EasyStreet Hosted Exchange

PRE-TRAINING INFORMATION FOR ADMINISTRATORS

• If you are using Windows XP, it will need to be patched to Service Pack 2.  Click here to go to the Microsoft Update page.
  
  
• Outlook 2003 or 2007 is required and are the only versions of Outlook that EasyStreet Hosted Exchange will support.  You will need to upgrade your version to Outlook 2003 or 2007.  You can download a free copy from EasyStreet Support.  You will need to be an EasyStreet Hosted Exchange customer before you can download your copy.
  
  UPGRADE NOTE:  Please make sure to back up your current .pst file for Outlook before upgrading.  Instructions for exporting your Outlook data to a .pst file are avialable in the Support Answer Center within the Hosted Exchange Control Panel, in section D. (Tips & Tutorials...).
  
  
• You can use other email clients, but you lose some of the Exchange functionality if you do not use Microsoft Outlook 2003.  If you are using Microsoft Outlook, you are required to update your version to the latest service pack.  Click here to go to the Microsoft Office Update page.
  

After receiving your account information, you have two options:

OPTION 1: CONDUCT A SELF-PACED TRAINING

We encourage our customers to follow the self-paced training document provided below.  It is the same training document that EasyStreet Support uses for training.  Here are the steps to accomplish this:

STEP 1. Perform the PRE-TRAINING tasks above.
STEP 2. Click on this link and choose the instructions for your version of Windows and Outlook.

OPTION 2: CALL EASYSTREET SUPPORT FOR TRAINING

Call us at 503-906-7401 to arrange your training session.

 

THE CONTROL PANEL

Click here for the Control Panel walkthrough page.  Please remember to look at the Support Answer Center page once you've logged in for all the answers to your most common questions. 

NOTE: the Hosted Exchange Control Panel requires the use of the Internet Explorer web browser.

Hosted Exchange FAQ

1. What is my Hosted Exchange mailbox limit?

• If you have the Standard package, the mailbox limit is 200 MB in size.
• If you have the Plus package, the mailbox limit is 500 MB in size.
• If you have the Pro package, the mailbox limit is 1,000 MB in size.

2. Will I stop receiving e-mail if I go over my storage limit for my account?
Yes. At this time we do not have an automatic notification for when email will start bouncing, so we do encourage the use of the reporting tools available in the Hosted Exchange Control Panel. The hard limit for mail bouncing is five times the storage limit. For example, on a standard account (200 MB) mail will bounce when storage exceeds 1 GB.

3. Do public folders count as part of my storage space usage?
No, public folders do not apply to the individual mailbox storage limits, but they do count towards your domain-wide storage limit.  There are two types of domain-wide storage limits: a hard limit and a soft limit.  The domain-wide hard limit is 5 times the sum of all the individual mailbox account limits (public folders count towards this limit).  Once this limit is reached, none of the mailbox accounts will be able to send OR receive email.  The soft limit is the sum of all the individual mailbox account limits (public folders count towards this limit).  If you exceed the domain-wide storage soft limit, an additional storage overage fee will be applied to your Hosted Exchange account.

An example: If you have 2 Plus packages at 500 MB each, and 1 Pro package at 1,000 MB, your domain-wide soft limit is 2,000 MB, and your domain-wide hard limit is 10,000 MB.  If the storage used in your public folders and each mailbox account add up to more than 2,000 MB, you will be billed an additional storage overage fee.  Once the storage used in your public folders and each mailbox account add up to more than 10,000 MB, none of the individual email mailbox accounts will be able to send OR receive email.  NOTE: Individual mailbox account storage limits still apply to the individual email accounts as explained in the previous question.

4. How do I find out what my current storage usage is?
Log into the Hosted Exchange Control Panel, click on the 'Reports' link, then click on the 'Storage Report' link to view the Disk Usage Report for your email account.

5. I currently use Outlook with a POP3 account.  Why would I want to use your Hosted Exchange service?
Outlook offers mail, calendar, contacts and tasks for a single user.  When you add an Exchange server, you now have access to the same features for your group, including meetings, and access to one another’s calendars.  You also have access to public folders, which can be shared between group members.  These folders can contain email messages, files, contacts, calendars, tasks, and memos.

6. Since you are scanning messages for viruses, do I still need an anti-virus client on my workstation?
Yes, everyone should be running a good updated anti-virus client.  Any good commercial product with daily updates will work fine, provided it is Outlook-aware.  We recommend our Postini anti-spam/anti-virus service for use with Hosted Exchange email accounts.

