All management of IMAP4 user mailboxes is performed in
Active Directory. In previous versions,
Exchange used its own database to hold directory information and
recipients were managed in Exchange Administrator. In Windows 2000,
the directory database provided by the operating system is now
capable of holding all of the messaging directory data. Because a
separate directory for Exchange is no longer necessary, the
manipulation of mailboxes is coordinated completely in Active
Directory Users and Computers. After installing System Manager on
the Windows 2000 computer, a set of extensions is added to the
standard Active Directory console. This allows administrators to
create an Exchange mailbox when a new user account is defined in
Active Directory Users and Computers.
Only users with Windows 2000 accounts can be mailbox-enabled to
send and receive mail. If an account is mail-enabled but not mailbox-enabled, users can only send mail.
Mailbox-enabled users can also receive mail and have additional
settings to configure.