I need some links/ advice.
I have a wonderfull fedora mail server that works like a champ.
Postfix, Squirrel mail, vacation, you Spamassain.
Love it never needsa thing.
My Boss was talkign with a MS rep and wants to talk to me about Exchange.
I got a little sick when it came up.
I need to nip this in the bud and was about to start searchign the netfor stuff but thought I would come here first to see if you guys can help.
Cheers!

1. Exchange means you'll definitely want to be using Active Directory
2. Show the prices for Server hardware, OS price, Exchange price, Spamfilter software (SurfControl?), Email Virus scanning software, etc.
3. Implementation & Time: How many users will you have to add. Time per user.
4. Will you be implementing Outlook WebAccess? Time and implementation. Separate server ($$$)?

This could easily cost you $10k-$15k. Exchange needs a lot better H/W than your linux box does plus the time for implemenation.
Now, there are benefits to Exchange so I would go in with a "MS Exchange is the devil" attitude. Management usually look into cost/benefit analysis.

You will be looking at new hardware if you wait for the latest version of exchanged as, it will only run on x64 machines. Plus think of backup requirements, like you I use a linux mail server using cyrus-imap and I really like how easy it is to restore users mail boxes, when they do something silly.

Well hardware isnt a problem its a small network and we have a spare rackmount that can easily handle it.
And i know the software pricing wont scare him. He is a computer guy to a large degree and understands a lot. I am more concerend with stability and security and anything related to either of those arenas and links would be so great
thanks

Being a microsoft jockey for 5 years.. i tell you dont do it..

Keep the mail on linux..where it belong..fast safe and secure.. with bunch of free anti spam scanners

Not a direct reference, but if you are looking to prepare, I think you should check into what the standard microsoft marketing lines are - what would they say for why someone should switch (or stay). Also, I remember an exchange admin mentioning something about how exchange stores email in a database or something and if it got to big, the whole thing would crash and lose all the mail - it sounded crazy, but if you want a scalable system - it could be something to look out for.

Ms exchange server is so unstable you need a seperate server for it so that when i crashes (ie every few hours) it dousent kill thr erest of teh server with it!!

(thast my expeiance anyway trying to run it on win 2k server edition with MS back office and exchange...)

if you wnat somting like exchange that is comercial but is stable and has good support i suggest contacting novel because netware running on SLES is supposed top be really good though i have no experiance of it myself

Thanks and keep em coming.

If it ain't broke why "fix" it. If what you have works, why change and spend the money for a zero gain. I would have to see a very solid reason to replace what I had in service. Especially if there are possible "issues" that don't exist with what you now have.

I don't understand why your boss wants to downgrade from Cyrus to Exchange. Usually it's the otherway around - Exchange to Cyrus migration. The only benefit to Exchange is the Global Address Book and Calendar. However, you can accomplish the same or better by using a good webmail app like squirrelmail with plugins or horde.

@ramram29: Maybe the boss has read some of those stupid threats by Mr. (And I use the term loosely) Ballmer, and does not want to risk legal action.

There are legal considerations, but not the ones mentioned. If your company is looking for a reliable method for archiving emails that may be responsive to future litigation, there are tons of viable methods with Exchange. Moreover, the entire legal field is pretty specifically geared to accepting emails in MS Outlook PST format. Anything else they generally can't handle, or can't handle very well.

That may actually be a good argument for NOT switching to Exchange. Were you to be sued, you could provide all responsive emails in their native format with no problem. But opposing counsel wouldn't know what the hell to do with it.

And don't say "We'll never be sued." The firm I work at has an extremely long client list of companies that said exactly that.

In regards to your last post, Linux Email systems formats are more compatible than Exchange. Linux Email systems store their mail in ASCII text format. There are two style: mbox and maildir. mbox stores all the messages in one ASCII text file which represents the mailbox name (Inbox, Sent, Drafts). maildir stores each message in a separate ASCII text file with a directory as the mailbox (INBOX/1., INBOX/2., Drafts/99. Only the indexes are created in DB format, in order to search the messages faster. If the index gets corrupt then all you have to do is reindex the index. Simple, fast and easy to administer.

Clearly this method is more compatible and less prone to PST file corruptions. PST files are proprietary and they get corrupted very easy and are very difficult to recover, also they crash once they pass 2GB or more. Please, when it comes to Email servers or networking in general, there's no comparison between click-and-go Microsoft and Linux robust systems.

Whilst I agree with your technical description of the openness and ease of administration of *nix based email systems and heartily agree with your recommendation, your characterization of the failings of the PST format is based on out-of-date information.

William Michael Donovan ("father" of the CIA) said that the most important rule of propaganda is "never lie". The PST format is nowhere near as easily corruptible as it once was and a large number of free and very robust recovery tools are available. Yes, the format is proprietary. But some incredible strides have been made in reverse engineering the format. The 2GB limitation has not existed ever since the PST adopted the unicode format. There is a size limitation, but it is somewhere north of 30TB. There is, however, a very interesting existing limitation. No folder in a PST can hold more than 16,383 items.

Just setting the record straight.

More evidence not to use Exchange PST format for an Enterprise Email System. I've seen where PST files are unrecoverable, period. There's no getting around this mysterious binary format. After so many years I still don't understand why Microsoft had to make their email file storage format in this manner. It is silly and makes no sense, especially when it gets corrupt and you are not able to get to your text messages; but no, they had to take all the Email Industry Standards, MIME, IMAP and encapsulate it in a slow, easily corrupted, limited, proprietary binary format that nobody understands and that nobody can diagnose other than with cookie cutter wizard utilities. Welcome to the world of the famous PST file. Does this sound familiar?