Contacts

A contact is a pointer object that holds the address of a non-Exchange mail recipient. Contacts are made visible in the Global Address List and, therefore, permit Exchange clients to send messages to non-Exchange mail users. This functionality assumes that the necessary connector or gateway is in place between the Exchange system and the foreign system, such as the Internet Mail SMTP Connector for sending and receiving mail from the Internet.

Creating a Contact

Like other objects, contacts are created using the Active Directory Users and Computers tool. When creating a contact, you must be prepared to select the type of e-mail address to create and to enter the foreign e-mail address. The standard options for the types of foreign addresses are as follows :

• Custom address

• X.400 address

• Microsoft Mail address

• SMTP address

• cc:Mail address

• Lotus Notes address

• Novell GroupWise address

Exercise 5.7 walks you through the creation of this type of recipient.

EXERCISE 5.7: Creating a Contact

1. Choose Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users And Computers.

2. From the Action menu, point to New, and select Contact.

3. Enter the full name and display name of the user for whom you want to create a contact object, and then click Next.

4. Make sure the alias is correct, and then click Modify.

5. From the list of address types in the New E-mail Address dialog that appears, select the type of e-mail address you want to create for the user, and click OK.

6. On the General page of the Internet Address Properties dialog that opens, enter the e-mail address for the user.

7. Click Next to go on.

8. A summary screen is then displayed asking you to confirm your choices. If you want to change any of the settings, you can use the Back button to do so. Once you are satisfied with your choices, click Finish to create the new contact object.

 

Properties of a Contact

The properties of a contact are very similar to those of a standard Exchange mailbox. The main difference is that the attributes dealing directly with the capabilities or restrictions of a mailbox are not available. For example, you cannot set storage limits on a contact since there is no storage on the Exchange server to limit. In addition, you cannot configure protocol settings for a contact.