Archive for September, 2010


The first thing for Exchange Server 2010 to configure is the accepted domains. In order to

receive SMTP messages from the Internet, an Exchange server has to know what domains

it will be receiving email for, as well as which domains it is responsible for. These are called

‘accepted domains’, and there are three types:

• Authoritative Domain – For this type of domain, the Exchange organization is fully

responsible and there will be no other messaging environment responsible. This

Exchange organization will also generate NDR (Non Delivery Report) messages when

mailboxes are not available.

• Internal Relay Domain – The Exchange organization will receive mail for this type of

domain, but it will relay all messages to an Exchange organization within the company.

• External Relay Domain – And for this type of domain, the Exchange organization will

receive mail, but it will relay all messages to a messaging platform outside the company.

For all three scenarios the MX records for the domain will be pointing to your Exchange

organization, and mail will be initially delivered to your Exchange servers.

Accepted domains are configured on the organization level and, as such, are known by all

Hub Transport Servers. If you are using an Edge Transport Server as well, the accepted

domain information will also be synchronized to the Edge Transport Servers.

To configure accepted domains follow these steps:

1. Logon to an Exchange Server 2010 server with domain administrator credentials and

open the Exchange Management Console;

2. Expand the “Microsoft Exchange On-Premises”;

3. Expand the Organization Configuration;

4. Click on Hub Transport in the left pane;

5. In the middle pane there are eight tabs, click on the Accepted Domains one;

6. One entry will appear, and the name will be the local domain (FQDN) that’s used when

installing the Active Directory. In the Actions pane click on New Accepted Domain;

7. In the New Accepted Domain Wizard enter a (friendly) name and the Accepted Domain

itself, for example yourdomain.com. When entered, select the type of Accepted Domain

in your Exchange Organization. In this example select the “Authoritative Domain”. Click

New to continue;

8. The Accepted Domain will now be created, and you can now click Finish on the Completion

window.

You have just created an accepted domain in your Exchange organization; the Exchange

server will accept messages for this domain, and if no recipients are found a NDR (Non

Delivery Report) will be generated.


When the installations of both the internal Exchange organization and the Edge Transport

Server are finished, the “post setup” configuration can be started. As in Exchange Server 2007,

there are a couple of additions and changes in the configuration that have to be made to the

Exchange Server 2010 instance before mail can be sent or received from the Internet.

• Enter an Exchange Server 2010 license key.

• Enter accepted domains and setup email address policies.

• Configure a Send Connector to send e-mail to the Internet.

• Configure the Hub Transport Server to accept anonymous SMTP if an Edge Transport

Server is not used.

• Add a Certificate to the Client Access Server role.

• Configure the Client Access Server role.


The Exchange Server 2010 Edge Transport Server is not part of the internal

Active Directory and Exchange organization, and is typically installed in the network’s

DMZ. A mechanism obviously needs to be in place for keeping the server up to date with

information.

For example, for the recipient filtering in the Edge Transport Server to take place, the server

needs to know which recipients exist in the internal Exchange environment. The Edge

Transport Server also needs to have knowledge about the existing Hub Transport Server in

the internal Exchange organization, where the Edge Transport Server has to deliver its SMTP

messages to.

This information is pushed from an internal Hub Transport Server to the Edge Transport

Server by a process called “Edgesync”. Please note that for a successful synchronization from

the Hub Transport Server to the Edge Transport Server, you have to open port 50636 on the

internal firewall. This port has to be opened from the internal network to the DMZ and not

vice versa.

To setup an Edge Synchronization, a special XML file has to be created on the Edge Transport

Server. This XML fi le has to be imported to a Hub Transport Server on the internal network

creating a relationship between the Edge Transport Server and the respective Hub Transport

Server. Once that relationship is created, the Edgesync service can be started. To setup the

Edgesync service, please follow these steps:

1. Logon to the Edge Transport Server using an administrator account and open an

Exchange Management Shell;

2. Enter the following command:

New-EdgeSubscription –Filename <<filename.xml>>

Copy the <<filename.xml>> to a directory on the Hub Transport Server.

3. Logon to the Hub Transport Server using an administrator account and open an

Exchange Management Shell command prompt.

4. Enter the following command:

New-EdgeSubscription –Filename <<filename.xml>> -CreateInternetSe

ndConnector:$TRUE –Site “Default-First-Site-Name”

When successfully finished on the Exchange Management Shell command prompt, enter the

following command:

Start-EdgeSynchronization

The Edge Synchronization process should now successfully start.

5. On the Edge Transport Server, open the Exchange Management Shell and check if the

settings are identical to the settings on the Hub Transport Server.

When making changes to the internal Exchange organization, these changes will

automatically replicate to the Edge Transport Server in the DMZ.