E-mail server questions?

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Hi,
I need suggestions as to which email server would be appropriate for our office. Approx 20 users.
1. choices are Microsoft exchange,Lotus notes & Sun Qube
2.Which is the most cost effective and easy to manage
3.What type of hardware would i require as the use isn’t heavy
4. Do i need to install a separate server/high end pc or use my current server

ANy suggestions would be appreciated

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> choices are Microsoft exchange,Lotus notes & Sun Qube

Are those your only choices?

If you are on a tight budget, consider IMail Server from Ipswitch. This is a very highly rated IMAP4/POP3/WebMail server that, for 250 mailboxes, costs $995 ($1,290 with a one-year service agreement). The product will run on Windows 2000 Server or Professional, so your OS costs can be very modest. You have a choice of importing users from the local NT/2000 domain, or linking to the domain database (which could create security issues), or using an ODBC-compliant database, or simply creating your mail accounts separately in IMail. The feature set is very complete. It really looks terrific to me. We have deferred our mail server powwow for a few months, but everyone so far has said good things about this product.

With respect to virus filtering and attachment blocking, which are convenient to centralize, you can purchase integrated Symantec antivirus support from Ipswitch, but this requires Windows 2000 Server. Computerized Horizons offers Declude Virus, a kind of middleware that takes a message from the mail server, decodes it, and runs it through a command-line scanner from an ordinary desktop antivirus product. This is quite different from other solutions, which either integrate these functions, or look at mail as it is written to the file system, or work as an independent gateway and SMTP server “in front of” the mail server (like Trend Micro’s InterScan Messaging Security Suite).

With respect to spam filtering, you can write rules in IMail, or you can look at third party products and services, either for the mail server, the gateway, or the desktop. Spam is a nuisance, but it probably won’t play a big part in your selection of a mail server.

The groupware features of IMail Server are not as fully formed as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. For example, while IMail supports group calendaring, it is accessed through a browser rather than through the interface of the mail client (such as Outlook). And it does not appear that administration of public mailboxes in IMail can be as easily delegated as in Exchange. If you are mainly looking for a solid, Internet-standards-based mail server with web accessibility, you probably should evaluate IMail Server.

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> 4. Do i need to install a separate server/high end pc or use my current server

Assuming you plan to set up your server for Internet mail, for security reasons, it is advisable to put the mail server on a separate machine from your file server. You then can configure your firewall (e.g., Firebox or SonicWall) to permit access to the mail server machine without exposing any other computers in your office. Hope this helps.

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1. choices are Microsoft exchange,Lotus notes & Sun Qube

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[/indent]If you can look at other Mail servers you may want to investigate Mercury Mail Transport System. It is written by David Harris, the author of Pegasus Mail.

Mercury is a free, standards-based mail server solution, providing comprehensive, fast server support for all major Internet e-mail protocols. It is supplied in two versions, one hosted on Windows systems, the other running as a set of NLMs on Novell NetWare file servers.

I can’t personally vouch for Mercury, BUT if David Harris puts the effort into Mercury to make it the best, and he does based on other comments I have read, it will be a top notch mail server.

Even though it’s a free Server, you can order annual Tech support Subscriptions based on the number of users.

1 – 5 users @ US$95 per annum	6 – 20 users @ US$175 per annum
21-100 users @ US$300 per annum	101 – 500 users @ US$500 per annum
501 – 1000 users @ US$750 per annum	1001+ users @ US$1000 per annum

Just another option in the mix.

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Is Email all you’re looking for? Exchange used with Outlook provides quite a bit more than just email, which is also why it’s not going to be the most economical. On the other hand, it can also be used for public/shared folders (including Contacts and Discussions), calendar/scheduling, task management (not to be confused with project management), integration with Fax and VoiceMail, etc.

If you’re looking for a system to handle all or some of these, consider Exchange as opposed to separate systems. If you really only need email, the other responses give you more cost-effective solutions.

HTH

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This old post here supplies some links that may give you food for thought.

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