Configuring Exchange Server 2007

Configuring the domains for which you'll accept email. Your Exchange server will be configured automatically to accept mail for your forest root domain, but you might need to configure it to accept mail from external SMTP domains as well. For example, my network is divided into two domains: production.com and test.com. My Exchange server was configured by default to accept mail for production. com, but my email comes through an external domain, brienposey.com. I therefore had to configure my Exchange server to accept mail from this external domain.

To add a domain, navigate through the console tree to Organization Configuration\Hub Transport. Click the Hub Transport container, click the Accepted Domains tab in the detail pane, then click the New Accepted Domain link in the Actions pane to add the domain to the list. As Figure 6 shows, you need to enter the domain's Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) and a display name. You must also specify whether the domain is authoritative, an internal relay domain, or an external relay domain. Click New, and the domain will be added to the list.

Subscribing the Edge Transport server. Setting up an Edge Subscription is required only if your organization uses an Edge Transport server. An Edge Subscription is basically a one-way trust with the Active Directory (AD) database that lets the Edge Transport server receive AD information without compromising the AD database in the process. First, you create an XML file on the Edge Transport server by using the New-EdgeSubscription cmdlet. Then, copy the XML file to your Hub Transport server. For security reasons, be sure to erase the file from the Edge Transport server. Navigate through the console to Hub Transport, click the Edge Subscription tab, then click the New Edge Subscription link in the Actions pane. Now, click Browse to locate the XML file, verify that the Automatically create a Send connector for this Edge Subscription check box is selected, then click New to import the XML file and create the Edge Subscription. For more detailed instructions for configuring an Edge Subscription, click the Subscribe Edge Transport Server link in the list of post-installation configuration tasks.

Creating a Postmaster Mailbox. The last step in the configuration process is to configure a mailbox to act as the postmaster. If there are other Exchange servers in your organization, this step might not be necessary, but you need to be sure. Open Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command:

Get-TransportServer 

Look at the ExternalPostmasterAddress column in the results and verify that an address for the postmaster exists. If an address doesn't exist, you'll need to specify a postmaster address by entering the following command:

Set-TransportServer -<server name> `
  -ExternalPostmasterAddress `
  <postmaster email address> 

As you can see, this command requires you to enter a server name and the email address for the postmaster account. You can create a dedicated mailbox to act as a postmaster mailbox, or you can send postmaster messages to a user who already has a mailbox.

Finishing What You Start
As you can see, installing Exchange 2007 is only half the fun. You'll still need to complete these important configuration tasks before you can use your Exchange 2007 server. Keep in mind that your actual configuration tasks will vary depending on your servers' roles and on your Exchange organization's existing configuration. The post-installation tasks list in Exchange Management Console should help you finish what you started and get your servers ready to run.