7. Can I use an IMAP or POP mail client, and leave mail on your server?
Yes.  Check the Support Answer Center within your Hosted Exchange Control Panel for setup instructions.

8. How do I turn off OWA/POP/IMAP access for an email account?
Using the administrative account, login into the Hosted Exchange Control Panel, click on the 'Add/Change/Delete Users' link, click on the 'Advanced' link in the 'Modify Settings:' action option for the desired user.  Uncheck the OWA/POP/IMAP option and click on the 'Save Changes' button.

9. How do I set up public folders?
Check the Support Answer Center within your Hosted Exchange Control Panel for setup instructions.  NOTE: You will need to use the administrative account to create public folders.  You will also need to create the public folders using Outlook 2003, you will not be able to create them using OWA or Entourage 2004.

10. How often do you patch/update the Exchange server?
The servers will be taken offline intermittently on the night of every second Friday of the Month, following Microsoft's patch releases, for regular maintenance & upgrades from 11:00 pm to 4:00 am, EDT.  You may lose connectivity intermittently depending upon which part of the system is being worked on.  This maintenance work will help make the servers more secure by installing the latest software patches and other upgrades to help the system run better.  We have chosen a weekend night to minimize any impact on your productivity.

During this window of downtime, you may NOT be able to consistently connect to the Exchange servers via your MS Outlook or via WebMail (Outlook Web Access) or via any other devices.  Depending on which servers are being worked upon, you may intermittently lose access for all or part of this downtime window.

If you want to have access to your Outlook mailbox data during this entire window of time, you must setup Outlook to operate in Cached or Offline mode.  Any changes you make inside Outlook while in offline mode can be synchronized when you re-connect to the Exchange servers in online mode.  Instructions on setting up Outlook for Cached or Offline mode can be found in the Support Answer Center.

NOTE: Any e-mails sent to users during this time will be captured and queued by our backup server so that they will not lose any incoming e-mails.

11. Do you offer outbound filtering?
Yes.  Outbound filtering can be set up using our Postini anti-spam/anti-virus service.

12. Do you offer Sharepoint?
Yes, you can add and delete SharePoint Sites in the Hosted Exchange Control Panel using the administrative account.  More information is available here.

13. Do we need to transfer our DNS to your control?
No, but we prefer to host your DNS since it simplifies the setup process.  If we are not doing DNS for you, you will need the following information to provide to your DNS Provider:

If you do not have the Postini service, here are the MX Records:

• mx1.exchange.easystreet.com
• mx2.exchange.easystreet.com

If you are going to use the Postini service, here are the MX Records:

• PRI: domain.com.mail5.psmtp.com (standard pref 5)
• SEC: domain.com.mail6.psmtp.com (standard pref 6)
• SEC: domain.com.mail7.psmtp.com (standard pref 7)
• SEC: domain.com.mail8.psmtp.com (standard pref 8)

Postini should be configured to deliver mail to:

• mx1.exchange.easystreet.com

14. What Macintosh email client options are available for Hosted Exchange?
Macintosh customers now have the following options for operating within Microsoft Exchange Server environments:

• Microsoft Entourage 2004 for Mac
• Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access

These options are not mutually exclusive.  You can use any combination of the preceding options in your organization.  The following chart compares the features in each option.

Comparing options for Macintosh client computers in Exchange Server environments

Criteria of comparison	Entourage 2004	Outlook Web Access
Client operating system supported	Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later	All Mac OS versions
Client software required	Entourage 2004	Internet Explorer 5.x
Support for offline access to data and reminders	Yes	No
100% same experience as using Outlook on a Windowsbased computer	Similar	No
Support for handheld synchronization	Yes	No
Support for scheduling and delegated group calendaring	Yes	Yes
Support for Exchange-based e-mail	Yes	Yes
Support forHTML mail	Yes	Yes
Support for other e-mail protocols such as POP, IMAP, and Hotmail	Yes	No
Support for .PST files	No	No
Support for delegation	Yes	Yes
Support for Global Address List directory search	No	Yes

15. What versions of Entourage/Outlook are supported?
Entourage 2004 for Mac OS X (with Service Pack 2) and Microsoft Outlook 2003 (with Service Pack 2) are fully supported for use with the Hosted Exchange service.

16. How does Entourage 2004 connect to an Exchange server?
Entourage for Mac OS X doesn't use RPC-over-HTTP.  Instead, it uses WebDAV, an XML-based technology that travels over HTTP connections.

17. I did not find the answer to my question.  Where can I get more help?

• Support Answer Center within your Hosted Exchange Control Panel
• Call EasyStreet Support at (503) 906-7401
• Email EasyStreet Support