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I am looking for some hard data comparison between Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Lotus Domino. I am especially interested in security data. And also information on addressing any shortcomings in the security of either package. If anyone can help me out I would greatly appreciate it.
I would take a look at a discussion forum (not here) that discusses Domino. From my experience, it is the anti-Christ but I have not worked with a version newer than 5.0 back in 1999. I find that Exchange is the lesser of two evils if I had to compare the two.
For crissake, do your own research yourself! We're not being paid to do your job!
I am doing my own research. This website is a forum for discussion on many security issues, and thus brings together a variety of people and ideas, which may be helpful in my research. If you don't have anything to contribute, then thanks for reading.
Inferon: Part of research is asking questions and looking for people with first hand experience so you can cut through the sales crap.......
Dunno about you but what ead seems to be doing is just that......... It's called "due diligence" in the adult world......
So chill, be quite and read the responses - you might learn something - and we won't have to suffer your little tantrums.......
ead- Exchange and Notes are really two different beasts that both provide email access. What I mean by this is that Notes is really more of a document repository. Atleast at most of the companies that I have done email work in, that is the main way it was being used. Exchange is more of an email system than notes is.
If you are looking to do a lot of custom work flow applications, Notes is probably the way to go as their programming language is much more advanced than what you can do with custom forms and VB in exchange. However, if you are really good with VB, you can always write your own client software to hook into exchange and bypass outlook.
As for security, the security in Exchange2k3 is much much higher than it was in in 2k. For instance top level folder creation is turned off by default, mail relaying is turned off by default, and several other major enhancements. However, this lock down in security means that protocols such as OWA are more difficult to install as you have to turn things on, instead of them already being on. As I know how to use exchange very well I think these enhancements are a great thing. However they make the application much harder to use to newbs. Here is a white paper about the security enhancements in Exchange2k3.
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/ev...urity_e2k3.asp
I haven't worked with notes that much from a security standpoint so I can't really be of much assistance with that app. Exchange is my bread and butter though.
I'd go for Lotus Notes. Not that I don't like Exchange but the Outlook client is just too dangerous these days. The Notes client has way more security features, you can disable allmost everything. You can enforce this from the server.
SirDice, what version of Notes are you running? They must have made sweeping changes since I last saw Notes. I remember it being quite a POS but like I mentioned, I haven't used it since version 5.
Thanks!
--TH13
I liked version 5. It was the Groupware aspects that was spectacular. I think products like Infopath and sharepoint are the only solution to this. I am still not impressed with Exchange 2003.
TH13: We're using R5 here and are quite happy with it. But then again we also have some great Notes admins ;)
SirDice- On a properly configured Exchange server you can enforce many security policies that greatly reduce the risk of using the outlook client. For instance, there is really no reason for anybody to email any type of executable file. So if you have any type of email virus scanning you can block out all of these attachment types. Of course you always have the option to zip up your files and then send them, which you can also restrict.
Also, you can enforce from the server side which outlook clients are allowed to connect to the exchange server. So you can enforce that all outlook clients have the latest and greatest security patches which do not allow for auto code execution, or automatic running of executables without first saving them to your harddrive.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...Product=exch2k
Also, as the Exchange2k3 OWA interface is identical to the MAPI client in terms of functionality. You can totally disable MAPI access and have all access be web based. If you were to do this on a properly locked down IIS server, the security advantages would be tremendous.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;288894
Exchange2k3 also supports RPC over HTTP so that you can run a mapi client through a proxy server or ISA server. This is much more secure than opening up the MAPI and RPC EPM ports so that your clients can use outlook outside of your firewall. I would still be hesitant to do this, but if you have a really good HTTP IDS in place, it could be secured very well.
It really all comes down to how familiar your admins are with the product though. I'm sure notes can run great with good admins, and so can exchange.