Home Forums Discussions General Discussion No more Exchange with SBS (Solutions)

I guess the new pricing isn't too bad with Server 2012. You basically get two copies (virtualized) for the price of one. Good for people that need a Terminal Server to go with it. For people that need a Terminal Server, it's much cheaper to just get one copy of Server 2012 and virtual AD, DNS, DHCP, SQL in one instance and the terminal server in the other.

Apparently there is some sales/license script for Essentials that lifts the user limit of 25 and increases it 40 as well as unlocking features of Server 2012 Standard. I'm waiting to hear more about this.

Exchange online is $4/user/month or $8/user/month. $20/month or $40/month for 5 users in the average office.

Exchange Online Plans (tbh, there's no maintenance involved when there are a small amount of users):
$4 Plan 1 - Biggest negative No Journaling, 25GB limit(usually more than enough)
$8 Plan 2 - has Journaling

Exhange Online (25GB limit/user, Plan 1):
1 Year Cost: $240
5 Year Cost: $1200

Exchange Online (Unlimited, Plan 2):
1 Year Cost: $480
5 Year Cost: $2400

Exchange Onsite (User-limited):
1 Year Cost: $1150 Exchange Server(5 CALs, included)
5 Year Cost: $1150 Exchange Server

So basically if you want journaling, any advanced features (transport rules, etc.), or have more than 5 users. Shelling out $1150 for that Exchange Server is worth it.

Also, it should be pretty obvious that it's nowhere near the value of SBS Standard, but these are the choices.

Scenario 1: Need (AD,AC/SQL,File Server)
Get Server 2012 Essentials (AD,AC/SQL,File Server, Anything Else) (Up to 40 users with script)
Physical or Virtual

Scenario 2: Need (AD,AC/SQL,File Server) and Exchange (Current SBS)
Get Single Copy of Server 2012+Exchange 2010
VM 1: AD,AC/SQL,File Server, Anything Else
VM 2: Exchange 2010

Scenario 3: Need (AD,AC/SQL,File Server) and Terminal Server
Get Singe Copy of Server 2012
VM 1: AD,AC/SQL,File Server, Anything Else
VM 2: Remote Desktop Services Role w/RDS CALs

Scenario 4: Need (AD,AC/SQL,File Server),Exchange Server, and Terminal Server
Get Server 2012 Essentials (Up to 40 users with script) + Single Copy of Server 2012 + Exchange 2010
VM 1: Server 2012 Essentials (AD,AC/SQL,File Server)
VM 2: Exchange 2010
VM 3: Remote Desktop Services Role w/RDS CALs

I'm using SBS2008 right now and like it alot. I can't imagine it not doing the job for AC for a long time. What are your thoughts on it and SBS2011's longevity. I mean XP is still hanging around like a champ despite MS's efforts to kill it.

I agree that one can use SBS 2011 Standard for quite a long time, say out to 2015 or so. Why not?.

As for the list that Sandeep made (thanks), I think adding the two most important things, Exchange and SharePoint 2010 will make it exactly like SBS albeit more expensive. This is for 2012. Of course, there is the retro look. If you do add SharePoint, you may wish to consider having an expert doing it as what I have read is it is easy to install at the end, but a bit tricky at the beginning.

I do think we tend to start talking about things and they take on a life of their own. I am not so sure that a Terminal Server would be necessary for most practices unless multiple users need to access AC on one computer and Windows apps. RDC should work just fine.

Lots of people are stockpiling SBS after the announcement. Lots of people getting with Software Assurance as they'll get free upgrade to Server 2012 and Exchange 2010 (More than double the value of SBS Standard). Microsoft has strategically made that last only until the end of the month. OEM Copies will be available until the end of next year which is what most of us bought.

I think it will last a while. There really wasn't much room for improvement with SBS Standard. It works, and it works well. I know a lot of people that were still buying server 2003 well after server 2008 came out. The new versions don't offer much new functionality compared to the old one.

Some think 2003 was the best made. I actually disagree even if it's due to the improved remote desktop services.

Imo, SBS 2008 was the best, SBS 2011 was just a more optimized version of it.

That's when 64 Bit was mainstream. Server 2003R2 was 64 bit, but 32 bit dominated. With Server 2008/SBS 2008, 64 bit was a reality and opened doors for a more tightly integrated package.

Great thing about SharePoint, you can even load it on Windows 7. It's free. Probably better to load it on on the same server with AD, AC/SQL, and the other roles rather than the Exchange Server.

I'd like to point that that with Sandeep's scenarios above, even if you do go with on-prem Exchange, assuming decent credit score you can get all that and a decent server from Dell to run it all for about a $150/month lease. That depends on what all you get, of course, but I can see $150 a month for some - maybe a bit more for others and a bit less for other still.

JamesNT

That's pretty good. Also, The Intel Xeon E5-2620 Six Core Processor seems to be at the best price point at $400. You'll definitely want to move to T410 or T610 that support dual processors when you're running virtual machines.