Unless an organization is made of money, the practice requirements (a beefy workstation, sizable disk, a domain controller, network infrastructure--and presumably licences for Win 2003 Server (x2) and Exchange(...right?...)) are not small.
One way of mitigating this may be to use server virtualization software like VMware or your very own Virtual Server 2005. Could we have your thoughts on this.
Also this is a perfect segway into another more serious issue/question (for me anyways and I've been searching high and low for an official answer):
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=897614
Quote: "Microsoft Exchange Server. Exchange is currently not supported running within Microsoft Virtual Server. Exchange will be supported within Virtual Server starting with Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 and subsequent releases."
Other than one line above saying that Exchange 2003 SP2 will be supported as a VM in Virtual Server 2005, I have seen no reference anywhere else talking about this issue, certainly not on any Exchange-related page.
While I understand this blog may not be official, I'm looking for any quasi-official guidance on using Exchange 2003 SP2 on Virtual Server 2005. Certainly the right technical people are here on this blog. Some of us need to run Exchange 2003 on virtual hardware to consolidate servers. Thanks.
Microsoft
