Lesson 3: Creating Messaging Profiles

The installation of a MAPI-based client is usually performed in two stages. In the first stage the Setup program copies the client files to the local hard disk. It also configures relevant Registry settings. When Setup exits, the first stage is completed successfully, but you still can't use the client. The second stage—the creation of a messaging profile—must also be completed.

This lesson introduces the creation of messaging profiles and explains them in respect to Outlook 2000. Options for modifying profiles are outlined and the default services that come with Outlook 2000 are listed.


At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Describe the purpose of messaging profile.
  • List available information services.

Estimated time to complete this lesson: 30 minutes


Messaging Profiles

One of the primary goals of the MAPI subsystem is to provide access to various messaging systems, either simultaneously or in separate sessions. To meet this goal, messaging profiles are used. A messaging profile, sometimes also called a MAPI profile, is the set of those information services that should be activated during a particular session. All required configuration settings are stored in the profile.

Setup Wizard

The Microsoft Outlook Setup Wizard guides you through the process of configuring a messaging profile and can be launched in a variety of ways. For example, you can use the Mail applet (it might also be called Mail And Fax) from the Control Panel to display existing messaging profiles and their configurations, or you can right-click on the Microsoft Outlook icon on the desktop and select the Properties command. In the dialog box that appears, click the Show Profiles button, and then click Add to add a new profile, which automatically launches the wizard. The Setup Wizard also appears if no profile exists when you start Outlook. The client is unable to operate without a valid profile, so the wizard prompts for all the required information to create a valid messaging profile before the actual client is launched.

Multiple Profiles

The MAPI subsystem is able to use only one profile at a time; however, more than one profile can be created on the same computer. One profile might connect you to your mailbox on Exchange 2000 Server, and another might connect you to an Internet service provider, but only one profile will be activated at any particular time. You can choose the desired profile at client startup according to its name to connect to the desired messaging system.

MAPI-based clients use a default profile automatically if more than one profile exists. Nevertheless, it is possible to configure Outlook 2000 to prompt you for the profile name at every session startup. To do this, enable the Prompt For A Profile To Be Used option on the Mail Services tab of the client's Options dialog box. The Options dialog box was discussed in Chapter 8, "Microsoft Outlook 2000 Deployment."

Multiple Users

Windows 95, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 provide support for multiple users who share a single computer because these operating systems can maintain messaging profiles on a per-user basis. This means that the profile settings of one user do not affect the configuration of any other. In Windows 2000, profiles for the user currently logged on are stored in the Registry under:

      HKEY_CURRENT_USER         \Software            \Microsoft               \Windows NT                  \CurrentVersion                    \Windows Messaging Subsystem                       \Profiles 

Subkeys exist that correspond to every profile a user has created.

Automatic Profile Generator

The Automatic Profile Generator (NEWPROF.EXE) is an installation tool that uses a profile descriptor file (.prf ) to create MAPI profiles for users. The Automatic Profile Generator comes with Outlook 2000 and is installed by default in the \Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\Nt directory. You can start this tool in login scripts or manually at any time to create additional profiles or to modify existing ones.

You can run NEWPROF.EXE by specifying the following options:

 NEWPROF [-P <Path to .prf file>] [-S] [-X] [-Z] 

  • P. References the complete path to the .prf descriptor file.
  • S. Provides a user interface to select the .prf file and to display status and error messages.
  • Z. Displays MAPI status codes in case any errors are encountered. Can only be used in conjunction with the - S switch.
  • X. Executes NEWPROF.EXE - S automatically without user interaction. Requires the -P <Path to the .prf file> switch.

Profile Descriptor File

Let's say that you want to customize an OUTLOOK.PRF file according to Figure 9.3. You want to reflect your given name and surname and point the future profile to your home server. A good starting point could be the OUTLOOK.PRF that comes with the Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit. Edit OUTLOOK.PRF to modify the line ProfileName=Microsoft Outlook in the [General] section. For example: ProfileName=Roger Robin. Furthermore, you need to set the HomeServer line, which can be found in the [Service2] section, to BLUESKY-SRV1. It is also a good idea to specify the placeholder %username% in an additional line for the mailbox name: MailboxName=%username%, which will cause the generated profile to connect you to the mailbox that corresponds to your Windows 2000 account. To ensure that the current profile will be overwritten, you still have to verify that the option OverwriteProfile is set to Yes in the [General] section. Then you can execute the Automatic Profile Generator (NEWPROF.EXE) to specify the modified .prf file. NEWPROF.EXE will create a fresh profile and name it Roger Robin.

click to view at full size

Figure 9.3 Adjusting the default messaging profile

NOTE


The OUTLOOK.PRF file that comes with the Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit contains a description of customizable profile properties in Section 6.

