Email Server vs. ISP As Email Host

[rayway]

We recently installed a network with approx 40 users. We have not brought in a higher bandwidth line for Internet connectivity yet. Those who currently have Internet access and email are doing so through a dial-up connection to our ISP. My question is, once we bring in the faster line and give everyone access to the Internet through the network, should we purchase a seperate mail server or can we use our ISP to host our email? If both will work, what are some of the pro's and con's of each?

 

[shannonlapekas]

I am running a Mail Server with a DSL line. Since we have made the switch over I have found that it is very easy to make changes, add address, etc. to the user accounts. I am using Microsoft Exhange Server for our mail server. I am not sure if this applies to you but if you host any domains. (we have about 20) Updating the DNS records can be a real bear when you upgrade to high speed internet. If your server is running Windows 2000 you could host your own DNS records or even your own website. I had a new website up and running this week in less than 5 minutes. We are now even hosting our resellers and dealers websites for profit. We are also a small company (40 employees).

 

[stunpals]

if you decide to go with your own mail server like Exchange there are alot of colaboration features, but depending on your companies needs an Hosting ISP or a reg SMTP server like NT Mail may work for you.

Pro's:
- colaboration features like sharing calendars, contacts, public folders can store company manuals, policies etc.
- Like shannonlapekas said changes are fast and done when you want them
- some ISP's charge for any changes they have to make.. new mailboxes, distrobution lists, aliases, removal of old mailboxes, DNS changes etc.
- easy to manage mutilple domain names, can be set to go into any mailbox

Con's:
- Licencing cost not, just for the server software but every mailbox, you will need antiviurs, backup etc. can add up to serveral thousands, Exchange can be very high.
- depending on the software, the hardware demands, you may need a new or another server
- backup drive as well

I have Exchange and for the most part i like it... Lic costs are huge...

 

[david902]

just some additional questions, just where in the network are you planning on putting this Exchange Server ?? do you have a firewall, making a hole in the firewall to the exchange server is a security risk. How secure do you want to be ?

here our Exchange server is on the internal network and we use dial-up for inbound/outbound mail. we like to change ISP's frequently as the prices drop, we don't host web, so the only issue is that we don't loose mail connectivity, bacuse we buy "cheap" isp services, our dedicated line goes down alot, again, we don't loose mail services.

only problem I've had with dial out is people that like to email 50-100Mb files thinking that we're broadband and effectively shutting down the mail server for hours on end.

personally, just for fun (of course) I'd do outbound over broadband, inbound over dial-up, and setting up DNS to revert to your broadband mail server, if the primary cannot be resolved. This also incudes some drawbacks for example if you are in between dial-up calls and there is an email in the queue waiting, does it wait or does it use the backup-route ...

 

[rayway]

If we install an email server (it will probably not be Exchange Server because of the cost) it will be on th internal network and there will be a firewall.

I gather from the above threads that either approach will work but that there will be some tradeoffs.

Thanks for the help and ideas.

 

[SteelBurner]

Hi rayway,

if you are not going to set up Exchange because of the costs you might have a look at Mercury mailserver at

http://www.pmail.com/whatsnew/new_m32.htm

SteelBurner

 

[Mjwidell]

BTW.. most ISPs will setup a catchall mailbox, where the mail for all the users goes to one account. That way you don't need to call up the ISP when you need to add a user. The mail server at your site can be setup to pull the mail from the ISP via pop3, and it will distribute the mail to the proper mailboxes (bob@.. sue@.. etc.)

Michelle

 

[vesselescape]

Second vote for Mercury as a mail server. Have been using with Pegasus Mail as a client on local machines. Dialup connection
(persistant) with default pop box on isp. Local distribution by Mercury. Minimum Problems, free, setup time one hour. Good Stuff.

 

[SteelBurner]

BTW, Mercury also supports IMAP4 and has some excelent features to keep your site free of spam. I'm using Mercury at some customers with about 50 clients and it runs with almost zero support.

SteelBurner

 

[GlenJohnson]

I'm using I-Mail. Easy to use, inexpensive, and I can check my e-mail anywhere I have internet access. We have around 250 users.

http://www.ipswitch.com/support/imail/news.html

Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


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