I'm really surprised at all the fear behind administering an Exchange server. We started with SBS 2003 quite some time ago, and only just transitioned off it this past year. The original setup was a breeze, and only rudimentary skills are needed to setup connectors. Using powershell is most definitely NOT required. Configuring the remote connector can easily be created within all things GUI. As for DNS, yes - you'll need to setup a dns server. But DNS isn't rocket science. Admittedly we use bind on one of our linux boxes, but finding the required special names and adding them to your dns server wasn't terrible.

Maybe our internal IT staff is the shit, maybe I'm taking for granted how easy/difficult it was. But as someone who's worked these boxes for years, it's really not as terrible as people make it out to be...

Seriously?

Have you ever setup SBS Exchange, it's stupid simple. Bridgeheads? connectors? while you will need to setup a connector, it's really not complicated. Anyone who sugest it is is trying to sell you consultant services. Domain forest prep, again SBS takes care of all of this. You are correct though about the certificate. It's not the easiest thing in the world, though far from overly complicated.

Yea, hosting email and 'docs' inside Google isn't a bad idea. We toyed with the idea as well. The problem is that Google has zero responsibility to the customer in the event of a subpoena. You really don't want your data outside of your control. While you might be compelled to provide data to a third party, at least you would know it's been provided. Google has zero reason to tell you, and no obligation to do so. Keep your data out of the cloud, it's far from secure.

If you've already purchased and using (albeit only barely) Microsoft SBS, take advantage of Exchange before you spend any more money on a new system, otherwise you're just wasting money. Exchange works quite well, obvious straight-forward connectivity with the Outlook client. Administering Exchange isn't the end of the world, and is actually quite easy in an SBS environment. I would suggest setting up an alternate internal smart-host (smart-relay) so that you don't have to expose the Exchange server directly to the internet. Courier MTA works VERY well (and is the exact setup we have internet->courier->exchange).

Setting up a Jabber IM server internally is easy as well, otherwise use Google Apps and have your email domain hosted there and just use Google Talk with the various AV plugins.

Setting up Switchvox (Asterisk) is a purchase, but I 2nd the comment by others to find you a local phone service retailer and let them deal with phone integration. If you do decide on a hosted solution for email and voice (voip) then make sure you don't skimp on the internet connectivity. I worked at a place previously convinced VOIP was the way to go, but management would cringe every time you talked about capacity of the external connection and the need to upgrade.

Just my 2cents...

and yet, with nothing to hide, you posted as anonymous...

It's funny, everything you wrote I was thinking as I was getting ready to reply to thread...

Our Sun/Solaris (F! U! Oracle...) are all supported with top-notch onsite support as well as being able to use the iLOM systems is fantastic. We also have Dell's and HP that almost all have their respective integrated systems. But I really think you hit the nail on the head with your reference to VMware. It has made so much more sense for many of the systems I admin at work. While our core database servers are all on bare metal, nearly every other 'service' is virtualized either in vmware or in solaris zones.

mod me redundant - just wanted to chime in and agree with the parent.

harryk

While you make the point of the model, you didn't specify your stance on the topic.

I for one am against the capping. I can understand the business need as additional content becomes available, it requires additional bandwidth available on the part of the ISP.

I currently subscribe to a 'premium' tier from TW here in Milwaukee, mostly for the additional upstream bandwidth. I did a quick review of my usage as tracked through Cacti, and found that on average, I use about 40GB/mo. An occasional torrent for a distro, plus some updates to windows boxes, and a couple of Gentoo boxes. I also have begun using Netflix's online video more.

What is interesting though, is that I haven't read anything mentioning the HBO on Broadband service that is bundled with HBO package I currently have. Will I be charged for bandwidth that is used for a service I'm already paying for (to the same vendor?)

Just some thoughts. I hope this whole tiered thing falls through...

harryk

I don't know about SSO in it's truest form, I assume you mean that after the user logs into the workstation, that they don't have to also login to the IM client. I never worked with that at all.

As for using the same user account to log in to both the workstation (XP I assume?) as well as the IM client, I had that working in about 5 minutes.

If it's not working, it's probably more to do with your ldap authentication than with either server.

Are you able to perform lookups from the CLI on the Jabber server? I would check that. Assuming that you can, the OpenFire server has a couple of tests that it can perform to help troubleshoot.

BTW - is this an OpenLDAP server or AD?

I agree.

The OpenFire Jabber server is rock solid and integrates with LDAP, has the ability to log conversations and generally speaking is very elegant and easy to maintain.

We also use the Spark client, which is made available by the same group.

Very solid setup if you ask me.

I'd have to 2nd this one. We are using Openfire with Spark as well and I have found it very usable. It can also integrate with an Active Directory tree (and OpenLDAP I'm sure)

I like the ease of use at the administrator side as well.

2 thumbs up for this set!

harryk