Exercise 1: Creating a New Profile

In this exercise you will create a messaging profile manually using the Profile Wizard. The automatic generation of messaging profiles was already demonstrated in Exercise 3 of Chapter 8, "Microsoft Outlook 2000 Deployment."

To view a multimedia demonstration that displays how to perform this procedure, run the EX1CH9.AVI files from the \Exercise_Information\Chapter9 folder on the Supplemental Course Materials CD.

Prerequisites

  • Install Outlook 2000 on BLUESKY-WKSTA, preferably as outlined in Chapter 8, "Microsoft Outlook 2000 Deployment."
  • Log on as Administrator to BLUESKY-WKSTA.

To create a new MAPI profile

  1. Right-click the Microsoft Outlook icon on the desktop, and, from the shortcut menu, select Properties.
  2. In case a profile already exists, the <Profile Name> Properties dialog box appears. Click Show Profiles to display the list of available profiles.
  3. In the Mail dialog box, click Add.
  4. The Microsoft Outlook Setup Wizard is launched, giving you the option to use the Microsoft Exchange Server or Internet E-mail information service. Select the Microsoft Exchange Server check box, and then click Next.
  5. On the second wizard screen, under Profile Name, type Manually Configured Profile, and then click Next.
  6. On the third wizard screen, under Microsoft Exchange Server, type BLUESKY-SRV1. Under Mailbox, make sure Administrator is displayed. Click Next.
  7. On the fourth wizard screen, make sure that under Do You Travel With This Computer, No is selected, and then click Next.
  8. On the final wizard screen, verify that the Microsoft Exchange Server and Outlook Address Book services will be added to the messaging profile, and then click Finish.
  9. In the Mail dialog box, under When Starting Microsoft Outlook, Use This Profile, select Manually Configured Profile, and then click Close. At this point, you have configured a messaging profile that connects your Outlook client to the Administrator's mailbox on BLUESKY-SRV1 (see Figure 9.4). Start Outlook to verify that you can successfully log on to the mailbox.
  10. Click Start, and select Run to display the Run dialog box. Type Regedit, and then click OK.

    click to view at full size

    Figure 9.4 Configuring a messaging profile

  11. Navigate to and select the following key:

         HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows     NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles 

    At this point, you should be able to verify that the REG_SZ value DefaultProfile exists and points to Manually Configured Profile, which is a subkey under Profiles holding the settings for the messaging profile (see Figure 9.5).

  12. Close the Registry Editor.

    click to view at full size

    Figure 9.5 Manually configured profile properties

Exercise Summary

You can create messaging profiles using the Outlook Setup Wizard. The wizard can be launched manually or automatically when you start Outlook and you haven't configured a messaging profile. (The exception is starting Outlook for the first time in conjunction with an OUTLOOK.PRF or customized installation point.) The wizard gathers all the required configuration information from you to create a default profile, after which the client can start successfully. Messaging profiles are stored in the Registry under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive.

Personal Folder Configuration

The personal folder store allows you to work with personal folders in the same way you work with private or public folders on Exchange 2000 Server. Because the message folders are maintained locally in a .pst file, the personal folder store is an ideal solution for message archiving. In this way, older messages can be copied to a .pst file, archived individually, and deleted from the Exchange 2000 server (see Figure 9.6).

NOTE


A .pst file can contain up to 64,000 entries and can grow to a maximum size of 2 GB.

Figure 9.6 Archiving old messages

Personal Folder Security

It is possible to specify an encryption algorithm for personal folder stores. Depending on the security level you need, you can select the options No Encryption, Compressible Encryption, and Best Encryption when creating a .pst file. It is prudent to protect your .pst files using an encryption algorithm and a password, as .pst files contain your personal messages. If you define a password, however, there is one possible catch: The password itself will be stored within the .pst file to protect it from unauthorized access, so you must provide the password on every client startup to open the .pst file. For the sake of convenience, you can save the password in your current messaging profile so the client can read the password from the profile without having to prompt you for it. You will then be able to start your client and access your personal folders immediately.

You might forget your password as time passes and you are not prompted for it. You will still be able to use the .pst file because the password is saved in the messaging profile. You will, however, have a problem if you need to create a new profile that must include the old .pst file. As soon as you try to include the existing .pst file, a dialog box will appear asking you for the password. If you have forgotten the password, there is no way to recover it. If you have deleted the old profile (which stored the password), the data in the .pst file is lost. If you still have access to the old profile, however, you can log on to the personal folder store again—as the password is available in the old profile—to move all messages to a new .pst file.

