I am wondering about how MS Exchange Server works. I understand that it is software that resides on a MS Server OS and plays sort of the middle man between workstations on a domain and the actual email boxes themselves? What benefits does this offer me in a domain type environment vs. the typical Outlook setup where the mailboxes are configured individually on each machine?
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MS Exchange Server, what can it do and how does it work?
- Thread starter jdub12
- Start date
YeOldeStonecat
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2004
- Messages
- 11,330
Exchange is more than just the middleman...it often IS the mailboxes themselves, plus a lot more.
A centralized source for all the domain users mailboxes to be stored, plus a lot of "shared information" can be setup, things like public folders, calendars, contact lists, journals, notes. The public folders are very useful for having people put their schedules, so others can see. Also assigning tasks to people, and being able to keep track of that.
We create public folders for big projects we're all working on too...so we can all gain access and input information, keep things on track with the calendar.
You can also delegate other users to gain access to your private folders, commonly done in the business environment, like execs who delegate some rights to their secretarys.
Also it includes a very cool feature, called Outlook Web Access, so you can access your mailbox, and public folders, from anywhere on the internet through a web browser.
Global Address Books for everyone, like a big shared address book.
It's the sharing of information that's the key here, which benefits most users.
Usually Microsoft Outlook is what is used to connect to an Exchange Server.
A centralized source for all the domain users mailboxes to be stored, plus a lot of "shared information" can be setup, things like public folders, calendars, contact lists, journals, notes. The public folders are very useful for having people put their schedules, so others can see. Also assigning tasks to people, and being able to keep track of that.
We create public folders for big projects we're all working on too...so we can all gain access and input information, keep things on track with the calendar.
You can also delegate other users to gain access to your private folders, commonly done in the business environment, like execs who delegate some rights to their secretarys.
Also it includes a very cool feature, called Outlook Web Access, so you can access your mailbox, and public folders, from anywhere on the internet through a web browser.
Global Address Books for everyone, like a big shared address book.
It's the sharing of information that's the key here, which benefits most users.
Usually Microsoft Outlook is what is used to connect to an Exchange Server.
So does Exchange act as the actual mailbox itself delegating individual boxes to the workstations? For instance, all mail routed to mydomain.com is polled by the exchange server and from there it creates boxes like [email protected], [email protected], etc. Or does it simply just poll those existing mailboxes to allow users to integrate things like you said? Basically just downloading all the mail from whomever your email server is and storing it till a client connects and queries their mailbox? Im sort of confused, but thanks for taking the time.
YeOldeStonecat
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2004
- Messages
- 11,330
Exchange can be run in several ways.
1) Interally only....say you make a domain, and have your list of domain users. When you create the new users, say [email protected], Exchange will create a mailbox for that user also, jsmith. Then you configure Outlook on the end users workstations to see the Exchange server, and the users mailbox, which he authenticates to with his domain login. In other words, Susie can't setup her Outlook to see JSmiths mailbox, if she's logging in under her account (unless you give her priveledges). Domain security. Now all users within the local domain can send each other e-mail "internally", like inter office e-mail. The Exchange Server itself is the mail server...mail is stored in the servers databases. Simple to setup, nice and secure, nothing public, not bringing in outside e-mail for the chance of viruses.
2) Internally/Externally using SMTP...if your network has a static IP address on the internet connection, you can register a mail record in DNS (mx) to point mail to your IP address. Say you register (mydomain.com), you can point the MX to your WAN IP, and setup Exchange to catch mail for that domain. So if I send a mail to [email protected], and you configured DNS and Exchange correctly, my mail will get directed via DNS to your mail server, which catches it, and forwards it to the appropriate recipient. A bit more difficult, you need to learn how to set things up, monitor, lock down so it doesn't get hacked into and hijacked as an SMTP relay, proper spam and virus protection. SMTP ports exposed on your firewall.
3) Internally/Externally using POP3 connectors..about the same setup as above, however you don't have SMTP ports exposed to hackers, however you don't point the DNS MX record to your IP address, rather you have some data hosting or ISP host POP3 internet e-mail boxes. So mail gets sent to your ISP, and your pull it down at set intervals into your Exchange server. When you send mail, it gets relayed out to your ISP's SMTP server. Your mail server works sort of as a middle man. Takes a little work to setup, however I prefer this method because your firewall can remain tight, your Exchange serverse SMTP ports are not exposed, you're much more safe. However you still need spam and virus protection. Example using the POP3 connector such as found in Small Business Server.
I'm far from an Exchange guru, I've setup a few....but that's about all the input I can think of for now.
1) Interally only....say you make a domain, and have your list of domain users. When you create the new users, say [email protected], Exchange will create a mailbox for that user also, jsmith. Then you configure Outlook on the end users workstations to see the Exchange server, and the users mailbox, which he authenticates to with his domain login. In other words, Susie can't setup her Outlook to see JSmiths mailbox, if she's logging in under her account (unless you give her priveledges). Domain security. Now all users within the local domain can send each other e-mail "internally", like inter office e-mail. The Exchange Server itself is the mail server...mail is stored in the servers databases. Simple to setup, nice and secure, nothing public, not bringing in outside e-mail for the chance of viruses.
2) Internally/Externally using SMTP...if your network has a static IP address on the internet connection, you can register a mail record in DNS (mx) to point mail to your IP address. Say you register (mydomain.com), you can point the MX to your WAN IP, and setup Exchange to catch mail for that domain. So if I send a mail to [email protected], and you configured DNS and Exchange correctly, my mail will get directed via DNS to your mail server, which catches it, and forwards it to the appropriate recipient. A bit more difficult, you need to learn how to set things up, monitor, lock down so it doesn't get hacked into and hijacked as an SMTP relay, proper spam and virus protection. SMTP ports exposed on your firewall.
3) Internally/Externally using POP3 connectors..about the same setup as above, however you don't have SMTP ports exposed to hackers, however you don't point the DNS MX record to your IP address, rather you have some data hosting or ISP host POP3 internet e-mail boxes. So mail gets sent to your ISP, and your pull it down at set intervals into your Exchange server. When you send mail, it gets relayed out to your ISP's SMTP server. Your mail server works sort of as a middle man. Takes a little work to setup, however I prefer this method because your firewall can remain tight, your Exchange serverse SMTP ports are not exposed, you're much more safe. However you still need spam and virus protection. Example using the POP3 connector such as found in Small Business Server.
I'm far from an Exchange guru, I've setup a few....but that's about all the input I can think of for now.