Using the Exchange System Snap-in

The Exchange System snap-in provides a graphical view of all the resources and components of an Exchange organization. No matter how many administrative and routing groups or servers you have set up, you can manage them all from a single Exchange System console window. Use this window, and the property sheets of all the objects in it, to navigate the Exchange organizational hierarchy and perform the various tasks associated with Exchange administration.

You will use both container and leaf objects to administer an Exchange organization. Most objects in the Exchange System console window—both container and leaf—have a property sheet that allows you to configure various parameters for that object and make it act in the way that will best serve the organization’s needs. You can open an object’s property sheet by selecting the object and choosing Properties from the Action menu. You can also right-click an object and choose Properties from its shortcut menu. You use property sheets to both configure and administer Exchange Server.

Real World—Explore!

The sheer number of property sheets you will encounter when administering Exchange Server 2003 can seem daunting, but don’t let them intimidate you. Take the time to play with the program. You probably won’t be able to remember exactly where to go to accomplish every administrative task in Exchange Server, but it helps to think about what the task will involve. If you need to manage communication between two routing groups, find the Connectors container. If you need to manage communication between two servers, use the Servers container and check out the Message Transfer Agent (MTA). Each component handles a different aspect of the configuration, so multiple components might be involved with a single configuration or administrative task. As you use the program and get used to the Exchange environment, it will become easier to navigate the program and find exactly the object or objects you need to administer.

Learning the contents and layout of the various property sheets in the Exchange System snap-in is a key part of learning how Exchange Server works. Once you know how to organize tasks that match the way Exchange Server is structured, you will find that your administrative tasks flow more easily.

To administer an Exchange environment with the Exchange System snap-in, you must be logged on to Active Directory under a domain user account that has administrative privileges for Exchange Server. Until you specifically grant other user accounts privileges to administer Exchange Server, the only account with permission to do so is the account you were logged on with when you installed Exchange Server 2003.