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Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 : Working with SMTP Connectors, Sites, and Links (part 1) - Viewing and Managing Active Directory Site Details

2/24/2014 12:24:32 AM

SMTP connectors, Active Directory sites, and Active Directory links all have important roles to play in determining how Exchange routes and delivers messages in your organization. You can work with connectors, sites, and links in a variety of ways, but first you need a strong understanding of how connectors are used.

1. Connecting Source and Destination Servers

Exchange Server 2010 uses SMTP connectors to represent logically the connection between a source server and a destination server. How you configure an SMTP connector determines how Exchange Server transports messages using that connection. Because each SMTP connector represents a one-way connection, Exchange Server uses both Send and Receive connectors.

A Send connector is a logical gateway through which transport servers send all outgoing messages. When you create a Send connector, it is stored in Active Directory or in Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) as a connector object. Send connectors are not scoped to a single server. Multiple servers can use a single Send connector for sending messages. Send connectors deliver mail by looking up a mail exchanger (MX) record on a DNS server, by looking up an Address (A) record, or by using a smart host as a destination. With DNS records, the DNS server settings you configure on the Transport server are used for name resolution. You can configure different settings for internal and external DNS lookups if necessary.

A Receive connector is a logical gateway through which all incoming messages are received. When you create a Receive connector, it is stored in Active Directory or in AD LDS as a connector object. Unlike Send connectors, Receive connectors are scoped to a single server and determine how that server listens for connections. The permissions on a Receive connector determine from whom the connector will accept connections. The authentication mechanisms you configure for a Receive connector determine whether anonymous connections are allowed and the types of authentication that are permitted.

Exchange Server creates the Send and Receive connectors required for mail flow when you install your Hub Transport servers. If your organization also uses Edge Transport servers, Exchange creates the additional Send and Receive connectors required during the Edge Subscription process. You can also explicitly create Send and Receive connectors or automatically compute them from the organization topology using Active Directory sites and site-link information.

2. Viewing and Managing Active Directory Site Details

By default, Hub Transport servers use Active Directory sites and the costs that are assigned to the Active Directory Internet Protocol (IP) site links to determine the least-cost routing path to other Hub Transport servers in the organization. You can override the Active Directory costs with Exchange costs.

After a Hub Transport server determines the least-cost routing path, the server routes messages over the link or links in this path, and in this way, a source Hub Transport server relays messages to target Hub Transport servers. By default, when there are multiple Active Directory sites between the source and destination server, the Hub Transport servers that are located in Active Directory sites along the path between the source server and the target server don't process or relay the messages in any way—with several exceptions:

  • If you want messages to be processed en route, you can configure an Active Directory site as a hub site so that Exchange routes messages to the hub site to be processed by the site's Hub Transport servers before being relayed to a target server. The hub site must exist along the least-cost routing path between source and destination Hub Transport servers.

  • If a message cannot be delivered to the target site, the Hub Transport server in the closest reachable site along the least-cost routing path of the target site queues the message for relay. The message is then relayed when the destination Hub Transport server becomes available.

Tip

To determine which Active Directory and global catalog servers a Hub Transport server is using, click the System Settings tab in the server's Properties dialog box. Expand the Server Configuration node, and then select the Hub Transport node. Right-click the entry for the transport server, and then select Properties. In the Properties dialog box, click the System Settings tab.

You can use the Get-AdSite cmdlet to display the configuration details of an Active Directory site. If you do not provide an identity with this cmdlet, configuration information for all Active Directory sites is displayed.

Example 1 provides the syntax and usage, as well as sample output, for the Get-AdSite cmdlet. Note that the output specifies whether the site is enabled as a hub site.

Example 1. Get-AdSite cmdlet syntax and usage

Syntax

Get-AdSite [-Identity 'SiteIdentity']
[-DomainController 'DCName']


Usage

Get-AdSite -Identity 'First-Seattle-Site' | fl


Output

Runspaceid :
HubSiteEnabled : False
Partnerid : -1
Name : First-Seattle-Site
AdminDisplayName :
ExchangeVersion : 0.0 (6.5.6500.0)
DistinguishedName : CN=First-Seattle-Site,
CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=cpandl,DC=com
Identity : cpandl.com/Configuration/Sites/First-Seattle-Site
Guid : dda814f3-2173-4943-bdd9-5ba8d6b6e5d7
ObjectCategory : cpandl.com/Configuration/Schema/Site
ObjectClass : {top, site}
WhenChanged : 12/17/2009 8:27:00 PM
WhenCreated : 12/17/2009 8:27:00 PM
WhenChangedUTC : 12/17/2009 3:27:00 AM
WhenCreatedUTC : 12/17/2009 3:27:00 AM
OrganizationId :
OriginatingServer : MAILSERVER25.cpandl.com
IsValid : True

You can use the Set-AdSite cmdlet to configure an Active Directory site as a hub site to override the default message routing behavior. When a hub site exists along the least-cost routing path between source and destination Hub Transport servers, messages are routed to the hub site for processing before they are relayed to the destination server.

Example 2 provides the syntax and usage, as well as sample output, for the Set-AdSite cmdlet. To enable a site as a hub site, set the –HubSiteEnabled parameter to $true. To disable a site as a hub site, set the –HubSiteEnabled parameter to $false. You must have Enterprise Administrator rights to use the –Name parameter to change a site's name.

Example 2. Set-AdSite cmdlet syntax and usage

Syntax

Set-AdSite -Identity 'SiteIdentity'
[-HubSiteEnabled <$true | $false>]
[-DomainController 'DCName']
[-Name 'NewSiteName']


Usage

Set-AdSite -Identity 'First-Seattle-Site' -HubSiteEnabled $true
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