Exchange Server Alternatives On Linux

[drullens]

Hi,We have used Microsoft Exchange Server in our company for a couple of years now. We started out in the days that e-mail was new to our business, just about 4-5 years ago. When we compare the usage of then and now..., well, I don't have to tell you. That is why we are looking to upgrade to a new mailserver. But what are our options? Should we upgrade to the newest version of Exchange, that will also imply buying a new DELL server to run it on and new licenses for Windows 2000 Advanced Server (our current machine runs on NT4).But we also have a new Linux server (DELL PowerEdge 1500SC) up and running since 8 months. It's running Red Hat 7.2 and our intranet applications.I am not interested in a discussion about the differences and advantages between Win2K and Linux. Believe me, I have been reading those discussions for years now and I am bored with them. Please talk about the functionality of the mailserver you use or know about. Even costs are not that important right now, first we have to find out which mailservers are available and right for us.We have only one condition: we absolutely want to keep MS Outlook 2000/2002 on our Win2K/XP desktops. I don't want to bother our users with the changing of our mailserver. They simply want to keep doing their jobs as they are used to do.Hope to hear from you,Dave

[Mike]

Hello there drullens...I've read many a threads on this exact topic and basically it comes down to 2 different packages... (at least for linux)HP's OpenMail (which is now owned by Samsung) can be found at the following addressSamsung Contactand SusE has one SusE OpenExchange ServerAs well as there are others... Groupwise, Domino, etc but they may not be compatible with Outlook...Hope these help...-Mike

[Ragnar Paulson]

Well I just spent about half a day look at the above two websites and am not much further ahead. Does anyone have any actual experience with these products. I noticed that Suse OpenExchange is a full OS install, so may not be useful to the original poster that already has RedHat (and presumably apps running on RH). From the outside looking in ... Suse's marketing literature attempts to baffle with mangled tech speak (what is replicating client information and does it really support Outlook type scheduling), Samsung's marketing attempts to baffle through sleight of hand (how much does it cost and how many different packages must I buy).It seems to me the big advantage of MS exchange is the centralized address book (can do that with LDAP), integration with Outlook (IMAP, POP3, sendmail), and centralized schedulers/datebook/calendaring. The latter I'm not sure how they do (MAPI, proprietary, is it really there) ... and I'm not inclined to buy MS exchange to find out. So what do people want out of their exchange beyond a mailserver that you can connect to with IMAP or POP?Ragnar