Which is better? Microsoft Exchange 2016 or Linux-based SMTP Servers?

[Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming]

Good evening from Singapore,

I am torn between deploying Microsoft Exchange 2016 and Linux-based
SMTP servers like sendmail, postfix, qmail and exim.

Relative ease of installation and configuration is an important
consideration factor.

Microsoft Exchange 2016, Domain Controller, and Active Directory are
relatively easy to install and configure. Linux-based SMTP servers are
extremely difficult to install and configure and of course, extremely
time-consuming.

One of the features of Microsoft Exchange 2016 is that you can create
additional folders on your Inbox in the server (server-side). Can
Linux-based SMTP servers do that?

Does Exchange 2016 offer more user-friendly features or Linux-based
SMTP servers?

Besides the above considerations, how about security? Traditionally,
Linux is far more secure than Windows.

Judging by security, Linux-based SMTP servers ought to have a higher percentage of the
market share?

Finally, I can only use Windows Server 2016 Standard Evaluation Copy FREE for a period of
3 years MAXIMUM. But I can use Linux servers and Mail Transport Agents (MTA) FREE
perpetually. 

Please advise.

Thank you very much.

     
 
 ===BEGIN SIGNATURE===  
Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming's Academic Qualifications as at 30 Oct 2017  
[1] https://tdtemcerts.wordpress.com/  
[2] http://tdtemcerts.blogspot.sg/  
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[Gary Stainburn]

On Wednesday 18 July 2018 16:15:15 Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming wrote:
>  Good evening from Singapore,
>
>  I am torn between deploying Microsoft Exchange 2016 and Linux-based
>  SMTP servers like sendmail, postfix, qmail and exim.
>
>  Relative ease of installation and configuration is an important
>  consideration factor. 
The first and probably main question is what is the experience and expertise 
of the people who will maintain the system. If they are mainly a MS house, 
then MS is probably the way to go.  Likewise for Linux.
>  Microsoft Exchange 2016, Domain Controller, and Active Directory are
>  relatively easy to install and configure.  
MS products tend to have nice and friendly GUI front ends. However, they're 
only nice and friendly if you agree with their design style.  I'm the Office 
365 administrator for our company, and I often find that I can't find the 
feature that I need because it's not where I expect it to be.  Admittedly, 
this is probably because I don't use it often enough.

>  Linux-based SMTP servers are 
>  extremely difficult to install and configure and of course, extremely
>  time-consuming. 
Linux servers are a bit of a faf to set up initially, especially as each 
element is separate from the rest. PAM is usually set up out of the box, but 
you have to configure EXIM, DOVECOT, CLAMAV, SPAMASSASSIN etc. one at a time.

However, this is only done once as an install. Then on a day-to-day basis,it's 
just a case of updating user details, and you can use scripts for this.

>  One of the features of Microsoft Exchange 2016 is that you can create
>  additional folders on your Inbox in the server (server-side). Can
>  Linux-based SMTP servers do that? 
This can be done if you're using IMAP, which will probably be using the 
DOVECOT service. It also depends on which email client you use.

>  Does Exchange 2016 offer more user-friendly features or Linux-based
>  SMTP servers? 
Using Exchange limits the choice of email client compared to Linux. After 
that, it's mainly down to the capabilities of the email client.
>  Besides the above considerations, how about security? Traditionally,
>  Linux is far more secure than Windows. 
Both Windows and Linux are secure if set up correctly. Linux, probably more 
so, but I'm no expert.  The key to having secure MS servers is to not allow 
user near them.

>  Judging by security, Linux-based SMTP servers ought to have a higher
>  percentage of the market share?
>
>  Finally, I can only use Windows Server 2016 Standard Evaluation Copy FREE
>  for a period of 3 years MAXIMUM. But I can use Linux servers and Mail
>  Transport Agents (MTA) FREE perpetually. 
Yes, all of the stuff you would need for a Linux email server are free as in 
beer.

