Consultor

Exchange 2007: Managing Resource Mailboxes in Exchange Server 2007

Creating Resource Mailboxes using the Exchange Management Console

Exchange Server 2007 allows administrators to create objects such as Mailbox, Contacts, Mail User, and Distribution Groups. Here are the steps needed to create a resource mailbox object:
1. Open the Exchange Management Console.
2. Expand RecipientConfiguration.
3. Click on Mailbox.
4. In the Mailbox pane, click on New Mailbox...
5. Introduction. We have to choose what kind of object we are creating, in Exchange Server 2007 we have four different kinds of mailbox types:
• User mailbox: This is a traditional mailbox, the process to create mailbox at Exchange Server 2007
• Room mailbox: This is a mailbox to be assignedspecifically to Meeting Rooms. Its associated user account will be disabled in Active Directory.
• Equipment mailbox: This is a mailbox specific to equipment, (i.e. TV, Projector, GPS and etc). As with a Resource mailbox, this kind of mailbox will create a disabled user in Active Directory.
• Linked Mailbox: This kind of mailbox will be used in environments with multiple forests.In the Introduction window, select Room Mailbox and then click Next to continue.

[pic]
Figure 01: Choosing what kind of mailbox it will be created

6. User Type. In the User Type window, we can choose either to create a new user or to assign an existent user to the new resource mailbox. If we choose to assign it to an existent user, we will have to check if the account does notalready have a mailbox associated to it. Click Next to continue.

7. User Information. In the User Information window, we should fill out the user's personal information and select the Organization Unit where it will be created. After that click on Next.

[pic]Figure 02: Filling out the Resource mailbox user information data and choosing the OU
8. Mailbox Settings. On theMailbox Settings page, we can define the mailbox information such as Alias, Mailbox Server, and Mailbox Store where the new resource mailbox will be located. The policies for Mailbox and ActiveSync can also be defined in this step. We can choose which fields we are going to fill out and then click Next to continue.
[pic]Figure 03: Choosing Server, Storage Group, Mailbox database andpolicies during the mailbox creation process
9. New Mailbox. In the New Mailbox window, we will get a summary of all the information that we have selected in the previous steps. These parameters will be used by the cmdlet New-Mailbox for the creation of this resource mailbox object. To create the resource mailbox, click on New (Figure 04).
[pic]Figure 04: The parameters thatwill be used in the creation of the new resource mailbox
10. Completion. In the Completion window, we will see the cmdlet New-mailbox and the parameters that we used in the creation process of this new resource mailbox. The difference between a normal mailbox and a resource is the parameter –room or -Equipment in the cmdlet New-Mailbox. We can see the –Room at the end of the cmdlet in Figure05.
[pic]Figure 05: The final screen of the New Mailbox Wizard, showing to us the cmdlet used in the creation of the Resource mailbox
Note:
There is a third option that is called -Share, and we use this option to create a mailbox only through the Exchange Management Shell. When we use the cmdlet new-mailbox –Shared we create a mailbox with a disabled user account, the purposeof the share parameter is to create a mailbox that is accessed by other users, a general mailbox.

Creating Resource mailboxes through the Exchange Management Shell

The other way of creating a resource mailbox is using the Exchange Management Shell. To do this, we can use a cmdlet called New-Mailbox. There are many parameters associated with this command-let, and the required parameters for...