Setting up Exchange at home for calender and contacts – is it possible?

Topic

New Reply

I am lucky enough to have some spare PCs and a subscription to MSDN so….

I would like to set up Exchange so that I can have once central copy of my contacts and calenders which I can use for my PCs (desktop and laptop), my phone (Android) , my iPod Touch (IOS) and my tablets (Android).

First off – is this actually possible? Will Android and my PCs pick up calenders and contacts from an Exchange server at home?
Secondly – can I access the server from outside my house from my phone and my laptop? I know the DNS name and I know I can forward ports – but which ones?
Thirdly – what arcane magic do I need to get it to work? I am reasonably competent but I’ve never attempted this before (my last Exchange training was v5.5).

Thanks for any info or pointers

Alan

PS – I’m not actually bothered about email – my ISP handles it all nicely with IMAP.

Reply | Quote

Replies

Exchange will do all you require, including remote access, but you will need to set up good security to keep the bad guys out.
There is plenty of information about setting this up on the web.

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

Indeed Exchange will do all that you require and if you have the hardware and an MSDN subscription then it may be a nice little technical project, but I would consider other options for your data.

To design, build and maintain a secure Exchange server will take quite a lot of effort and extra costs to keep it running securely 24/7. It will also need maintained, otherwise there is a risk of losing your valuable data.

Personally, I would look at a hosted solution. Many web host’s offer Exchange email (hence contacts and calendars) for a small subscription, or you could go free with Google or Outlook.com.

I use Google for all my own contacts and calendars and sync it across multiple devices including Android, iOS, and PC platforms. Works very well and my data is included in local backups too.

I guess it depends on whether you view the Exchange at Home solution as a long term option that you want to buy into or a nice-to-have technical challenge for the winter months.

Reply | Quote

A hosted option would be fine except that Google have just dropped Gsync (Active-Sync to Gmail) and Outlook.com is (as fas as I can make out) just Hotmail renamed and has no calender or contacts options for sharing.

If you can tell me how to do either of those, then I would be very happy.

Alan

Reply | Quote

Hi Alan,

Office365 can be an excellent hosted option for email. For $4/month, per user, you will get the full Exchange feature set with lifetime EAS support :).

Reply | Quote

Thank you – but I don’t want web access to a calender (quote “web access to email, calendars, and contacts”) – I want it integrated into my home Outlook and my Android devices – same as I have for work. I thought gsync would do what I wanted (so Gmail becomes the “master” for all my devices) until Google announced it’s retirement.

Alan

Reply | Quote

Quoting from here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/email-shared-calendar.aspx

“Access the latest email and calendars from your PC, Mac, web browser, Windows Phone, iPhone, Android phone, Symbian phone, and BlackBerry“

Reply | Quote

Did you read the “complete integration with Outlook” part?
I confess I don’t know how it will integrate with Android, but you can always ask. If Android keeps supporting EAS, I guess that won’t be an issue.

Reply | Quote

Absolutely. But I’d also like integration with Android – which I know Exchange can do as I have it via my works email (I work for HP).

But I’d like a separate system for my home email – I thought it would be easy, but maybe not !!!

Alan

Reply | Quote

I know some people who are running their own exchange servers, so it’s definitely possible, I am just not sure it only costs them $44 / year, but I guess the more email accounts you use, the more compelling a self hosted option can be. As far as I understand, Exchange can be a rather difficult product to configure and maintain, but as it is said, YMMV.

Reply | Quote

Interesting – does office365 also do contact sync? I’ve seen email (which I don’t need) and Calender – but not contacts.

I may have a play with Exchange

ALan

Reply | Quote

Yeah, it is a complete Exchange setup. Wouldn’t make much sense not to include contacts.

Reply | Quote

Try Rackspace (http://www.rackspace.com). They offer everything you need, and they have good tech support.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

Reply | Quote