MS Exchange on a peer to peer

Is it possible? Yes. However, by the time you have configured everything properly, you will have a mini, 1 computer-domain, so you might just as well change your network to being domain-based (Exchange 2000 must be installed on a Win2K Server and must have access to Active Directory. You therefore must create an Active Directory domain - even if it is only one computer).

Is this a realistic scenario for a small network? Probably not. Unless your business is going to grow drastically, Exchange is overkill both monetarily and administratively for a small company. Assuming you currently have neither server hardware nor software, you are looking at a minimum of $2600 just for software. When you add the cost of minimal server, you areprobably looking at an investment of close to $5,000 just to provide email for 10 users. This investment may be worth it to you if your company is growing, and you eventually want to change to a domain-based network.

My suggestion would be to set up an inexpensive Linux server running sendmail. The software is essentially free (if you can afford the time needed to download it from the Internet - 600+ MB), and the hardware requirements are minimal.

I want to second the opinion that an Exchange box is probably overkill for a 10 user network. I suggest that you check out the e-Smith SME Server . Using e-Smith, you can setup a Red Hat-derived Linux box running the very secure qmail for SMTP, plus you get POP3 and IMAP for mail retrieval. It can also provide DNS, DHCP, file sharing for Windows and Mac clients, plus some more services. Admin is done via a Web brower or via a text-mode GUI.

I recently setup an e-Smith box for a client with a small LAN. They use it only for file sharing but it works great. I've been using it for my own mail and file sharing server for a few months, and my box currently has a 46 day uptime, which would be longer but for a power failure.

HTH.

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