Exchange on Domain Controller or Exchange Online?

[BadBoy House]

I was speaking to a client earlier today. They are planning to upgrade their Windows SBS 2008 server at some point this year.

They currently use the server for shared documents, a database on SQL Server 2005 and emails using Exchange 2007.

Upgrading the server to 2012 doesn't concern me, however they will still need Exchange for their emails.

They are a small company with a single site and seven workstations.

Exchange Online would be my choice in terms of their emails however their broadband speed is particularly poor - approximately 3MB is the best they can get at the moment.

They don't have the budget for two servers.

Can you get away with installing Exchange on a domain controller now that SBS is no longer available? Is it against best practices still?

I would be concerned that with Exchange Online their poor broadband speed might not be up to it.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Re:"Don't have the budget for two servers"....there's no cost difference if you're already considering local Exchange.
Server 2012r2 Standard license ...install Hyper-V role and that won't consume a license.
Install first 2012r2 Guest for the DC/File/Print
Install second 2012r2 guest for Exchange...and then Exchange.

Re: Bandwidth....Outlook Anywhere is pretty good with that elastic broadband connection...I would not consider the bandwidth a limitation with so few users.
Cost wise...O365 is a pretty easy sell, considering money saved with Exchange and CALs, less hardware needed for server, ...and less money on backup overhead, and no need for spam filtering service, and zero maintenance, and full on prem Office installs 5x per user.

*Forgot to answer...yeah you "can" install Exchange on a DC, but you really don't want to. Yes MS did it with SBS...but SBS was specifically tweaked, they did stuff to Exchange so it would allow better performance on a DC.

 

[TAPtech]

3MB wouldn't be that bad, but it's the upload speed I would worry about. What is it?

 

[BadBoy House]

Cheers both for your replies.

Office 365 is again the best way to go then it seems for this number of users. I can see why really - what's the point of the big outlay in terms of server hardware, Exchange software, CAL's etc when you can get an Exchange Online account so cheaply for each user.