If you do go down the Linux route, you could consider looking at systems / 
packages / hosted servers designed as email servers out of the box. This 
would reduce the amount of work requiired to get them working

>  Please advise.
>
>  Thank you very much.
>
>
>
>   ===BEGIN SIGNATURE===
>  Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming's Academic Qualifications as at 30 Oct 2017
>  [1] https://tdtemcerts.wordpress.com/
>  [2] http://tdtemcerts.blogspot.sg/
>  [3] https://www.scribd.com/user/270125049/Teo-En-Ming
>  ===END SIGNATURE===
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
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>  To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html
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>  List Archives:
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-- 
Gary Stainburn
Group I.T. Manager
Ringways Garages
http://www.ringways.co.uk

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Wed, 2018-07-18 at 15:15 +0000, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
wrote:
>  Good evening from Singapore,
>  
>  I am torn between deploying Microsoft Exchange 2016 and Linux-based
>  SMTP servers like sendmail, postfix, qmail and exim.
>  
>  Relative ease of installation and configuration is an important
>  consideration factor. 
You don't say anything about your user population, which may strongly
influence the right answer. Are they all Windows users, Linux users,
mixed?

>  Microsoft Exchange 2016, Domain Controller, and Active Directory are
>  relatively easy to install and configure. Linux-based SMTP servers are
>  extremely difficult to install and configure and of course, extremely
>  time-consuming.
>  
>  One of the features of Microsoft Exchange 2016 is that you can create
>  additional folders on your Inbox in the server (server-side). Can
>  Linux-based SMTP servers do that? 
This has nothing to do with SMTP. SMTP is a mail transport protocol,
not a mail service protocol. Your question as stated doesn't really
make sense.

However, since you ask about server-side folders, the answer is to use
IMAP, which supports this directly. You can do this with Exchange, if
you're happy to run that, or with Cyrus, Dovecot and a number of other
Linux-based solutions. Note that if you run Exchange without enabling
IMAP support, you will limit the kind of MUAs (mail clients) your users
can use.

You should also note that Exchange has a seat-based licensing cost and
manages more than just email, e.g. calendaring, task management etc.
These can all be done on Linux as well, but usually with more setup for
the admin. Only you can know if that represents value in your use case.

>  Does Exchange 2016 offer more user-friendly features or Linux-based
>  SMTP servers?
>  
>  Besides the above considerations, how about security? Traditionally,
>  Linux is far more secure than Windows.
>  
>  Judging by security, Linux-based SMTP servers ought to have a higher percentage of the
> market share? 
What kind of security are you talking about? If you run Exchange it
means running a Windows server vs a Linux server for other options. I
guess most of us here would prefer a Linux server, but if you're
basically a Windows shop then you will know what is involved. As
regards email security per se, that's really much more dependent on
what your users are running.

poc

[Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming]

Hi,


You mean I have to pay for using Exchange as well, in addition to Windows Server?


What is seat-based licensing cost?


________________________________
From: Patrick O'Callaghan <pocallaghan(a)gmail.com&gt;
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2018 11:54 PM
To: users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
Subject: Re: Which is better? Microsoft Exchange 2016 or Linux-based SMTP Servers?

On Wed, 2018-07-18 at 15:15 +0000, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
wrote:
>  Good evening from Singapore,
>
>  I am torn between deploying Microsoft Exchange 2016 and Linux-based
>  SMTP servers like sendmail, postfix, qmail and exim.
>
>  Relative ease of installation and configuration is an important
>  consideration factor. 
You don't say anything about your user population, which may strongly
influence the right answer. Are they all Windows users, Linux users,
mixed?

>  Microsoft Exchange 2016, Domain Controller, and Active Directory are
>  relatively easy to install and configure. Linux-based SMTP servers are
>  extremely difficult to install and configure and of course, extremely
>  time-consuming.
>
>  One of the features of Microsoft Exchange 2016 is that you can create
>  additional folders on your Inbox in the server (server-side). Can
>  Linux-based SMTP servers do that? 
This has nothing to do with SMTP. SMTP is a mail transport protocol,
not a mail service protocol. Your question as stated doesn't really
make sense.

