Guest nmowatt Posted August 29, 2007 Posted August 29, 2007 Okay, this is the scenario: I have two location, NC and FL. NC is a new company that aquired a company in FL. NC wants a server with Exchange and also wants FL to be on that same domain and be able to send email through that Exchange server. What is the best way to set this up? I've never done this before and I have a couple of ideas in my head but I am not sure what is the correct way of doing this. 1 Domain or 2 Domains under the same tree? If 1 domain, how do you handle Active Directory replication across a VPN connection (VIA the Internet). Do I need two exchange servers or could they just connect via the VPN or would that be too slow? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in Advance. N
Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange] Posted August 29, 2007 Posted August 29, 2007 Re: 2 Locations - One or Two Domains? nmowatt <nmowatt@gmail.com> wrote: > Okay, this is the scenario: > > I have two location, NC and FL. NC is a new company that aquired a > company in FL. NC wants a server with Exchange and also wants FL to > be on that same domain and be able to send email through that Exchange > server. > > What is the best way to set this up? > > I've never done this before and I have a couple of ideas in my head > but I am not sure what is the correct way of doing this. > > 1 Domain or 2 Domains under the same tree? If 1 domain, how do you > handle Active Directory replication across a VPN connection (VIA the > Internet). Do I need two exchange servers or could they just connect > via the VPN or would that be too slow? > > Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. > > Thanks in Advance. > > N Two domains? Nah. I think the best config is a single AD domain with multiple sites/subnets (NC and FL) - each site with a DC/DNS/GC in it, and a hardware-based VPN to connect them. If the Florida office is small, using a decently-provisioned E2007 box in NC will allow both NC and FL users to access it. The FL users can use RPC/HTTPS/Outlook Anywhere across the WAN link. If the Florida office will be large, they could instead have their own Exchange server in the same admin group. The issue with anything like that (or file storage....) is that you then have to figure out how to back it up - and you can't replicate mailboxes in Exchange, although you can use DFS/etc. for plain old files. Your company probably ought to maintain its data centrally and control its backups centrally. Alternatively, you could install a Terminal Services box or two in NC and have the Florida users work on *that*. You wouldn't even need a DC there at that point, although unless you're using thin clients, the workstations should join the domain, and you need a DC there in that case. Regardless, even with a TS box in the main office, I'd probably still want them to have direct/local access to Outlook/Exchange.
Guest nmowatt Posted August 29, 2007 Posted August 29, 2007 Re: 2 Locations - One or Two Domains? On Aug 29, 10:29 am, "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" <lanwe...@heybuddy.donotsendme.unsolicitedmailatyahoo.com> wrote: > nmowatt <nmow...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Okay, this is the scenario: > > > I have two location, NC and FL. NC is a new company that aquired a > > company in FL. NC wants a server with Exchange and also wants FL to > > be on that same domain and be able to send email through that Exchange > > server. > > > What is the best way to set this up? > > > I've never done this before and I have a couple of ideas in my head > > but I am not sure what is the correct way of doing this. > > > 1 Domain or 2 Domains under the same tree? If 1 domain, how do you > > handle Active Directory replication across a VPN connection (VIA the > > Internet). Do I need two exchange servers or could they just connect > > via the VPN or would that be too slow? > > > Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. > > > Thanks in Advance. > > > N > > Two domains? Nah. I think the best config is a single AD domain with > multiple sites/subnets (NC and FL) - each site with a DC/DNS/GC in it, and a > hardware-based VPN to connect them. If the Florida office is small, using a > decently-provisioned E2007 box in NC will allow both NC and FL users to > access it. The FL users can use RPC/HTTPS/Outlook Anywhere across the WAN > link. > > If the Florida office will be large, they could instead have their own > Exchange server in the same admin group. The issue with anything like that > (or file storage....) is that you then have to figure out how to back it > up - and you can't replicate mailboxes in Exchange, although you can use > DFS/etc. for plain old files. Your company probably ought to maintain its > data centrally and control its backups centrally. > > Alternatively, you could install a Terminal Services box or two in NC and > have the Florida users work on *that*. You wouldn't even need a DC there at > that point, although unless you're using thin clients, the workstations > should join the domain, and you need a DC there in that case. > > Regardless, even with a TS box in the main office, I'd probably still want > them to have direct/local access to Outlook/Exchange.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - Okay.. I see where you are going with this. We have the hardware to go ahead and have two servers, one in each location and with both running Exchange. The server in NC would be the primary and the server in FL would be the secondary. If the exchange server in FL is in the same admin group as the one in NC, then I wouldn't need to use routing groups, would I? It would know where each mailbox is on whatever server it is on. What about Active Directory Synronization? Is that an issue over an internet VPN as far as latencey goes? I really appreciate all your help. Neil
Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange] Posted August 31, 2007 Posted August 31, 2007 Re: 2 Locations - One or Two Domains? nmowatt <nmowatt@gmail.com> wrote: > On Aug 29, 10:29 am, "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" > <lanwe...@heybuddy.donotsendme.unsolicitedmailatyahoo.com> wrote: >> nmowatt <nmow...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Okay, this is the scenario: >> >>> I have two location, NC and FL. NC is a new company that aquired a >>> company in FL. NC wants a server with Exchange and also wants FL to >>> be on that same domain and be able to send email through that >>> Exchange server. >> >>> What is the best way to set this up? >> >>> I've never done this before and I have a couple of ideas in my head >>> but I am not sure what is the correct way of doing this. >> >>> 1 Domain or 2 Domains under the same tree? If 1 domain, how do you >>> handle Active Directory replication across a VPN connection (VIA the >>> Internet). Do I need two exchange servers or could they just >>> connecth via the VPN or would that be too slow? >> >>> Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. >> >>> Thanks in Advance. >> >>> N >> >> Two domains? Nah. I think the best config is a single AD domain with >> multiple sites/subnets (NC and FL) - each site with a DC/DNS/GC in >> it, and a hardware-based VPN to connect them. If the Florida office >> is small, using a decently-provisioned E2007 box in NC will allow >> both NC and FL users to access it. The FL users can use >> RPC/HTTPS/Outlook Anywhere across the WAN link. >> >> If the Florida office will be large, they could instead have their >> own Exchange server in the same admin group. The issue with anything >> like that (or file storage....) is that you then have to figure out >> how to back it >> up - and you can't replicate mailboxes in Exchange, although you can >> use DFS/etc. for plain old files. Your company probably ought to >> maintain its data centrally and control its backups centrally. >> >> Alternatively, you could install a Terminal Services box or two in >> NC and have the Florida users work on *that*. You wouldn't even need >> a DC there at that point, although unless you're using thin clients, >> the workstations should join the domain, and you need a DC there in >> that case. >> >> Regardless, even with a TS box in the main office, I'd probably >> still want them to have direct/local access to Outlook/Exchange.- >> Hide quoted text - >> >> - Show quoted text - > > Okay.. I see where you are going with this. We have the hardware to > go ahead and have two servers, one in each location and with both > running Exchange. Actually, you really ought to have more than two. You should have two DCs at minimum. And Exchange shouldn't run on a DC. And since there is simply no point in installing E2003 now, you're talking E2007, which runs only on 64-bit hardware - is that what you've got? Additionally, in E2007there are different roles that are meant to run on different Exchange servers ... http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Introduction-Exchange-2007-Server-Roles.html Do you really need two Exchange servers? Seriously think about it. I suspect your company is not large, as you're in here asking questions that in a large firm would be handled by a crack team of IT geeks busily working in MS Project & Powerpoint. If it is not large, just make sure you've put in some kick-ass server hardware in your main office for Exchange, and have the FL users access it using Outlook Anywhere (so they'll have access even if there's a VPN problem, as well as offline access if there's an Internet connectivity problem). You also need to think about how you're going to handle your file storage - as I mentioned, replication of the FL file server data to the NC server is one option. You really do want to centralize your backups in the main office somehow. Removing Exchange from the FL office network entirely makes this easier as well. > The server in NC would be the primary and the > server in FL would be the secondary. Those aren't really useful terms....but I imagine you mean "internet mail is delivered to the NC server & not the FL server" > If the exchange server in FL is > in the same admin group as the one in NC, then I wouldn't need to use > routing groups, would I? It would know where each mailbox is on > whatever server it is on. Well - there's no such thing as a routing group in E2007! I suggest you post in microsoft.public.exchange.admin with more info on what it is you want to accomplish. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2006/12/Upgrading/ may help you a bit. > > What about Active Directory Synronization? Is that an issue over an > internet VPN as far as latencey goes? It should be fine, but use leased line connections instead of DSL, etc. in each location. > > I really appreciate all your help. > > Neil
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