Assigning a Location for Incoming Mail

When you configure a personal folder store and connect to Exchange 2000 Server via the Exchange transport service at the same time, two mail repositories exist within your messaging profile—the personal folder store and your server-based mailbox. In this situation, the client needs to know where to deliver incoming messages. Using the Services command on the Tools menu, you can configure the message delivery. Click on the Delivery tab to select the primary Inbox under Deliver New Mail To The Following Location. For instance, if you specify the personal folder store, all incoming messages delivered to your mailbox on the server will be downloaded automatically and placed as incoming messages into your personal Inbox folder.

Exercise 2: Creating a Personal Folder Store

In this exercise you will configure a .pst file and include it in your default messaging profile. After that, you will use Outlook's archiving features to archive the contents of all your server-based mailbox folders into yet another personal folder store.

To view a multimedia demonstration that displays how to perform this procedure, run the EX2CH9.AVI files from the \Exercise_Information\Chapter9 folder on the Supplemental Course Materials CD.

Prerequisites

  • Complete Exercise 1, earlier in this lesson.
  • Log on as Administrator to BLUESKY-WKSTA.

To create a personal folder store

  1. Start Outlook 2000 using the manually configured profile from Exercise 1.
  2. Open the Tools menu, and select Services.
  3. Click Add, and, from the Available Information Services list, select Personal Folders, then click OK.
  4. In the Create/Open Personal Folders File, under File Name, type Outlook.pst, and then click Open.
  5. In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog box, in the Password and Verify Password boxes, type password.
  6. Select Save This Password In Your Password List, and then click OK.
  7. In the Services dialog box, click OK.

    At this point, you have successfully added a personal folder store to the default messaging profile (see Figure 9.7). You can also verify the existence of the personal folder store when displaying the Folder List (from the View menu).

    Figure 9.7 Configuring a personal folder store

  8. Open the File menu, and select the Archive command.
  9. In the Archive dialog box, make sure the Archive This Folder And All Subfolders option is activated, and then select the top-level Mailbox—Administrator object.
  10. Under Archive File, click Browse. In the Open Personal Folders dialog box, under File Name, type Archive.pst, then click OK.
  11. In the Archive dialog box, click OK.

    At this point, you are archiving all your mailbox folders into the Outlook ARCHIVE.PST file (see Figure 9.8).

    Figure 9.8 Archiving into a personal folder store

Exercise Summary

You can add a personal folders information service to your messaging profile through the Services command on the client's Tools menu, which displays the Services dialog box. The path to the .pst file is the most important configuration parameter. A path to a .pst file is also necessary if you wish to archive your server-based mailbox folders. However, the archive itself is not included automatically in your messaging profile. To open it, you would have to manually include it, for instance, via the Personal Folders File (.pst) command under the Open submenu from the File menu.

Offline Folder Configuration

Offline folders are the basis of a process known as local replication. The folders are local copies of server-based message folders. Hence, the offline folder store can be used in conjunction only with the Exchange transport service (see Figure 9.9).

Figure 9.9 Working with offline folders

NOTE


The offline folder store and the offline address book—as implemented in the Exchange transport service—allow you to work while disconnected from the server.

Local Replication Example

Let's say you have configured an offline folder store to synchronize your server-based folders Calendar, Contacts, Deleted Items, Inbox, Journal, Notes, Outbox, Sent Items, and Tasks. While you are working on your notebook computer at home, you can read and delete messages from the Inbox. You can also reply to particular messages. In this situation, you are working with your offline folders. Any messages that you have sent will remain in your local Outbox replica. When you insert your notebook into the docking station the next morning when working in your office, you start the client, and a connection is established with the server. At this point, the new information residing in the offline store will be replicated to your server-based mailbox. Items that you have deleted the evening before while working with your offline Inbox will now be deleted from the server-based Inbox as well. Likewise, the messages in the offline Outbox are replicated to the server-based Outbox, where the Information Store service can retrieve them for delivery.

Configuring Offline Folders

You can configure the offline folder store through the Exchange transport service's property sheets within a messaging profile. You can display these property sheets through the Services command on the client's Tools menu. In the General tab of the Services property sheet, select Microsoft Exchange Server, and then click Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Here you will find the Offline Folder File Settings button, which launches the Offline Folder File Settings dialog box. This dialog box looks similar to the configuration dialog box for a new .pst file. You must define a name for and a path to the new .ost file. Another important setting determines which encryption algorithm should be used for the storage file.

IMPORTANT


An .ost file (by default, \Winnt\OUTLOOK.OST) might already exist if you answered Yes to the question Do You Travel With This Computer? during the profile creation within the Profile Wizard. An .ost file is associated with a profile. If you create a new profile, you will need to create and synchronize a new .ost file before it can be used with the new profile.

