Chapter 4 - Basic Administration

Abstract

Administration of Microsoft Exchange Server is accomplished through just a few MMC snap-ins. Most of the administration is done through the AD Users and Computers snap-in and the Exchange System Manager snap-in. These tools represent a clear separation of user and server administration. The Active Directory schema determines the structure of the database holding the AD objects and their attributes. The Exchange System Manager snap-in contains several components required to administer the Exchange organization. Exchange 2000 requires that mailboxes have a user account for the authentication to resources. Administrative Groups contain logical collections of Exchange objects that share the same levels of permissions, and can include any number of servers, server policies, routing groups, monitors, public folder trees, conferencing servers, and chat networks. The objects allocated to an Administrative Group may be considered for geographical, departmental, or perhaps political reasons, depending on organization. Exchange 2000 includes two types of policies to assist in administration. System Policies are configuration templates applied to Exchange Servers, mailbox stores, or public stores. Recipient Policies take the place of the Site Addressing container from the legacy Exchange Administrator program.