people
> working or tele-working in the US, Mexico, Colombia, Germany and the
> UK (2/3 people on each place at most): I believe that creating the
> infrastructure (relability-wise) to serve all those locations inhouse
> would be a tad expensive and (I belive) not really warranted. Of
> course, I'd love to hear opinions either way...
>
> As for "control freak", we have an VPS so we have root on the mail
> server; as a matter of fact the hardest point for the internal
> acceptance of a hosted solution would probably "lack of root access"
> on the email server...
>
> I agree with you that to manage that "that many" (ok, those who manage
> Multi-K domains, please stop laughing) users, AD is a must.... And,
> besides, we delvelop security software that runs on top of AD, so I'd
> be a bit odd if we didn't use our own SW ;)
>
> In any case, I really am starting to believe that the simpler thing
> will be to "get the real thing", so the options seem to be: 1) Get an
> Exchange Server inhouse. But that means making sure that our DSL line
> doesn't go down, and having the bandwith etc... 2) "House" a server on
> some co-lo. The comm. problems disappear, but we still have to babysit
> the thing... 3) Go for a hosted exchange provider. I've seen offers on
> the range of ~7€/mo/user; I believe that for a limited number of user
> (~30 ATM, possibly up to 40 in the foreseable future) that makes more
> sense than doing it all ourselves...
>
> I'd really love to hear your thoughts on the matter, and also if you
> could comment/recommend any service providers you'd make my life
> considerably easier ;)
>
> In any case, thanks again for reading this far and bearing with my
> ramblings.
>
> Happy Christmas for all ;)
>
> Javier Jarava
>
> On 05/12/06, Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz - SBS Rocks [MVP]
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Hosted SBS with Outlook 2003
> >
> > Office Live http://office.microsoft.com/en-
> us/outlook/HA100809831033.aspx
> > Not 2003 without a SBS box on the backend but 2007 uses Office Live
> to
> > share calendars.
> >
> > 40 people and you don't have a server... wow.....the control
freak in
> me
> > is freaking out. We put SBS servers in at 5 to 10 people and even
> less.
> >
> > Shared calendars pushes the sale of many a SBS box.... I don't know
> of
> > non MS solutions.
> >
> >
> > Javier Jarava wrote:
> > > Hi!
> > >
> > > Sorry if this question is a bit off-topic to the list, but I've
> seen
> > > some Exchange-related questions here, so I know there is Exchange
> > > expertise hanging around ;) and I didn't know where to ask; please
> > > feel free to point me to the proper forums (forii?) to ask in.
> > >
> > > I am looking for a way to implement shared calendars "a la
> exchange"
> > > (ie, they have to be "visible" and used from within Outlook 2003),
> but
> > > without actually using/hosting an Exchange Server ourselves. The
> idea
> > > is that people should be able to see/manage the calendar of the
> people
> > > they manage, so free/busy info is not enough. And the "outlook"
> > > requisite is a must (as my CEO put it yesterday: "I live within
> > > Outlook; I don't want to meddle with web apps or the like)
> > >
> > > I know that it's a bit odd of a requisite, but we are a small co.
> (~
> > > 40 employees) and the president feels that having to babysit a
> server
> > > in-house is a bit of a needless burden.
> > >
> > > At present we host our email / web presence / customer ticketing
> > > system in a pair of VPS from Verio, so if the proposed solution
> could
> > > run on top of FreeBSD it'd be a big plus ;)
> > >
> > > Of course (now going for the "and ask about the KitchenSink" part
> ;)
> > > if we could put it into place without having to tweak our email
> setup
> > > that'd be wonderful!!.
> > >
> > > We understand that we'd probably have to install some Outlook
> plugin,
> > > so that's OK...
> > >
> > > If there is no way to have the "Shared Calendar" feature as a
> > > stand-alone service/server, I guess the next step would be to ask
> > > those of you who know Exchange for an "exchange clone" that
runs on
> > > FreeBDS / Unix..... Or last but not least, I guess that there must
> be
> > > "hosted Exchange" providers out there that you can recommend.
> That'd
> > > mean re-doing our mail system, but I guess that we could live with
> it,
> > > if need be.
> > >
> > > Thanks a lot for those of you who have read this far.
> > >
> > > Best Regards
> > >
> > > Javier Jarava
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