Configuring Message Folders To Be Available Offline

Using Outlook 2000, you can configure the local replication of server-based message folders via the Mail Services property sheet of the Options dialog box. If you have created an .ost file beforehand, you can click on the Offline Folder Settings button to specify the folders for offline use. The system folders Inbox, Outbox, Deleted Items, Sent Items, Calendar, Drafts, Contacts, Journal, Notes, and Tasks are replicated automatically as soon as you enable the offline folders using Outlook. Within the Offline Folder Settings dialog box, the other server-based private and public folders can be configured for local replication as well.

It is likewise possible to synchronize additional folders by explicitly enabling the synchronization using the property sheets of the folder. In this scenario you must right-click the desired folder to select the Properties command. On the Synchronization property sheet, which is available only after you have created offline folders, under This Folder Is Available, you can select When Offline Or Online. The selected folder can be synchronized from then on.

TIP


If you want to configure a public folder for local replication, you must first drag the folder to the Favorites container. You can then configure it the same way you configure private folders.

Synchronization Capabilities

You should force the synchronization between the server-based folders and the local replica of folders once they have been included in the local replication. This will ensure that the offline store contains the current data. On the Tools menu, select the Synchronize option. Then you can select either This Folder, which will synchronize the currently highlighted folder only, or All Folders, which will synchronize all folders that are members of the local replication. In addition, Outlook 2000 allows you to set up smaller groups of folders to synchronize to save replication time, especially over slow dial-up connections. To configure smaller groups of folders, click on the Quick Synchronization tab in the Offline Folder Settings dialog box. By default, a Mail And Calendar group exists, synchronizing Calendar, Drafts, Outbox, and Inbox, which you can select accordingly on the Tools menu via the Synchronize option.

Outlook 2000 can also synchronize folders automatically. This will happen whenever Outlook 2000 is started in online mode, and according to the settings that you can specify in the Mail Services tab of the Options dialog box.

If you want information about the current status of the synchronization between the server-based folder and the offline replica, open the Synchronization property sheet of the desired folder again (right-click the folder, and then select the Properties command). You'll be able to determine the date and time of the last synchronization event, along with the current number of items in both the server-based folder and the offline folder.

Filtering Offline Folders

Examining the synchronization capabilities of Outlook 2000 in more detail, there is a wide selection of options to selectively download messages that meet certain criteria. Especially when working on slow dial-up connections, you might want to configure Download Options and Folder Filters in the Offline Folder Settings dialog box to selectively synchronize existing items. Otherwise, it might take a long time to synchronize all new messages that arrive while a user is offline. You can also configure the synchronization filter per folder via the folder's Synchronization property sheet.

Offline Address Book Configurations

When you examine the Offline Folder Settings dialog box, you will see the Download Offline Address Book check box, which allows you to include the download of address book information into the folder synchronization process. This is an important feature because when users are working offline, server-based address books are generally unavailable. Without an address book, however, it is difficult to address new messages to recipients in your organization. Only replies to messages that have been received and synchronized are possible. To keep the address information available while working offline, you must download the offline address book from the server while working online.

Manual Address Book Download

When enabled, the Download Offline Address Book check box allows automatic downloading of the address book as part of the Outlook synchronization cycle. You can also download the address book from the server manually at any time. Access the Download Address Book command from the Synchronize option on the Tools menu. Specify the desired address book under Address Book in the Offline Address Book dialog box, and click OK. By default, your Global Address List (GAL) is available for download, but you may configure additional offline address books in the Exchange System Manager, which is a topic of Chapter 14, "Managing Server Configuration."

Address Book Details

To reduce the size of the address book downloaded to your machine and therefore reduce transmission time, you can choose to download the address book without details that are not required for message creation and addressing. You can also specify that only address book changes that have occurred since the last synchronization be downloaded. To do this, in the Offline Address Book dialog box, select the Download Changes Since Last Synchronization check box. This will reduce the time required to synchronize the offline address book.

Offline Address Book Files

The offline address book (.oab) files are usually stored in the current Windows directory. At a minimum, four .oab files are always downloaded, but a fifth file is available for downloading if you also have specified the retrieval of address details. The ANRDEX.OAB file provides indexes for Ambiguous Name Resolution. The RDNDEX.OAB file helps to manage e-mail addresses. Address book templates are copied to TMPLTS.OAB. Address details are kept in the DETAILS.OAB and BROWSE.OAB files. DETAILS.OAB is usually the largest file because it keeps all the detailed information about the users of your organization. You should not delete this file manually if it becomes too large—use Outlook to remove the DETAILS.OAB file instead. You then need to download the offline address book one more time, this time without detailed information.

IMPORTANT


The Download Changes Since Last Synchronization option must be deselected if you want to ensure that the DETAILS.OAB file will be deleted. Selecting only the No Details option from the Offline Address Book dialog box is not sufficient.



MCSE Training Kit Exam 70-224(c) Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Implementation and Administration
MCSE Training Kit Exam 70-224(c) Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Implementation and Administration
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2001
Pages: 186

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