Recipient Policies


A recipient policy is a collection of configuration settings that can be applied across any number of recipients. Changing a policy enacts the change on every object to which the policy applies. Exchange Server 2003 offers two kinds of recipient policies:

  • E-Mail Address Policies Use this type of policy to specify how e-mail addresses of various types should be formatted for the recipients linked to the policy.

  • Mailbox Management Policies Use this type of policy to enforce restrictions on mailboxes, such as how long messages are retained or how large the mailbox can grow.

Exchange Server 2003 includes a single built-in recipient policy used to generate SMTP and X.400 e-mail addresses automatically for mail-enabled Exchange objects, such as users, groups, contacts, public folders, stores, and system attendants. You can create new policies at any time.

Recipient policies employ a “background apply” implementation to make configuration changes. You create a policy by defining the settings for that policy and associating that policy with one or more recipient objects in Active Directory. The policy is then applied at a later time, based on the schedule of the Address List service running under the System Attendant.

Creating a Recipient Policy

You create new recipient policies using the Exchange System snap-in. Open the Recipients folder, and then select the Recipient Policies folder inside it. Choose New Recipient Policy from the Action menu to create the new policy. This command opens a small dialog box that asks what property pages (tabs) you want to show on the property sheet for the new policy: E-Mail Addresses or Mailbox Manager Settings. You can use a policy to apply both types of settings, but it is our experience that policies are easier to manage when they are narrower in scope. Generally, you’ll want to configure one policy to manage one setting or type of settings. For example, create one policy that formats e-mail addresses for a particular group. Create another policy that imposes mailbox restrictions on that group.

Once you decide on the type of policy to create, the property sheet for the new policy opens with the General tab showing (Figure 9-26).

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Figure 9-26: Creating a new recipient policy.

In the Name field, type a name for your recipient policy. Next, click the Modify button to open a Find dialog box similar to the Find Users, Contacts, And Groups dialog box. Select the types of recipients to which you want this new policy to apply on the General tab of this dialog box, and then, on the Advanced tab, enter any custom filter settings you like, using field-level recipient attributes. Once you define your search criteria, click Finish to display the results in the Find window. Click OK when you finish defining your policy members. You then return to the General tab of the policy’s property sheet, where you will see the filter rules you specified.

Use the options on the E-Mail Addresses (Policy) tab, shown in Figure 9-27, to configure rules for generating e-mail addresses for the members of the new recipient policy. The current rules are listed under Generation Rules. Make sure that the necessary addresses are selected for this set of recipients. Exchange Server uses the rules in this list to generate addresses automatically for any recipient to which this policy applies. You can create a new address generation rule by clicking the New button and choosing an address type, or you can modify an existing address generation rule by selecting the rule and clicking the Edit button. If you create a new address generation rule of the same e-mail type as an existing rule, you can make it the primary address for members of the policy.

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Figure 9-27: Defining rules for generating e-mail addresses.

Use the options on the Mailbox Manager Settings (Policy) tab, shown in Figure 9-28, to configure a retention limit and a size restriction for the various types of folders in a user’s mailbox (Inbox, Sent Items, Tasks, and so on). The When Processing A Mailbox drop-down menu lets you choose what action should be taken when examining a mailbox affected by the policy. You can have Exchange generate a report, move items to the Deleted Items folder, move items to System Cleanup folders, or permanently delete items immediately. You can also create a message that is sent to users after their e-mail is processed (usually to let them know why their items might be missing). Finally, you can exclude specific message classes from deletion.

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Figure 9-28: Defining rules for generating e-mail addresses.

Creating an Exception to a Policy

Once you have created a policy for a group of recipients, you can override the addressing settings for individual contacts. This is known as creating an exception to the policy. You do this using the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. Find the recipient or recipients for which you want to create an exception, and open their property sheets. Use the E-Mail Addresses tab to override e-mail address settings, and use the features on the Exchange General tab to override mailbox settings. This manual setting overrides any recipient policies in effect.




Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Administrator's Companion
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Administrators Companion (Pro-Administrators Companion)
ISBN: 0735619794
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 254

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