Mirror Exchange mail to a POP3 server

[iLinkTech]

Hi,

Migrating from a POP3 system to Exchange 2003. I need to keep the web mail from the POP3 server up for a couple of weeks to ensure that all users have been notified of the change in mail servers.

Currently, mail enters our system (through the firewall) and is routed to a Postfix ssytem that gateways our SMTP traffic. From Postfix, the mail is relayed internally to the POP3 server. Ultimately, Exchange will take the place of the POP3 server.

Right now, I can forward a copy of incoming mail from the POP3 server to Exchange and can send mail from Exchange to any external domain and any internal user that has already been configured in Exchange. What I will need is the ability for users of either system to have access to mail sent to them from either system.

Any thoughts? Thanks...

 

[TidyTrax]

Exchange has a POP3 server built into it, so im not sure why you would need to run these two servers side by side.

Firstly - are all your users internal???

Can you describe your setup a little more for me??? Do you use AD, which mail client, PST setup local or network share, etc

 

[iLinkTech]

Hi,

My needs are not based on Exchange functionality; I have users that travel and some of my traveling users do not log onto their domain computers on a regular basis (some never do). As such they have a hard time remembering their Windows passwords, which Exchange/OWA uses. The older mail server uses a separate authentication system with different passwords and as the traveling users use their mail at least once a week, they know their email passwords.

What I want to do is keep the old server up for 2-3 weeks and have the mail sync with Exchange so that these users can get the message that they need to start using their Windows passwords and to contact support before the old server goes away if they cannot remember their password. As they switch over to Exchange, their mail items will on the Exchange server.

I could simply dump the change on them and then handle the support requests but management does not like this kind of tactic so having both systems up and sync'd looks to me as the best option.

We use AD, and the users that use Outlook (not all of them currently do) have pst files on a network share. The old mail server does not leverage AD and the traveling users will for the most part not have pst files.

 

[markdmac]

Will these have differnet domain names? You can't use both at the same time if the mail domain has not changed. Email needs to be delivered to one location based on your public MX record. You could use the ISP SMTP/POP as a secondary MX record for when your main site is unreachable but otherswise this is going to be useless for new mail delivery. They will just have access to their old mail stored on the server and the POP client is probably already pulling the mail down.

As was mentioned above, besides using OWA, Exchange does have a POP server as well. So your remote users could use POP however this is really old technology and the best solution for you is to configure your remote users for Outlook over HTTP or use OWA since it requires no software changes.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

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http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[iLinkTech]

Thanks for all the info - the decision has been made to give a week's notice to these guys and then "pull the plug" so problem solved (sort of).

Thanks again...