However, since you ask about server-side folders, the answer is to use
IMAP, which supports this directly. You can do this with Exchange, if
you're happy to run that, or with Cyrus, Dovecot and a number of other
Linux-based solutions. Note that if you run Exchange without enabling
IMAP support, you will limit the kind of MUAs (mail clients) your users
can use.

You should also note that Exchange has a seat-based licensing cost and
manages more than just email, e.g. calendaring, task management etc.
These can all be done on Linux as well, but usually with more setup for
the admin. Only you can know if that represents value in your use case.

>  Does Exchange 2016 offer more user-friendly features or Linux-based
>  SMTP servers?
>
>  Besides the above considerations, how about security? Traditionally,
>  Linux is far more secure than Windows.
>
>  Judging by security, Linux-based SMTP servers ought to have a higher percentage of the
> market share? 
What kind of security are you talking about? If you run Exchange it
means running a Windows server vs a Linux server for other options. I
guess most of us here would prefer a Linux server, but if you're
basically a Windows shop then you will know what is involved. As
regards email security per se, that's really much more dependent on
what your users are running.

poc
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[Gary Stainburn]

On Wednesday 18 July 2018 16:58:42 Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming wrote:
>  Hi,
>
>
>  You mean I have to pay for using Exchange as well, in addition to Windows
>  Server?
>
>
>  What is seat-based licensing cost? 
Exchange, both on-premis and O365 is based on a per user license, payable to 
Microsoft.

This is on top of the cost of Windows Server, etc.

[Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming]

Strange.


When I download Exchange from official Microsoft website and installed it in Windows
Server Evaluation Copy, it never asked me to key in product key or ask me to pay for any
license fees.




________________________________
From: Gary Stainburn <gary.stainburn(a)ringways.co.uk&gt;
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2018 12:02 AM
To: users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
Subject: Re: Which is better? Microsoft Exchange 2016 or Linux-based SMTP Servers?

On Wednesday 18 July 2018 16:58:42 Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming wrote:
>  Hi,
>
>
>  You mean I have to pay for using Exchange as well, in addition to Windows
>  Server?
>
>
>  What is seat-based licensing cost? 
Exchange, both on-premis and O365 is based on a per user license, payable to
Microsoft.

This is on top of the cost of Windows Server, etc.
_______________________________________________
users mailing list -- users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html
[https://getfedora.org/static/images/fedora.png]<https://getfedora.org/...

Fedora Code of Conduct<https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html>
getfedora.org
Choose Freedom. Choose Fedora. Pick a flavor of Fedora streamlined for your needs, and get
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List Archives:
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[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Wed, 2018-07-18 at 16:05 +0000, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
wrote:
>  Strange.
>  
>  
>  When I download Exchange from official Microsoft website and installed it in Windows
> Server Evaluation Copy, it never asked me to key in product key or ask me to pay for any
> license fees. 
[Again, don't top-post please]

An *Evaluation Copy* is just what it says. You can't use it for
production.

poc

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Wed, 2018-07-18 at 15:58 +0000, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
wrote:
>  You mean I have to pay for using Exchange as well, in addition to
> Windows Server? 
[Please don't top-post replies]

Of course you do. Exchange is a separate product.

>  What is seat-based licensing cost? 
The cost of the license depends on the number of users it's meant to
support (not the same as the number who actually use it, just a cap on
the number of users you can have). There may also be a per-seat cost
for Windows Server but I haven't checked. Possibly you can get
Server+Exchange bundles for a single cost, but they will always be in
line with the maximum number of users.

poc

[Robert Moskowitz]

On 07/18/2018 11:58 AM, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming wrote:
>  Hi,
>
>
>  You mean I have to pay for using Exchange as well, in addition to 
>  Windows Server?
>  
And it is getting worst as MS moves to monthly service fee model. And 
schools are not given a summer vacation break on the monthly fees (at 
least my schools admin has not found the right people to talk to).

