Setting Up exchange for roaming users

[Heeter]

Hey all,

Was wondering if anyone can give me a help on setting up the exchange for roaming users on SBS2003 domain controller?

As of right now, the roaming users are set up, but their email is restricted to the workstation that their outlook is setup on.

An existing outside email server from their ISP is handling email. (POP)

Thanks,

Heeter

 

[kcnychief]

Not my strongest area, but I think you just need to use Exchange to manipulate where the .OST files are kept. By default it's buried within the local settings folders, which I don't believe are included in roaming profiles but again I'm not sure 😛

This may shed some light though -

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/orkXP/HA011364301033.aspx

 

[Heeter]

Thanks KC,

I am applying some things that this article mentions to do, but I still cannot get it to work. Would you know of another tut on this.

If I understand this article correctly, I can pull off roaming email users without setting up exchange?

Thanks,

Heeter

 

[Bootsy]

You could always have them use OWA when they are not at their assigned stations =]

 

[Heeter]

You could always have them use OWA when they are not at their assigned stations =]

Thanks bootsy, but that would be nice if I knew how to setup exchange.


Thanks again,

Heeter

 

[fitz]

ok.. let's pull back a little bit.

You mention an outside ISP is handling their mail through POP.
If that's the case, what is Exchange being used for?

If your users only have access to their mail through POP from an outside ISP and only see their messages on their primary machine, it is probably because the client is set to download and delete messages on the POP server.

 

[Heeter]

Exchange is not being used right now, fitz.

That is exactly how it is setup right now, the way you described it.

The goal is for the users to be able to access their email, no matter which workstation they log on to.


Due to an influx of hiring personel, culminating with the fact that they all start at different start times, an employee will walk in to work and their will be a workstation available for them but it could be any of workstations.

As well, all the workstations are setup exactly the same in terms of software, and some of the applications have an outlook plugin for direct access to outlook.


Hope fully I have explained my situation a little better.

Thanks Fitz,

Heeter

 

[fitz]

So.. you want to handle your own mail with exchange..

well..

1) you need to make sure you have a good firewall in place
2) setup an seperate server to use as a good SMTP gateway (not exchange). This should be setup to handle initial antivirus and anti-spam. My personal recommendation would be to setup a postfix box running ClamAV/AVAMIS and SpamAssassin.
3) setup a DMZ and place SMTP gateway server in DMZ and allow port 25 inbound and outbound to SMTP gateway on both the internet side as well as the LAN side.
4) Setup SMTP gateway to forward mail to Exchange.
5) Hire Exchange admin
6) Work with Exchange admin to design and implement Exchange architecture
7) Implement Exchange and setup mailboxes
8) Change clients to use Exchange instead of POP server.

And if that looks hard, then I would stay away from using Exchange, because that's the simple version. I would recommend hiring someone for Exchange or hiring someone else because administration of Exchange and mail can actually take up a lot of time. If they push back on hiring someone, push back and say as the user base grows and you want to take on these extra tasks inhouse, it requires extra staff.

 

[fitz]

just to clear things up though, if you want, you should be able to set Outlook to use POP and not delete the messages on the POP server when you download them (or use IMAP)

At that point, it shouldn't matter which desktop they sit down at, Outlook will connect to the POP server and reload the mailbox since all the messages are still on the remote server.

This needs to be done at every client for every new profile you setup though..

edit: Instructions for setting Outlook to leave messages on server can be found here

 

[Terrahertz]

Always always great info from you guys.

 

[Bootsy]

If you do use POP remember that every time a user sits at a new PC they will download ALL their emails to it... sometimes not a short task...