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Is Exchange an Unsupported...

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by gem2

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...product?

We have Exchange Server 5.5 We have several problems with the product. We can't get MS to answer questions without a substantial transfer of funds from our Company to Uncle Bill. The way they price support, I gotta figure they really would wish we not call and bother them. Is Exchange a supported product?

If so, where can one get real support? All due respect, but forums ain't cut'n it! Many questions asked, no answers given. I need real solutions. I need them now.

What other mail product exists? (Needs to be NT-based). My management is ready to scrap Outlook if that is what it takes. What a sorry mess Exchange is! How do other organizations live with an unsupported mail system like Exchange server?

Wondering

14 replies

by hrhold1

I have no problem with Outlook, even though it can be difficult to set up on a network, but follow this link to see a variety of other programs.
http://www.cspltd.ndirect.co.uk/internet/clients.htm

Good Luck

by gem2

Thanks, but Outlook isn't really the problem. Exchange Server, along with the lack of support for the product - is what is slowing me down.

by erikdr

Obviously, Exchange still has competitors.
Lotus Domino comes to mind first.
Support is partly free and partly contract-based, dunno whether > or < the
Exchange support prices.
You _can_ use Outlook as a client for Domino, and price depends on whether you solely use e-mail or also groupware.

2nd in the list would be Novell GroupWise. A bit more difficult to run on NT solely but it can be done, and also has an Outlook client option.

3rd in terms of functionality would be the pure SMTP/POP-IMAP based servers like iPlanet Messaging Server. A lot cheaper per seat than Exchange and the two competitors I mentioned, but functionality is on par. Fine for e-mail, limited for calendaring and nonexistent for more extensive (Outlook) groupware stuff. Client would be Outlook Express-level, though Outlook (with half of tasks stripped) can also be used.

Hope thiz helpz,

- The Netherlandz

PS 'How other organisations live': apparently willing to pay the hidden price for high support, typical for an arrogant company like M$...

by tony.colgrove

Exchange is VERY much a supported product from Microsoft.
Sorry to hear you are having troubles with your installation.
Although just clicking through an Exchange installation will produce a running system, it might not yield the best performingsystem. Depending on hardware, and other running services, Exchange might need configured better for your environment.
Find a good Service company in the local area and have one of their Exchange Consultants come in and look at the system and giveyou some direction on what can be done to improve things.
Also, hate to let you in on this, but most companies (MS, IBM, Novell) all have pay support lines. How much time and effort is $300 worth if it gets you the solution you need?
I have worked with iMail, OpenMail, Notes, GroupWise, and Exchange, and I would kill to work with Exchange/Outlook over those others.

by gem2

Hmmm. To begin with, I didn't do the install. So I can't say if the person who did used the "take the default" method or not.

We have 5 seperate problems w/ Exchange. According to MS, that means 5 seperate calls - $1,500.00.

I used my ExchangeAdmin guide to create 10 questions about Exchange Server. Then I contacted the 3 local service companies that claimed to have MS certified Exchange people. Each company answered all 10 questions. No one got more than 4 right. That, and the absolute lack of decent support resources on the WEB is what tells me that MS ain't real serious about supporting Exchange.

by zainalb

Hi gem2
If you looking web base email try using Imail from Ipswitch. http://www.ipswitch.com/Products/IMail_Server
Easy to manage and cheaper. One of my project using this product to host free email for thier customers.

by techdictator

Let's see, couple of ways you could go. Groupwise can be run on a NetWare server and configured so that outlook thinks it's an exchange server or you can just simply use the groupwise client.
If cheap is the way you want to go, you can setup a linux server with imap and clients can still use outlook to connect to it. Support can be obtained from several vendors far below what microsoft is quoting you. I believe RedHat will support 10 servers for $100 dollars a year. You'll have to check that price, I may be overstating it. But it is much cheaper than microsoft.

by gnorstro

Sounds like its time to start over, not knowing the size of your organization & # of users I might suggest the following: Research what type of server Exchange will require such as CPU, memory, Raid or not, etc. The stability of your server and how much effort you want to make will determine how to save the info. Build the new server, create the DNS and MX records to send to this server as secondary mail server, and TEST. Export out each mailbox and public folder to individual PST files via the tool "Exmerge", import into the new server the PST files via ExMerge, change MX records to change the new server to primary, and then scrap the old server. Reconfig the user clients. DOCUMENT how you installed the server, every setting taken andeverything you change. Some Microsoft Techs are newbies and others are excellent esp. helpful if you have this info.

by gnorstro

Another way to accomplish this is to build a second Exchange server and "move" mailboxes over to it as time permits. When everything has been moved over you can then scrap the old server or re-install it. Having a 2nd Exchange server is beneficial during disaster recovery. This is something I need to do myself, I had database issues and had to do some things the hard way and a 2nd server would have made it easier on me and the users.

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