Topic: Migrating from SBS 2003 a few questions

[matlamont]

Hi all,

At the moment our office is running off a borrowed SBS 2003 Sell Power Edge Server. We're about to setup our own server and hopefully run SME Server but there are a few things i need to check.

This is how we are currently setup:

Our emails are using Microsoft Exchange
We also use multiple outlook calenders to share appointments etc
We all have iphones which are synced to our accounts
We use Sage Accounts software for wages etc which is installed on the server (although only 1 client actually uses the software)

Would there be any issues with setting up SME to use the same features as our current setup?

Regards

[Stefano]

Hi all,

welcome here

At the moment our office is running off a borrowed SBS 2003 Sell Power Edge Server. We're about to setup our own server and hopefully run SME Server but there are a few things i need to check.

This is how we are currently setup:

Our emails are using Microsoft Exchange
We also use multiple outlook calenders to share appointments etc
We all have iphones which are synced to our accounts

actually there's no easy way to have the same features..

you should take a look a Zarafa

We use Sage Accounts software for wages etc which is installed on the server (although only 1 client actually uses the software)

if it's a windows sw (i.e. an .exe), you can't install it on SME.. if you are looking for an alternative, there are many CRM/accounting sw that will run on SME, but you have to migrate your data.

or, but IMHO it's a no-sense solution, you can install vmware on your SME server and then run a virtual Windows.

Would there be any issues with setting up SME to use the same features as our current setup?

the main issue is migrating from exchange to anything else..

if you want, you could test SME8 with SOGo (search in the wiki).. in that case, you could also get rid of outlook..

in any case, you should test everything many times before any migration.. and if you are not a SME/linux expert, I would suggest you to find a consultant near to you..

my 2c

[MSmith]

Perhaps you could virtualize your existing Server 2003 setup and use it with new (unborrowed) hardware.  SME is a pretty good host for virtual machines but you might consider going straight to CentOS.

Just a quick Google reveals that Microsoft thinks virtualizing Exchange is OK:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Virtualizing_Exchange2003.pdf

You should be able to use the VMWare Converter to create a VM from your existing Server 2003 setup, then drop into a machine running VMWare.  A bit of configuration and voila, no reconfiguration of any network clients necessary.

[janet]

matlamont

We use Sage Accounts software for wages etc which is installed on the server (although only 1 client actually uses the software)

I do not fully agree with Stefanos comment/interpretation.
Depending on the particular software, you can install software into a samba share (ie an ibay) on your sme server (ie where the software requires to be run on a Windows workstation). It will be accessible to all networked Windows workstation users who have access rights to that ibay (configured by ibay/group membership).

Some multi user software may not work correctly (eg sharing or indexing errors etc) unless the software coders have developed it to work in a Linux networking environment, some software may need settings to be tweaked in sme eg oplocks. As you only have one user requiring concurrent access, then you should not have multi user concurrent access issues.

If the software requires a specific server type eg Windows SBS2003 or whichever operating system to install & run on, then of course you will not be able to use it on sme.

You really need to check with the software makers.

Your bigger problem, as has been pointed out, is the use of MS Exchange, which requires a MS Windows server. You can use the one physical server to run sme & Windows in a virtual environment, but you will have to face a serious learning curve in order to implement this if you have never used a virtual server before. For starters look here http://wiki.contribs.org/Vmware

[p-jones]

We use Sage Accounts software for wages etc

Have Sage Accounting V15 running happpily on SME.  Data on a server i-bay. Front end on the users PC. Works fine.
Dont share the front end and disable op-locks.

HTH
Peter

[axessit]

I have replaced a couple of M$ Exchange servers with SME running Zarafa, paid for the extra client CALs so they can share calendars, have view/secretary access rights on other users mailboxes, webmail access. the users don't actually know the server has changed, they think it's all the same - just "upgraded". the users have Outlook client's with Zarafa plugin so it looks just like Exchange to them.

[byte]

Have Sage Accounting V15 running happpily on SME.  Data on a server i-bay. Front end on the users PC. Works fine.
Dont share the front end and disable op-locks.

Same here we run Sage Accounts 2010 and Sage Payroll 2010 (UK based) Been running this setup for the past 3 years without any problems. As Peter said software on local computer and data stored on the server (ibay) disable oplocks for that ibay and there you have it!

[matlamont]

Ok so in order to use SME8 i would have to run SoGo to handle calender and mail data. On the client end,  use Thunderbird as a mail client and use Lightning to replace outlook calender.

As far as Sage is concerned, we would only need to back up the database to the server as it is only used by 1 client.

Does this configuration represent a challeng? that is the question

Mat

[Stefano]

Does this configuration represent a challeng? that is the question

no.. it's not a challenge.. we moved from a dual w2008 server (DC and Exchange) to a single SME with zarafa..

[matlamont]

Hi, will we need Zarafa?

[Stefano]

Hi, will we need Zarafa?

only if you want to work almost in the same way than now

Our emails are using Microsoft Exchange
We also use multiple outlook calenders to share appointments etc
We all have iphones which are synced to our accounts

if you want to stay with outlook, you need to buy some licenses for zarafa..