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Recipient Objects

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Recipient Objects

This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.

Because Microsoft® Exchange 2000 Server has been integrated with Microsoft Active Directory®, which is a feature of Microsoft Windows® server operating systems, the terminology that describes objects in earlier versions of Exchange has been changed. The terminology used in Exchange 2000 Server now matches the terminology used in Windows server.

The following is a summary of terminology changes:

  • User: A user in Exchange 2000 Server is like an expanded mailbox in earlier versions of Exchange. This object consists of all the user account information that defines a user in Windows server. A user can have Exchange e-mail addresses and an Exchange mailbox. User accounts contain logon passwords, group memberships, and permissions for network resources.
  • Contact: A contact in Exchange 2000 Server is equivalent to a custom recipient in earlier versions of Exchange. It is an Active Directory object that represents a user of a foreign messaging system. A foreign e-mail address, or target address, is associated with every contact. These addresses appear in Exchange Server address books, but a contact cannot log on to Exchange and does not have access to Exchange resources. E-mail sent to a contact is redirected to a gateway capable of delivering e-mail to the appropriate foreign messaging system.
  • Group: A group is a collection of users, groups, and contacts. A group in Exchange 2000 Server is roughly equivalent to a distribution list in earlier versions of Exchange. There are two types of groups: security groups and distribution groups. A security group is a security principal that defines security permissions for a particular membership. The Windows server security subsystem uses this principal as an identifier to allow or deny access to resources. A distribution group is a simple distribution list and not a security principal. Both types of groups can have Exchange e-mail addresses and Exchange mailboxes.

You use the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in to create accounts for users and to enable Exchange mailboxes for user accounts. In Windows server and Exchange 2000 Server, users, contacts, and groups (objects) are either mail-enabled or mailbox-enabled. These designations determine what users are allowed to do in Exchange:

  • Mail-Enabled: A mail-enabled object is an Active Directory object that has at least one e-mail address defined. If a user is mail-enabled, the user has an associated e-mail address but does not have an associated Exchange mailbox. The user sends and receives e-mail using a foreign messaging system, instead of Exchange. The e-mail address for a mail-enabled user appears in the Global Catalog, but the address is for a user on a remote system.
  • Mailbox-Enabled: A mailbox-enabled object is an Active Directory object that has been allocated a mailbox on an Exchange server. This object can therefore send and receive messages in Exchange. An object that is mailbox-enabled is also mail-enabled.

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Build: June 2007 (2007.618.1)

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