Demystifying Exchange 2003 Custom Recipients, DLs, and Profiles

In "Demystifying Exchange 2003 Mailbox Moves," September 2004, InstantDoc ID 43146, I discuss moving mailboxes and the impact of cross­administrative group moves on distribution lists (DLs). These moves are the specialty of Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), but other important considerations exist. You also need to learn how to deal with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Messaging API (MAPI) profiles and how Exchange 2003 handles custom recipients and DLs that are homed in an Exchange Server 5.5 site that you want to decommission. Let's take a look at these other important aspects of cross­administrative group mailbox moves.

MAPI Profiles
Outlook MAPI profiles provide important configuration information that lets Outlook connect to specific Exchange servers and access user mailboxes. MAPI profile information is bound to a specific Exchange server in a particular site or administrative group. If the Exchange organization is in mixed mode when you move a mailbox from one Exchange server to another and if both servers reside in the same site or administrative group, Exchange automatically updates the MAPI profile. First, the Outlook client connects to the old Exchange server, which updates the MAPI profile to permanently redirect the Outlook client to the new target server. If your Exchange organization is in mixed mode and you move a mailbox from an Exchange server in one site or administrative group to an Exchange server in another site or administrative group, this MAPI profile redirection doesn't work. However, if your Exchange 2003 organization is in native mode, you can move mailboxes across administrative groups without a problem. . . .