RE: (OT) SMTP: OBSD <-> Win2000

["Steve Shockley" <Steve.Shockley@shockley.net>]

> 3. No native backup of individual mailboxes. There was an MS 
> Knowledge Base item saying that the way to recover a mailbox 
> from backup is to build another exchange server, restore full 
> mail database from backup, then have user log onto that and 
> pick up lost mail.

While that is true, MS also doesn't pretend that they include 
a backup solution with Exchange or NT/2k.  Most third-party 
backup software will handle single-mailbox restores well.

> 4. Win32 OSes still have much of single-user, GUI-only, 
> reboot-whenever-somthing-looks-fishy legacy - it is nowhere 
> near as easy, nor as fast as OpenBSD, to log in remotely, run 
> diagnostic programs, make changes without taking down the system, etc.

This issue is definitely much improved in Win2k.  They 
include an admin-only version of Terminal Server with the 
OS, and it's actually reasonably fast over a 33.6k modem.  
The tools included with Win2k also make it much easier to 
manage the server from a workstation without rebooting, 
and if you're used to administering with an MS GUI, then 
they're easier to use than command-line.

> 5. Installing Exchange Server on an existing server was a 
> quagmire of nested and conflicting dependencies on different 
> versions of IIS, service packs, et al.

I think that issue comes up a lot because it's more likely 
that a novice admin will install an NT server (that stays 
in production) and not document it than the chances that a 
novice admin will install a (BSD, Netware, Solaris) box.  
While some installs can be more than hairy [1], that's 
usually the exception.

[1] http://support.microsoft.com/support/SiteServer/Install/SS3SP4/NT40-sql70.asp