Exchange server

blundaruss · 1 May 2015 at 08:44

Hey guys!

I currently support small business network in my spare time. I have good knowledge of networking but I have never had any interaction with exchange server. As anything I can do could result in them not receiving emails Im a little weary about making changes just in case it causes an issue, so just need to be 100% sure what I am doing is correct.

The company used to have 10 employees but now only 2, so is an exchange server a little overkill in this situation? Anyway, like any small company they are against spending money! so Im using what Ive got!

They had issues with the exchange server in the past (not sure what) since then they have been receiving emails via their webhost using POP. I have checked the exchange server and all looks fine. to get the webhost to send the mail to the exchange server is it just a matter of changing the mx record to point toward the company exchange server? I understand change could take a couple of days to filter through? If this is the case will they still be able to use their pop accounts until the change is complete?

Thanks for reading!

dmsims · 1 May 2015 at 20:57

I am going to ask the obvious

question - why do you need an Exchange server for 2 email accounts?

KIA · 1 May 2015 at 21:42

https://products.office.com/en-gb/exchange/try-or-buy-microsoft-exchange-business-email

AStaley · 1 May 2015 at 21:44

KIA said:
https://products.office.com/en-gb/exchange/try-or-buy-microsoft-exchange-business-email

I was about to post the same thing. Cheap, easy to setup and a lot less headaches to manage.

Toughnoodle · 3 May 2015 at 13:07

I would go the Office365 or Exchange Online route too. You'll get the benefits of decent anti-virus/anti-spam and not having to back it up like you would on a on-premise server.

Also, the SBS POP3 connector was always flaky (bugs causing flooding or mailboxes getting blocked up with large attachments, etc), so always good to drop that.

You can always turn down the TTL (Time To Live) for the DNS on the domain to an hour (wait for the previous TTL to pass before making further changes).

The manual steps would be something like this:
1) Set the TTL on the domain to an hour and wait the previous TTL to pass.
2) Add the domain to O365 (you don't redirect email flow at this point).
3) Set up accounts for the users. Use the new domain name as the primary email address (i.e. their reply address).
4) Change the MX records to O365.
5) Do a last receive on the POP3 connector.
6) Export their current mailboxes to PST.
7) Reconfigure Outlook and import old PST's into O365 for each user.

There's a similar scenario here, but you have Exchange sandwiched in the middle: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18641046

blundaruss · 4 May 2015 at 07:41

dmsims said:
I am going to ask the obvious question - why do you need an Exchange server for 2 email accounts?

The business did have 10 employees but they streamlined and only have 2 now, trying to use their existing systems as the boss is very anti spending money! Took me long enough to persuade him that he needed to upgrade his office pcs from windows XP Pentium 4 machines!

@Toughnoodle - they have 2 domains which they receive emails from, both from the same web host, I assume its simple to add the second domain? Also, If I cant persuade the boss to go the O365 root what would be the best procedure be to route from the web host to the local exchange? Thanks!

Toughnoodle · 4 May 2015 at 08:18

Yup, it's the same process in the O365 admin console to add and then direct mail for the second domain. You have a choice:
1) If they don't send from the second domain it can be an alias on their O365 user account.
2) If they need to send from both domains they'll need to have two mailboxes/O365 user accounts. The account usernames are the primary email address, so they can even have the same firstname, surname. They'll need to be running a minimum of Outlook 2010.

If you keep on-premise Exchange you can drop the POP3 bit by:
1) Make sure their broadband is on a static IP.
2) Forward port TCP25 to the internal server IP.
3) Change the MX records to point to the broadband static IP.
4) Test it. Emails should come in within seconds.

You should make sure they've got email anti-virus/anti-spam.

blundaruss · 4 May 2015 at 16:02

Thanks for your help toughnoodle! I am trying to push office 360 but if he doesn't go for it at least I will be more confident supporting the internal exchange.

Caged · 4 May 2015 at 20:55

Office 365 for just the online services is £3.10 per user per month.

If this guy is on the fence about £6.20 per month to provide email to his business then walk away because there is no way you are taking enough money off him to make it worth doing.