RE: [Exim] OT: Need some feed back on Exchange as an SMTP se…

Christopher Baker wrote:
> We currently have Exchange set up with about 50 users. We're running
> it on a box with SCSI RAID mirroring, 1 GB of RAM, and at least a 2
> GHz CPU. A lot of times I find myself saying: "Microsoft is still
> Microsoft."

Wow, talk about overkill. My box is a P3 600 with 768MB of RAM and SCSI-3
RAID1
hard drives, supporting 450 mailboxes and a 10GB information store. Works
like a champ.

> The biggest problem is that it takes about 11 minutes to shut down.
> It's pretty consistent in the time that it takes though. It actually
> goes quicker if I shut down Exchange services manually first and then
> shut down the server.

This is, unfortunately, common with a number of installations. Usually
moving the transaction logs to a different physical volume than the
databases improves this dramatically.

> Some Windows XP users also take over a minute to find the server when
> they open up their Outtlook. I'm still trying to figure this one out.

Those are name resolution issues. The MS KB has a number of articles on
this topic.

> Outlook Web Access works only from Internet Explorer. I natually
> assume that this was done on purpose. You can't check your Outlook in
> any other web browser.

I access OWA from Mozilla Firebird nightly.

> Windows Backup is quite unreliable. And if you use any Microsoft
> product, you are more likely to be raided by the license gestap even
> if you are totally innocent.

I've never had a problem with Windows backups, using the native MS utility
or BackupExec.

I'm not singing the praises of Exchange, as I have my fair share of issues
with it. Most of my complaints, however, revolve around lack of
flexibility. From a stability and performance standpoint, Exchange as
always been a rock for me. It all comes down to proper planning and
implementation, and a knowledgeable admin, things common with any successful
service rollout on any platform.

Steven
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Steven Dickenson <sdickenson@???>
Network Administrator
The Key School, Annapolis Maryland