We say here in the US:  Cha-ching (the old mechanical cash registers)

>  What is seat-based licensing cost?
>
>
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  *From:* Patrick O'Callaghan <pocallaghan(a)gmail.com&gt;
>  *Sent:* Wednesday, July 18, 2018 11:54 PM
>  *To:* users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  *Subject:* Re: Which is better? Microsoft Exchange 2016 or Linux-based 
>  SMTP Servers?
>  On Wed, 2018-07-18 at 15:15 +0000, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
>  wrote:
>  > Good evening from Singapore,
>  >
>  > I am torn between deploying Microsoft Exchange 2016 and Linux-based
>  > SMTP servers like sendmail, postfix, qmail and exim.
>  >
>  > Relative ease of installation and configuration is an important
>  > consideration factor.
>
>  You don't say anything about your user population, which may strongly
>  influence the right answer. Are they all Windows users, Linux users,
>  mixed?
>
>  > Microsoft Exchange 2016, Domain Controller, and Active Directory are
>  > relatively easy to install and configure. Linux-based SMTP servers are
>  > extremely difficult to install and configure and of course, extremely
>  > time-consuming.
>  >
>  > One of the features of Microsoft Exchange 2016 is that you can create
>  > additional folders on your Inbox in the server (server-side). Can
>  > Linux-based SMTP servers do that?
>
>  This has nothing to do with SMTP. SMTP is a mail transport protocol,
>  not a mail service protocol. Your question as stated doesn't really
>  make sense.
>
>  However, since you ask about server-side folders, the answer is to use
>  IMAP, which supports this directly. You can do this with Exchange, if
>  you're happy to run that, or with Cyrus, Dovecot and a number of other
>  Linux-based solutions. Note that if you run Exchange without enabling
>  IMAP support, you will limit the kind of MUAs (mail clients) your users
>  can use.
>
>  You should also note that Exchange has a seat-based licensing cost and
>  manages more than just email, e.g. calendaring, task management etc.
>  These can all be done on Linux as well, but usually with more setup for
>  the admin. Only you can know if that represents value in your use case.
>
>  > Does Exchange 2016 offer more user-friendly features or Linux-based
>  > SMTP servers?
>  >
>  > Besides the above considerations, how about security? Traditionally,
>  > Linux is far more secure than Windows.
>  >
>  > Judging by security, Linux-based SMTP servers ought to have a higher 
>  percentage of the market share?
>
>  What kind of security are you talking about? If you run Exchange it
>  means running a Windows server vs a Linux server for other options. I
>  guess most of us here would prefer a Linux server, but if you're
>  basically a Windows shop then you will know what is involved. As
>  regards email security per se, that's really much more dependent on
>  what your users are running.
>
>  poc
>  _______________________________________________
>  users mailing list -- users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html 
>  <https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html>
>  <https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html>
>  	
>  Fedora Code of Conduct <https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html>
>  getfedora.org
>  Choose Freedom. Choose Fedora. Pick a flavor of Fedora streamlined for 
>  your needs, and get to work right away.
>
>
>
>  List Guidelines: 
>  https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines 
>  <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines>
>  List Archives: 
>
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>
>
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[Dave Ihnat]

On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 03:58:42PM +0000, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming wrote:
>  You mean I have to pay for using Exchange as well, in addition to
>  Windows Server? 
Yes.  You have four sets of licenses to purchase:

 o Windows Server 2016 Std base license.  One-time fee, somewhere around $600.

 o Windows Server 2016 User or Device CALs.  You have to decide which to
   buy (usually User CALs).  Come in packs of 1,5,10.  The prices vary
   based on from whom you buy, a bit less per CAL in the larger packs, but
   figure it's between $110-$130/CAL.

 o Exchange On-Premises.  Runs about $550 street, comes with 5 Exchange CALs.

 o Exchange CALs.  Not to be confused with Server CALs.  These run about
   $90-$100/ea.

--
	Dave Ihnat
	dihnat(a)dminet.com

[William Oliver]

On Wed, 2018-07-18 at 15:15 +0000, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
wrote:
>  Good evening from Singapore,
>  
>  I am torn between deploying Microsoft Exchange 2016 and Linux-based
>  SMTP servers like sendmail, postfix, qmail and exim.
>  
>  Relative ease of installation and configuration is an important
>  consideration factor.
>  
>  [snip] 
For my size of shop (about 100 users), linux works fine.  I don't know
what the answer is for huge shops that have to have distibuted systems
-- I've heard that's a lot more complicated, but have never done it.

