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Exchange 2013
SNetworks1
Member
in Help
Hey All,
We have been playing with Exchange 2013 with the hope of switching to it for our emails, however have had nothing but issues.
We have now managed to install the Exchange software, but now are having the problem of being unable to make it send or receive emails and get the error saying the device is not connected to the internet (when it is else I wouldn't be able to view the page)...
Just hoping some of you have a bit of experience and may be able to lend a hand, if anyone has any idea how to fix it I would really appreciate it!
Comments
Setting up and managing Exchange (+Windows) is a huge pain and time waster.
Have you considered just letting RackSpace handle it with Hosted Exchange?
Its $10/month per account with 100GB of storage. You dont have to worry about security updates, OS updates, Exchange compatibility's, downtime of the server causing mail loss or mail delays, etc...
Their portal is very easy to use and figure out the first time.
Whatever you do though, stay far away from Office365 Hosted Exchange -- some how Microsoft managed to make their OWN software harder to use, w/ a bigger learning curve, and less reliability - than a competitor!
Check out my review of both on WHT:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1407298
Thanks, I was looking into a few options for hosted exchange, OVH was the first one I came across. Office365 was a fairly large no from the start for me personally, I have used it recently before and it took them 2 months just to configure all the accounts.
My main reason for aiming to do it myself was the fact that its the cheapest way to do it, for me personally (as I'd be using it for my own personal use as well as business) as well as from the business perspective we were looking at it purely cost basis, If we cant get it up and running we might stick with outlook.com as we still have our accounts setup there from when they supported custom domains, Exchange seems like the next best thing.
Take it Google Apps isn't an option then?
Not ideally... Not right now anyway. Google Apps would be nice to have, but currently we are really looking for something for about $15-$20 per month with ideally unlimited mail accounts on a really nice system. Exchange fits with that.
+1
@SNetworks1 as @ItsChrisG mentioned, setting up an Exchange server is a pain (especially if you're new to it.)
I think the most common beginner gotchas are making sure you have your 'send connector' & 'receive connector' setup properly. And avoid setting up Exchange server on a domain controller (can be done, but is a headache).
Are you installing it on a single server?
Since you alfeady bought that expensive software called Exchange I would also hesitate moving to a Hosted solution.
Its not like you would get the money back.
Yeah, its running on a single Windows Server VM... I read before that its not recommended but not before starting the setup...
As for the send and receive connectors, I thought they were setup properly, every tutorial I have read is telling me I have done them right, but emails still dont send or receive...
Currently we are using the 6 month trial, mainly to see if we can even get it to work properly.
If you havent bought it yet and this is your first domain I suggest you look at the small business edition (if you can still find it).
All in one solution for your needs. Easier to setup and manage.
Is your server behind any sort of firewall or is it connected directly to the internet?
There is no firewall that I can see / have access to, so I would assume its connected direct to the internet.
Ok.
In your EAC, Check that your Receive Connector named “Default Frontend ” has “Anonymous Users” checked.
Not sure which tutorial/guides you used, but the below tutorials will hopefully help you troubleshoot/resolve connector issues:
Configuring Outbound Mail Flow in Exchange Server 2013
Exchange Server 2013 Mail Flow and Transport Services
If you still can't send receive after checking your connectors, you should start looking at the protocol logs: Troubleshooting Email Delivery with Exchange Server Protocol Logging
EDIT: If you do get your server up-and-running, you should really have some form of AV/AS filter in front of it or configured.
Thanks
I'l see if that works.
No problem. Let us know how you go?
I have nothing but pitty for people still trying ride the MS server hell train. Exchange being top of the list.
I hear ya. Which is why most people/organizations that do go down the Exchange Server route opt for a hosted/managed service.
I have migrated more and more people who were using on-premises Exchange to other (open source alternatives). Cost and Administration being the driving factors.
Trust me, its not my ideal either, but Exchange is something we wanted, or at least to try to get working and sadly Microsoft Server is the only option for that.
If we cant get it working, we will look into some other options, because we do really need to migrate from outlook.com
I have the other side of the story, more then one customer who we migrated FROM an open source solution to Exchange because they found out that it actually costs more to pay the administrators of this "free" system then handling their own Microsoft product.
Exchange is not a bad product. I prefer it over Gmail(Google Apps), POP3, IMAP, etc.
I just dont want to manage it -- you need a minimum of 2 servers, and all the licenses, hardware, OS, etc etc -- definitely not worth it to manage your own setup when you can get all that for $10/user/month.
I have better things to do with my time that make me way more than $10/user/month.
Plus when its a host like RackSpace, I know it'll be online and running on good hardware.
We've just recently completed a migration from Exchange 2003 to 2010 and to be honest, it's not been an easy process. We're supporting around 3,000 users, so it's not a small project by any means.
For a small/medium enterprise I would go with a less complex solution, as your exchange setup will be full of problems if you do not have the know how / time / man power to invest into it.
Also.. it's not budget friendly.
My experience with a small Exchange setup (about 200 users) has been good so far. The migration from 2003 to 2010 took 2 days (with expert assistence), and I spent the following week fixing minor inconveniences. No major issues had arisen, despite frequent developements (custom transport rules etc). Exchange 2010 has a far better stability than 2003, and (thanks to 64 bit support) our installation has been reduced down to a single server. I found beneficial to put a Linux MTA between Exchange and Internet (with mailscanner + mailwatch): no more compatibility issues with other MTAs, and it provides free antispam and reporting features.
I use MailCleaner for this. Combines a bunch of stuff (MTA, MailScanner, SpamAssasin, ClamAV, Web GUI) into an easy to install and manage package. Very cool, efficient, and open source.
@elijahpaul does MailCleaner have spooling, if not, what do you do for spooling, if any.
Yep. MailCleaner does have spooling.
Just as an update to anybody interested, we decided to give up on the idea of exchange, it turned into too big of a headache. We decided to route all emails through cPanel and then using Rainloop as the web based interface, or outlook as the dekstop application.
what was wrong with $10/month/account at rackspace hosted exchange?
theres no way to compare exchange email services to simple old, shitty POP3/IMAP
@ItsChrisG
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Its not worth it for us, it would cost us nearly $100 a month for something that I dont feel is worth it. This works just as well for us, while not idea, does do the job. And doesnt cost us anything.