Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007: Implementation and Administration

Chapter 17. Implementing Antispam Protection

Somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of all e-mails sent on a given day are unsolicited; that's over 100 billion spam e-mails sent per day to mail servers across the globe. Spam, or unsolicited commercial e-mail, is a nuisance that plagues mail administrators and users alike. Spam takes up bandwidth and server resources, and worst of all, it takes the end user time to weed through it all.

Unfortunately, there is no 100 percent effective way to stop spam, but there are some relatively simple steps you can take to keep the majority of spam e-mails from reaching your users' inboxes.

This chapter covers the new antispam features available in Exchange 2007 and the best practices associated with keeping spam to a minimum within your organization. You'll learn about the following topics:

• Possible deployment options

• Exchange 2007 antispam features

• Configuring antispam features on an Edge Transport server

• Configuring antispam features on a Hub Transport server

• Educating users to reduce spam

Antispam System Deployment Options

The first question you have to ask yourself is whether both you and your users are happy with your existing antispam solution. If so, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the new tools Exchange 2007 offers to combat spam and carefully weigh your options. There are several different topologies you can employ to handle spam:

Edge Transport server in a perimeter (DMZ) network

Using an Exchange 2007 Edge Transport server in a DMZ ...