As far as ease goes, it's like everything else.  If you are used to it
and comfortable with something, then it's "easier" and the learning
curve for doing something else makes it harder.  I have been setting up
linux mail and web servers for years, and it's a piece of cake for me. 
I set up an Exchange server last year, and I was ready to kill myself
after a few hours.  I have little doubt that someone who has years of
experience with Exchange servers and little experience with linux would
feel just the opposite.

It's like the old Windows/Linux conversation.  When people say "Linux
is hard" what they really mean is just "I'm used to Windows and Linux
isn't like Windows."  I used to maintain some Windows boxes back when
it was Windows 3.1, and up until the introduction of Windows 7, and
sort of kept up with it.  I sat down at a Windows 10 box the other day
and was all confused.  It was "hard" because it wasn't what I was used
to, and I didn't care to put in the effort to become competent again.

So, the real answer is that there's no such thing as a free lunch. 
There are tools to ease the hassles of setting up a linux mail server,
but really, there are so many tutorials on it out there that doing it
by hand isn't all that hard -- if you just do it.  I'm sure the same
thing is true with Exchange.

The real question for me, if I had to do it all over again, is if my
company isn't freaking huge, why host it myself anyway?  I'd be tempted
to use one of the many large email services and let them worry about
security, etc.  And, you know... "Cloud" is the thing nowadays.  Why
not?

If the answer to "why not" is because you want hands on control, and
you want absolute control over logs and backups and security, then that
would point to linux.   You can get in there and fiddle with all the
knobs and turn all the nuts on all the bolts.

If it was me, I'd see what my users needs were.  If they are all die-
hard Outlook and Microsoft365 users, then I'd go with Exchange.  I've
never integrated linux mail servers with Outlook and Microsoft365, but
it just doesn't sound like fun.  If the users are not Outlook people,
then I'd cobble together a linux system  - because I prefer a stick
shift to an automatic transmission.



billo

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Wed, 2018-07-18 at 12:19 -0400, William Oliver wrote:
>  For my size of shop (about 100 users), linux works fine.  I don't
> know
>  what the answer is for huge shops that have to have distibuted systems
>  -- I've heard that's a lot more complicated, but have never done it. 
I used to oversee a university mail system for several thousand users,
all on one Centos machine administered by one guy who also did a lot of
other stuff. Accounts and help desk was a group of people of course,
but that was generally non-technical and wouldn't vary much according
to the server type.

poc

[T.C. Hollingsworth]

On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 8:19 AM Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
<turritopsis.dohrnii(a)teo-en-ming.com&gt; wrote:
>  One of the features of Microsoft Exchange 2016 is that you can
> create
>  additional folders on your Inbox in the server (server-side). Can
>  Linux-based SMTP servers do that? 
Shared folders would be a feature of an IMAP server.  SMTP is for
sending mail only, and POP3 doesn't do folders.  All of the major IMAP
servers support shared folders:
Dovecot:  https://wiki.dovecot.org/SharedMailboxes
Cyrus:  htttps://www.cyrusimap.org/imap/concepts/features/namespaces.html
UW IMAP:  https://www.washington.edu/imap/IMAP-FAQs/index.html#4.6

There are also a few software suites for Linux that provide
functionality more similar to Exchange than the usual SMTP/POP3/IMAP
trio:

Zimbra is the most popular and has the most feature-parity with
Exchange, but it's also the most enterprisey/complicated:
https://www.zimbra.com/open-source-email-overview/

Kolab uses a more traditional Linux stack for its services while still
being easy to use, and they're a great open source citizen:
https://www.kolab.org/

Both of these support shared folders.  These tend to be disfavored by
the wisened old ladies and gentlemen that frequent this list.  But, if
you're users are office drones who have never used anything but
Outlook before, they'll be happier with these solutions than a basic
webmail client (or worse, Outlook's terrible IMAP functionality).

There are a few other options, but their open source offerings are
buried behind their enterprise offerings so they're hard to recommend:
https://www.open-xchange.com/
https://kopano.com/

Good luck!