LAN Communication fails without internet connection

[bisentim]

hi every1,
i am very new to linux and i am in need of help. at my place of work, we have a mail server running linux on it. we have windows 98 running on all the client work stations and microsoft out look on each of them. the thing is, when our internet connection is down, we are unable to communicate using microsoft outlook with each other on our LAN. we need to have a situation where we can communicate at work even when the internet connection is down. how do i go about it?

[slant6]

Two questions: Which mail server are you running, ie, sendmail, postfix, etc.? And is it just MS Outlook that has the problem? Does the same problem occur with other email clients?

[big_k105]

you could always try setting up a jabber server and then you would have IM with in your lan. this is how we get small messages across to everyone at my place of work

[bisentim]

its an exchange server we have running and ms outlook is the only mail client we have. never heard of jabber, ill need to read a little on it. were is the best place i can get info on it?

[Grim76]

You are not by any chance using your ISP's DNS for your internal DNS?

[sarumont]

You can get info on jabber at http://www.jabber.org