Our current network layout is as follows:
- 1 Active Directory server (WinSrv 2008 R2)
- 1 MS SQL server (WinSrv 2008 R2)
- 1 remote web server where SmarterMail Pro is handling all the mail related tasks
- 6 POP3 accounts with local MS Outlook 2007/2013
We'd like to centralize mail database backup, use a single Active Directory login and share calendars, contacts, etc.
Please consider that:
- We plan to reach 10 accounts in a few years
- We have a static IP but no knowledge at all on how to keep a local web server safe and with a 99.999% uptime
- A limited budget, of course.
What do you recommend?
Thanks.
Google Docs could be a nice solution for you or Microsoft Office 365 which means hosted exchange server at Microsoft. That way, it will save you lots of time in configuring/maintaining/troubleshooting and for 10 accounts it would be a very reasonable price. Both solutions would work and they both support calendar sharing and all the features that a local dedicated exchange server will provide.
If you want a lower budget solution, you can install a CentOS server and install Postfix mail server on it for no cost all, but that would take some time configuring it before first use and supporting it is not as trivial as supporting a Microsoft exchange server.