If all of your computers running Exchange are connected by
high-bandwidth, reliable connections, you don't need to perform any
special routing configuration or management. Routing configuration
and management are necessary only when you connect two or more
routing groups that have low-bandwidth,
unreliable, or intermittent connections. For example, if your
company has two physical locations, one in Portland, Oregon, and
another in New York City, each location can maintain a separate
routing group. To connect the two routing groups, you can install a
connector and optionally, set up a schedule or limits for
transmitting mail.
Generally, there is no reason to separate servers with
full-time, reliable connections into separate routing groups;
however, you can do so for administrative purposes, such as to
control public folder referrals and connector scope, or to manage
message tracking and flow between two locations.
When you want to create and connect groups of computers, you
need to perform the following tasks:
Create a Routing Group.
Use System Manager to create the routing groups into which all of
the servers in your organization are placed.
Connect Routing Groups.
Using the Exchange Routing Group connector, the SMTP connector, or
the X.400 connector, identify the servers in each of the routing
groups you're connecting that function as the bridgehead servers. You can also specify other
connection options, such as the connection schedule.
Note You perform routing
configuration and management tasks from the Routing Groups
container of System Manager.