Rameshwar Amruth: Lotus Domino and Exchange comparison

Comparing IBM Lotus Domino with Microsoft Exchange is like comparing oranges to apples.

The table below is just an attempt to understand the terminology, architecture differences.

IBM Lotus Domino 8.5	Microsoft Exchange Server 2010
Lotus Notes Client Notes is the client side for accessing e-mail, calendars and applications on Domino server.	Outlook Client Outlook is the client side for accessing e-mail, calendars on Exchange server.
Domino Server Lotus Domino is an IBM ‘server’ product that provides enterprise-grade e-mail, collaboration capabilities, and custom application platform. It can be used as an application server for Lotus Notes applications and/or as a Webserver.	Exchange Server Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative Messaging product developed by Microsoft
Domino runs on multiple OS , Platform agnostic. Supports a broad range of server operating systems (Microsoft Windows®, Linux™ (Suse, Red Hat) ,IBM AIX®, IBM i5/OS®, IBM z/OS®, Sun Solaris), and supports client options on both Windows, Linux, Mac operating systems.	Runs only on Windows Operating System, 2008 SP2 and 2008 R2 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx
Client OS Support ??
Domino Server beginning with 8.01 version is available in 32bit or 64bit https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21296452	Exchange Server 2010 is 64-bit only http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx
A Domino Domain is a collection of Domino servers that share the common Domino Directory (names.nsf). A domain is used for mail routing within a Lotus Domino infrastructure. A domain name is generally the same as the organization name.	A Windows domain is Operating System term it is a logical group of computers running Microsoft Windows operating system that share a central directory database known as Active Directory.
Domino Directory physical file is names.nsf	Exchange Server relies on AD for Directory services. Active Directory physical file is ntds.dit
No multiple Server Roles	Five roles Client Access Server (CAS), Mail Box , Hub, Edge and Unified Messaging. Edge and Unified Messaging Roles are optional. The Edge transport server cannot coexist on the same computer as other server roles
Lotus Domino setup on Windows OS install only one service.	Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Setup install new services. A service is a background process that can be launched during operating system startup by the Service Control Manager in Microsoft Windows. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee423542.aspx
Domino Named Network (DNN) is a group of one of more Lotus Domino servers sharing the same network connections and the same protocol.	Exchange 2010 is a site-aware application. Site is a Active Directory term and is a Collection of subnets that exist in LAN or MAN , defines the boundaries of replication. A site can, however, be considered somewhat analogous to a Domino Named Network (DNN)
Domino’s data respository is called a Notes database and has the file extension .NSF. There is a separate database file for each user’s mail.	The mail data repository provided by Exchange is Mail database. This is a single file holding all users’ mail data and has the file extension .EDB
NRPC Port 1352	MAPI
User Authenticates using notes client to Domino server with Notes .ID file	Uses Windows AD domain
Domino Web mail , iNotes	Outlook Web App (OWA)
ShortName field of the Domino Directory	MailNickname (for Contacts) and SAMAccountName (for users) in the Active Directory
Local replica	Cached Exchange Mode
Groups	Distribution Lists
Mail-In databases	Shared mailbox
Components involved in Mail routing Mail.box - Physical queue database file. Router Routing Table Connection Document DNN Domino Directory	Mailbox Outbox Mail Submission Service running on MailBox Server role Store Drivers Queue (submission , mailbox delivery, Remote delivery,poison message and unreachable queue) Mail.que – Physical queue database file. Categorizer similar to Router in Domino Pickup Directory Routing table Active Directory Sites
Domino inbuilt tasks to fix corruption , defrag databases. Fixup Updall Compact	Tools for ensuring the health of Exchange information store. ESEutil ISINTEG
Supports SAN and NAS, provided the NAS is deployed in a dedicated storage network configuration https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27002613	Exchange 2010 does not support using network attached storage (NAS) volumes. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx