Exchange Hosting...

[jamoor]

We currently have MS server 2003 small business edition.

There is a hardware firewall and it comes with MS Exchange 2003.

Is it worth us using Exchange 2003 over regular pop email, if we use it we must be able to access it externally, are there any risks to doing this?

or is it better to use a exchange hosting company?
thanks!

 

[oddjob62]

We currently have MS server 2003 small business edition.

There is a hardware firewall and it comes with MS Exchange 2003.

Is it worth us using Exchange 2003 over regular pop email, if we use it we must be able to access it externally, are there any risks to doing this?

or is it better to use a exchange hosting company?
thanks!

I'm not sure what the bit in bold means.

If you have SBS you might as well use Exchange 2003. It allows you things like shared calendar, centralized backup of email, Web access to email (OWA), etc.

No point in paying for a company to host it, unless you have a specific reason for doing so.

 

[jamoor]

I'm not sure what the bit in bold means.

If you have SBS you might as well use Exchange 2003. It allows you things like shared calendar, centralized backup of email, Web access to email (OWA), etc.

No point in paying for a company to host it, unless you have a specific reason for doing so.

we have a router type firewall thing.

I was thinking more froma security point of view. If we open up our serverto accept people logging in remotely, won't that be a risk?

 

[oddjob62]

we have a router type firewall thing.

I was thinking more froma security point of view. If we open up our serverto accept people logging in remotely, won't that be a risk?

you only need to allow SMTP and HTTPS if you are using Exchange, both are very common ports to open, and as long as your server is patched and configured correctly you'll be fine.

 

[Caged]

No offence, but if the level of knowledge you've shown so far is indicitave of what you know about Exchange, get it hosted externally.

 

[jamoor]

No offence, but if the level of knowledge you've shown so far is indicitave of what you know about Exchange, get it hosted externally.

That as well,
I have very little knowlege of SBS2003 and Exchange.

I also have very little knowlege of managing a small business network.

 

[stoofa]

Exchange 2003 (including that which ships with SBS) is extremely powerful.
It is honestly one of the most impressive packages out there and there is a reason why once you use Exchange you don't want to go back to anything else.

However...
In inexperienced hands MS Exchange can be extremely dangerous.
If you really don't know what you're doing with Exchange then you either need to get yourself onto a course or finding someone to do the hosting for you.
Wide open relays & unsecured servers are not something you want public facing on the Internet.

 

[oldbag]

Exchange will pretty much run itself provided the implementation is sound - which is where some knowledge and experience is required. You also need knowledge for when it goes wrong and the best-practices for managing it.