Years go by and we continue to see customers still relying on the IIS 6.0 SMTP virtual server feature, which has been out of support for a looong time. To give you an idea just how old this component...
Updated May 19, 2026
Version 1.0
Blog Post
The Exchange Team should reconsider licensing requirements for the EDGE role. Many customers refuse to use EDGE because it requires an Exchange Server license... Regards Christian Schindler
I would back both statements from ChristianSchindler and Marco_Meier
IIS SMTP had been a fairly low level, somewhat easy to configure and 'free' solution.
With Exc EDGE, while for sure working, you now add complexity, way too many ifs and whys and the most important, an over-complex licensing scenario (i have looked into the licensing FAQ and i miserably failed to understand anything as well as finding the "correct" licensing for running Exc EDGE only). And those are the reasons, why people will not move off IIS SMTP as long as they possibly can.
Even if we wanted to pay, we have no clue if we are already covered (or not) with our E1/3/5-Licensing (because there is an if... you can have E-License, but you still are not covered) or what we would have to purchase in case we should not be covered.
Licensing is cumbersome, agreed. However, technically EDGE is not complex to configure if you already know Exchange. The benefits (better logging, etc.) outweigh the configuration tasks this by far…