2003 Exchange Server Set Up

2003 Exchange Server Set Up Consulting Services

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 is an excellent choice for many businesses' e-mail and basic groupware needs—especially when combined with the superb Outlook 2003 client. Microsoft has significantly enhanced Exchange's messaging infrastructure, deployment tools, and administrative capabilities. But we wish its initial installation and ongoing management were easier—an area in which Microsoft has made significant strides with its separate Small Business Server platform for companies with less than 75 seats. It also falls short of Lotus in collaboration tools and customization. Microsoft says that half of Exchange Server 5.5 sites have never upgraded to Exchange Server 2000, in part because of the difficulty in migrating from Windows NT to an infrastructure based on Windows 2000 and Active Directory. Although Exchange Server 2003 improves the upgrade picture, moving directly from 5.5 to 2003 isn't an option unless you upgrade to Exchange 2000 as an interim step. One potential benefit is server consolidation: Microsoft says Exchange 2003 supports a much larger number of users per server.

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Features of Exchange Server 2003

Exchange Server 2003 is the Microsoft messaging and collaboration server designed to help you communicate more effectively. Along with the rich client functionality provided by Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, Exchange Server 2003 offers:

Mobile, remote, and desktop e-mail access with state-of-the-art security and privacy
Lower cost of ownership through the services provided by Microsoft Windows Server 2003
High reliability and outstanding performance
E-mail-based collaboration
Easy upgrading, deployment, and administration

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Exchange Server 2003 and Outlook

Outlook 2003 is a superb corporate e-mail client, and using it with Exchange Server exposes its full range of collaboration and mail management capabilities. In conjunction with Exchange, Outlook now performs more client-side caching. This and a reengineered MAPI protocol should improve remote performance. Exchange can also now support RPC over HTTPS, meaning your users can work securely from a remote location without needing a cumbersome VPN, though we found configuration dauntingly complex. You need not upgrade clients immediately, though, as Exchange will still work with Outlook 2000. The newest version of Outlook Web Access is impressive, with drag-and-drop editing, mail rules, and an integrated spell-checker. Outlook 2003 also adds client-side spam-filtering capabilities, such as the ability to right-click to add a sender to your blacklist, which extend those available on the server side.

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