Question : urgent help

Hi network gurus,

I need some urgent help.

I have to make a setup which I am not sure what to do and what is the best thing to do.

This is it.

I need to setup a server with integrated mail server (or a different mail server machine) which will download the emails for al the email accounts configured.

Clients (mostly office staff) will dial in to the server and download their emails.

Clients can also host their website on this server.

The motive is to stop internet access for them but still be able to access their emails. and also be able to browse some websites (which will be hosted on this server) ...these websites will be hosted online as well...


clients can be anywhere in the country...they will dial in to login to this server.

So what I need is

whats the best thing to do?
what hardware? what software? how will it work technically?
If I know this, I can set it up.
I am not sure what to chose...

Any help?

Answer : urgent help

I have only really dealt with 3Com and Cisco firewalls. The 3Com was twice the price, supported only 100 users and needed re-booting 3 times a day! It was very simple to set-up, but difficult to customise if you didn't want the default config.

I recently changed to the Cisco PIX 501 unlimited user version for £500 sterling. This is a much more powerful box and highly configurable. It can support around 300+ concurrent connections without trouble and best of all doesn't require re-booting every time you breathe in it's general direction! However, I am having a little trouble configuring a VPN connection through it at the moment (see my question in the VPN section http://www-tcsn.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Broadband/VPN/Q_20740164.html).

Install steps:
1. Get a server (The spec listed by MMDD is fine)
2. Install Win 2000 server (if it doesn't come installed by default)
3. Assuming you have a Windows domain already, join to the domain (If not install Active Directory to set-up the domain)
3. IIS usually installs as part of Win2K anyway, but if not install it from the add/remove programs->Windows components tab.
4. Check if the SMTP service is installed under IIS (from add/remove programs as above), if it is remove it as it will interfere with Exchange
5. Set-up any websites and security via the IIS management console snap-in as required
6. Install your desired version of Microsoft Exchange (prob 2000 would be best).
7. Add and configure your mailboxes as desired.
8. If you don't have any other dial-in service on the network already you will need to install Routing and Remote Access (RRAS) from add/remove programs->windows components, and install some modems into the server.
9. Set-up the RRAS dial-in service to assign a set IP range outside of the pool used for DHCP or other hosts on the network

10. Set-up your chosen firewall on the internet connection to block outbound traffic for your dial-in IP range. (As standard most firewalls will allow all outbound access and deny all inbound access)