Installing Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 at a Remote Location

Virus scanner. I suggest that you purchase a virus scanner that will scrub email messages as they arrive at the Exchange server. This scanner should be in addition to your regular antivirus software. I use Symantec Mail Security for Exchange. Make sure you use version 4.5 or later because earlier versions had problems with heavily loaded Exchange 2003 servers. This server also has Symantec Corporate Edition Antivirus installed on it. Make sure to add the scanning exclusions in Norton AntiVirus (NAV) Corporate edition according to the article " Preventing Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.x from scanning the Microsoft Exchange directory structure" at http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2004052416452048?Open&src=ent_hot&docid=2000110108382454&nsf=ent-gate.nsf&view=docid&dtype=corp&prod=Symantec%20Mail%20Security&ver=4.5%20for%20Microsoft%20Exchange&osv=&osv_lvl=. When you install the NAV client on the Exchange server, make sure not to install the Exchange Auto Protect portion of NAV Corporate. Not installing Exchange Auto Protect requires a custom installation initiated from the Exchange server because a push installation from the Symantec System Center will install the Exchange Auto Protect by default. If you do enable Exchange Auto Protect, you might experience mail delivery problems on the server because the Exchange Auto Protect Scanning engine can be overwhelmed by the email traffic on the server. If you install Exchange Auto Protect by accident, reinstall NAV Corporate via the custom option and clear the Exchange Auto Protect option.

Exchange backup agent. To properly back up the Exchange server, you typically need to purchase an additional backup agent. I use VERITAS Backup Exec for Exchange. This agent lets you back up the Exchange databases and, optionally, perform a brick-level backup of the mailboxes. Note that the brick-level backup requires that the backup engine use Messaging API (MAPI) to access the messages, which greatly reduces the throughput of the backup. For installations that have numerous mailboxes, I suggest you use the Recovery Storage Group (RSG) feature in Exchange 2003 and ExMerge to perform a brick-level restore of users' mail boxes.

Antispam software. Unfortunately, spam continues to be a problem and will probably become worse before it gets better. I suggest that you install some type of spam filter on the Exchange server to reduce the amount of junk mail that end users receive in their inboxes. I use GFI Mail essentials, which is a good midrange spam solution for businesses that can't afford an appliance-based spam solution or service. When GFI identifies a message as spam, it can tag the message, redirect the message to a different folder, or delete the message.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. If you plan to use Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) on this server, make sure to install an SSL certificate on the server to encrypt OWA traffic. You can either issue the SSL certificate with Windows 2003 Certificate Services or purchase a commercially available SSL certificate. For information on purchasing an SSL certificate, refer to the SSL Certificate Buyers Guide at http://www.whichssl.com