In light of my recent (and quite repetitive) fiascos with respect to domain controllers, I've decided to make a change. And despite of the fact that I absolutely love what an AD domain offers, I've decided to forego the whole notion of having a domain. The primary motivation behind the switch is the fact that with a domain things are so closely interrelated and coupled and a loss of the DC has more impact across all other computers on the network.
If I were to set up the domain, then I'd have to end up having to reset the entire domain in two weeks when my drive crashes again (ok, slight exaggeration...three weeks). Technically, of course, I could simply restore my System State backup, but frankly I just can't bring myself to trust a backup made from a drive replete with bad sectors. It will be a lot easier to simply reset a single machine rather than a domain and manage all of the domain memberships.
Ok, now to the real reason I'm writing this post in the first place:
Another change that I'm implementing is that Exchange will not be part of reconfiguration. Don't get me wrong, Exchange is awesome and I love it, but it's too difficult for me to rebuild a domain and restore all my mailboxes and Exchange settings, and get everything else up and running - I typically lose a day and lots of hair. OWA has been an absolute treat. I'm looking at replacing my email server, therefore, with something smaller, easier to deploy, and Microsoft-technologies based (.NET-based is a plus).
To help assuage the pain of not having my DC and Exchange running, I've installed a trial version of EmailArchitect Email Server 5.9 on my laptop and routed all SMTP traffic to it in the interim until my server is back up and online. I'm really digging it. It has a nice web-based front end as well as full SMTP/POP3/IMAP4 support - Outlook setup was a breeze.
Does anyone have any recommendations for an Email Server they prefer to run? I'm looking for a cost effective, multi-domain, multi-mailbox-supporting email system that is stable, works well, and all that jazz. Suggestions are very welcome!