Ultra-neophyte needs help with step 1 1

[quolo]

Hi there. My situation is thus:

I work at a small company where they plopped a server on my desk and said something to the effect of, "Make it work."

With the help of the Windows Server 2000 Forum
thread96-426960 gotten the server up and running and clients connected to it for basic file serving.

Exchange 2000 is installed on the server and my next task is to make it so we can see each others calendars for scheduling, send out emails to something like "OurCompanyPeople" and have it go to all of us, and have a centrally located contacts db.

I don't really know what to do first. If I open Outlook on a client's computer, all I see is the local information. Do I have to move all of a client's personal folders onto the server or something.

Any help would be appreciated. Talk down to me as much as you wish.

Jeremy

 

[Davetoo]

Hi Jeremy,

Welcome to the world of "here, make this work", followed quickly by "why don't you just push the button to make it work?", which, unfortunately, usually ends with "um, can you get my files back?".

First, a question: Are your clients Outlook programs running in Internet Mail Only, or Corporate/Workgroup mode? (Open Outlook, go to Tools/Options/Mail Services/Reconfigure Mail Support. In order to really start using the power of Exchange, they should all be set to Corporate/Workgroup. You can maintain the users PST files locally or on the server, or you can decide to forgo PST files in lieu of using the Exchange mailbox/server completely.

But, let's start simple.

Dave

 

[quolo]

Thank you for the ever so kind welcome. It's a lovely world, plenty of buttons to push and ctrl-alt-del's to hit.

Right away, an issue. In Outlook on a client computer, I go to Tools/Options/....and lo and behold, there is no mail services tab, and I can't find reconfigure mail support anywhere. I'm running Outlook XP as a part of Office XP Pro. Is it maybe in a different place or something?

Forego .pst files altogether? I hate .pst files. Say it's possible!

But yes, first things first. Must figure out if I'm in Corporate/Workgroup mode.

Thanks a bunch,

Jeremy

 

[quolo]

Ah, I just found this:

https://iats.missouri.edu/iats/servlet/knowledgebase/article/30122

I guess Outlook XP sort of runs in both modes concurrently?

What are the pros and cons of maintaining the users' .pst files locally or on the server, and what might my next step be?

Thanks a zillion.

 

[Davetoo]

Jeremy,

Doh! I forgot to ask what Outlook! You're correct, XP is already running in Corporate/Workgroup mode (which also allows for Internet access, that's why they did away with the distinction).

The use of PST files is totally optional. If your Exchange server is large enough (i.e. plenty of hard drive space), and you use a backup program that will backup Exchange properly (Arcserve, Veritas, etc.), and your users don't use notebooks (whew, deep breath), then you can just configure Outlook to use the Exchange server and not use PST's.

If you choose to use PST's, the advantage of having them on a server is that you only need to backup the server, not each individual users computer. If those computers are already being backed up for other reasons, then there's no real advantage to putting the PST's on a server. We have our users setup to store all their files on the server, so if a system dies, it's no big deal. I can replace an entire computer, log on as the user in question, install their specific software, and their good to go.

Whew! Following so far! lol So, can your users work with their mail while it's only on the Exchange server? or will they need it out of the office?

Dave

 

[quolo]

Crystal clear so far. After this, you can teach me to drywall.

I've got 8-10 users, half of which are on laptops and will need to access their email remotely when we start hosting our own SMTP mail on this server here. Also, we're not backing up people's local machines, only the server, so there's that to consider.

I've got a good 70 Gigs partition set aside for Exchange stuff - I think that ought to do it. I vote we store stuff on the server. In PST's or not in PST's, doesn't really matter to me.

 

[Davetoo]

Ok, I don't have XP installed, so check in the Tools/Services, there should be (hopefully) a "Delivery" tab? That's where you tell Exchange where to deliver the mail, either to their Exchange mailbox or to their PST file.

Whoops, first, you have to have the Microsoft Exchange Server in the Services tab, setting that up is pretty self explanatory, but let me know if you have trouble. Then you'll have the choice of where to send the e-mail. If you don't want to use PST's, set it to Mailbox - "Username" in the Delivery tab, or to Personal Folders if you want to use PST's.

For those with notebooks, unless you want to use OWA, probably best to set them up with PST's locally. Get's a little complicated from there on how to best handle backing up the PST's for them.

If you want everyone to stay with PST's, but save them to the server, easy...just move the PST file from their local system to a folder that they can access on the server, then start up Outlook. When you get the error about not finding the PST, just point it to the server and you're set!

I'd recommend setting up a Home directory for your users (do you know how to do that?), then put their PST's there. That way you tackle the security of their mail question (only the user and the server Administrator will have access).

Whew, I talk a lot don't I?

Now..drywall...that's easy...get out the phone book, yellow pages... ;-)

Dave

 

[quolo]

Breakthrough! Woohoo!

Outlook XP sure has a lot of things in different places, but with your help as to knowing what to look for, I found some things.

What I did: Control Panel/Mail/Add a new email account/Exchange Server radio button

Just filled in all the fields and walla! It's called Mailbox - MyName, so that makes me think it's a non-PST kind of thing. I'm just fine with that. All the outlook data is still housed locally, am I correct in assuming that? I got some popup message when setting it up that I'd have to change the email options if I wanted to keep everything on the server.

Now I can see all the Active Directory users and groups and things like that, which makes me muy excited.

Two further questions, if you don't mind:

1. If I don't use PST's, do I need to worry about putting anything in a "Home" or centralized place?

2. My most urgent need now is to merge all the exising calendar, email, contact, etc. information from their old .PST to the new...uh...thing. Mailbox thing. The new place. Is there a best way to put all the old information in the new place?

Thanks ever so much,

Jeremy

 

[Davetoo]

Jeremy,

Good deal! Glad you were able to find the right tabs, that's the best way..like learning to type..hunt and peck first, then you get the hang of it!

Ok, if your users keep their e-mail in the Mailbox - Username folders, then they are stored on the Exchange server. Just back up the Exchange server, using a program designed specifically to backup Exchange, and all is safe (warning, can be a pain in the arse to recover if the server crashes, but there are instructions galore on how to do that if it does happen). The Exchange server becomes the "centralized" place for it. But! Your notebooks that travel outside and use a dial-up to get mail will have to use a different method as they won't have access to the Exchange server from outside (Note: Unless you configure your firewall to allow access to Exchange, but that's a different thread). So, you might want to have the users that need to get their e-mail and/or have access to their already received e-mail use PST files stored on their notebooks. The only difference is you add Personal Folders to the available Services, and set the PST as the destination for e-mail.

To get the mail, contacts, etc., from the PST's to the Mailbox - "Username" is fairly easy...simply open both, then manually move items from the PST to the Mailbox-"username" folders, then close and remove the PST files. Make sense?

The "mailbox thingy" is pretty simple...every user on Exchange has a set of mailboxes that the mail is received into. It's then up to how you configure as to whether that e-mail stays in those sets of folders for the user to use directly from the Exchange server, or if you setup PST files on another server and the users use them instead. Make sense again? lol, it seems confusing at first, but it's really straight forward.

Good luck.

Dave