CHAPTER 17
PUBLIC FOLDER MANAGEMENT
Mailbox stores, are their name implies, contain mailboxes that typically belong to
individual users. Public stores, on the other hand, hold public folders, which are available
to every user in the organization. Public folders can also be used to share information
across organizations and across the Internet.
A public folder that holds task elements, on the other hand, could be used as a team
management solution. A public journal allows managers to track activities for a team.
Public calendars can inform employees about holidays and
company events.
CONNECTORS:
Lesson 1:
Introduction to Public Folders
A variety of messaging applications, including Outlook 2000, Internet mail clients,
newsreaders, and Web browsers, can access these folders. You can also use standard
Win32 programs, such as Microsoft Windows Explorer or Microsoft
Office applications.
Public Folder considerations
Public folders are primarily managed using Exchange System Manager, but users may also use
Outlook 2000, Internet clients, Web browsers, or Windows Explorer to create public folders
and set permissions and other configuration options.
Public Folder Databases
Each store consists of an Exchange database, which holds items in Messaging Application
Programming Interface (MAPI) format, and an Exchange streaming database for items in
Internet-based formats. You can check the location of the databases in Exchange System
Manager when displaying the desired public store’s Database
Tab.
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Public Folder Referrals
By default, a newly created top-level public folder is not replicated to any other server. Replication
requires an explicit administrative step, but replication is not always necessary because all users in
your organization can theoretically have direct access.
Internet Publishing
By default, every user can access public folder resources in the context of their access permissions
via HTP and Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning
(WebDAV).
Full-Text Indexing
This allows you to index the content of public folders and provide Outlook 2000 users with the
ability to locate Microsoft Office documents and message
attachments through fulltext searches.
Elements of a Public Folder
Public folder access relies on two elements: the public folder hierarchy and the public
folder content.
Public Folder Hierarchy. Exchange 2000 Server supports multiple public folder trees, also known
as public folder hierarchies, which give you a better administrative control and flexibility over
workgroup and workflow solutions.
Public stores on different servers may refer to the same hierarchy, in which case the hierarchy is
automatically replicated between them.
By default, hierarchy replication generates an e-mail message 60 seconds after the last
modification has occurred.
Public Folder Hierarchy. Because the default public store of each server is associated
with the MAPI-based hierarchy, this hierarchy is replicated to all servers across the organization.
Default (MAPI clients). MAPI-based clients as well as Web browsers, and Windows applications,
such as Word and Excel can access this hierarchy.
Alternate (general purpose). Web browsers and Windows applications, such as Word,
Excel can access this hierarchy, but MAPI-based clients are unable to display these public
folder trees.
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Public Folder Content. When you open a public folder, your client program will send an open
request to your home server. If the home server doesn’t have the contents, it returns a referral list
to the client. Based on the information form this list, the client will connect to a server within the
local routing group or in a remote routing group.
Public Folders Within the Active Directory Directory Service
By default, public folders are not mail-enabled, meaning they do not possess e-mail addresses.
To mail-enable a public folder, launch Exchange System Manager, expand the corresponding
public folder hierarchy, such as the MAPI-based Public Folder, right-click the desired public
folder, point to All Tasks, and select the Mail Enabled
command.
Mail-Enabled Public folders and Server-based Address Lists
Mail-enabled public folders may be hidden from the
server-based address lists.
Public Folder as Mailing List Members
List servers automatically distribute e-mail message that have been sent to a particular address to
all members of the list. The message volume can be large, filling your mailbox unnecessarily. If
this situation sounds familiar to you, you might want to subscribe a public folder instead of your
personal mailbox to the list.
Mail-Disabling Public Folders
It is possible to delete a public folder recipient object from the Microsoft Exchange System
Objects container, in which case you mail-disable the affected folder. You can do this by right-
clicking on all tasks.
Exercise Summary:
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Lesson 2:
Creating and Managing Public Folders
Outlook 2000, for instance, allows you to administer public folders settings as well, and you
can use other programs, such as Windows Explorer or Web
browsers, to create public folder resources.
Security Settings for Public Folder Hierarchies
The default MAPI-based hierarchy, replicated everywhere, may get out of hand if all users in the
organization have permissions to create arbitrary public
folder resources at all levels.
Top-level folder creation, especially, should be restricted to a small group of administrators because
these folders are at the top of the All Public Folder tree.
NOTE: Because Exchange 2000 Server relies on Windows 2000 security features, you can deny
the top-level folder creation explicitly. Deny permissions take precedence over granted
permissions.
Using Outlook the following core tabs are available:
NOTE: Outlook 2000 may display additional tabs, such as Activities for public folders that contain
contact items, or Synchronization for folder shortcuts
created under the Favorites container.
Managing Public Folder Access Permissions
Permissions can be inherited from higher level containers, such as the organization, administrative
group, public folder hierarchy, and parent folder.
Working with client Permissions
By default, three accounts have access permissions:
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Lesson 3:
Public Store Configurations
At the public store level, you define default parameters that affect all public folders in the associated
hierarchy.
Controlling Public Store Sizes
Public store databases have a size limit of 16GB (Standard Edition) or no internal size limit
(Enterprise Edition), in which case they are restricted only by the capacity of the server’s local
disk space.
NOTE: Size limits at the store or policy level apply to the entire public store. You can also
specify storage limits on a per-folder basis using the Limits tab of the corresponding public
folder object in the
hierarchy.
Public Folder Referrals
Using Outlook 2000 and the MAPI-based hierarchy, this is the default public store, as
defined in your mailbox store’s properties. Usually, the default public store resides on your
home server.
Referrals across Routing Groups
The routing group defines the boundary in which permanent and reliable network connections
are assumed and direct public folder access is allowed. Transitive trust, but one-way.
Chapter Summary:
imaginable applications, including standard Win32 programs that can access these
repositories via ExIFS.
content.
tree must exist
within an administrative group.