Newbie question about servers and emails and profiles and things

[Ultra_Extreme]

Hi guys, im in a quandry, i look after a network for a local business, ill be honest im not a network or server guy in the slightest. They have windows server 2012 essentials R2 on their server, they have a local domain, and all i have done is created user ID's and linked the PCs to the domain so they authenticate by the server. I have also set it up as a DNS server. All hunky dory. (yes yes i know im just a scum newbie, i probably shouldnt even have login rights to a server etc etc)

Here is my question,

all users prior to server installation used windows live mail to access BT Business (@btconnect) email accounts (which we cannot change to domain emails).

The business REQUIRES a secured domain to be compliant with codes of practice

all users thus have now got AD accounts and also SAFENET token based 2FA

Question - What is the best way to have users share email access to the business email accounts based on this setup?

As in - user A normally logs in as domain\user.a and reads emails within the mail client

User A gets sick so user B logs in as domain\user.b .... can they see all the same email as user A while maintaining user segregation? Because right now i have users sharing passwords which is in breach of all the codes we are trying to meet.

Money is not a huge issue if required though id rather not implement exchange server due to high cost and relative complexity. I also do not know it would work in this way, tho i assume it could.

Options??

 

[Will Gill]

Moved this for you to hopefully get the right audience

 

[Little_Crow]

Options??

It sounds like the easiest way is just to ensure that people setup sensible levels of proxy access. Whether that be to their manager and deputy, or to a breakglass account of some kind where the password is held securely for emergency access.
If BTConnect don't allow proxy access then find a new provider, this is pretty fundamental stuff.

 

[Furyus]

Out of interest what client are they using to open the E-mails?

If it's outlook surely you able to share mailboxes regardless of any business domain ?

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

@Little_Crow m8 i know this is basic but you have to ask the question sometime, i once asked how to fit a cpu, which later became me writing an epic sticky on pc builds, which then led to me building a company turning over 100k selling and repairing PCs. All cos someone told me how to fit an intel 478 p4 once upon a time .

I am not familiar with the concept even of proxy access? i mean dont get me wrong i know exactly what a proxy server is ive configured many for bouncing http requests. But never used one or heard of using one in relation to email, could you elaborate for me?

Furyus - dont laugh m8 is live mail, i know i should migrate them to outlook but its literally weeks of training and they get me for at most an hour or 2 a week for what they pay. If it has to be it has to be but im just avoiding it. Could you elaborate on shared mailboxes? do you simply mean multiple people accessing the same mailbox? The issue with this is some users wont login to their accounts regularily and thus will have huge gaps in the mail feed for archival purposes

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

Moved this for you to hopefully get the right audience

and thanks will, sorry!

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

dbl

 

[Little_Crow]

could you elaborate for me?

Of course, no problem at all.
Proxy in this context is not really anything like a web proxy. Depending on the e-mail system the function could be referred to by a different name, like 'delegated access' or similar.

It essentially allows you to give access to your e-mail (or a section of it), to other users - without handing over your password. For instance; in the team I work in we've all given access to our diaries to our team PA for ease of scheduling etc, but they don't have access to our mail.

Any decent Small to Medium Business mail system should have this function, whatever name it may use, and this would pretty much resolve all your concerns (with a little training, perhaps)

 

[Furyus]

Of course, no problem at all.
Proxy in this context is not really anything like a web proxy. Depending on the e-mail system the function could be referred to by a different name, like 'delegated access' or similar.

It essentially allows you to give access to your e-mail (or a section of it), to other users - without handing over your password. For instance; in the team I work in we've all given access to our diaries to our team PA for ease of scheduling etc, but they don't have access to our mail.

Any decent Small to Medium Business mail system should have this function, whatever name it may use, and this would pretty much resolve all your concerns (with a little training, perhaps)

Exactly what he said, You can grant certain permissions on users mailboxes, IE - inbox. and diary and calendar ect

I would say this is the easiest option, However I'm not 100% sure if you'll be able to do it on a BTconnect domain through outlook, as BT might have something blocking it on there mailbox servers, But worth a try at least.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

I would say ditch them email addresses as soon as possible and move to office 365 and pay per mailbox!

You say it's not an option but the mess you are left with is silly. I would make this a project for yourself if you are paid for working where you are now...

I'm not really sure if there is a solution here. Not a sensible one really unless you give the other user the password.

 

[anything I don't mind]

I don't see the issue here. Just set up the same email accounts on different user logins.

user a email client connects with [email protected]. user b email client connects with [email protected].

You also did not specify which email client you are using and how you are retrieving emails.if its web based then you can have multiple people at the same time using different AD accounts access the same email mailbox on btconnect.