Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Topic Last Modified: 2012-07-23

A resource mailbox is a mailbox that represents conference rooms and company equipment. Resource mailboxes can be included as resources in meeting requests, providing a simple and efficient way to manage the scheduling of resources for your organization.

There are two types of resource mailboxes: room and equipment. Room mailboxes are assigned to a meeting location such as a conference room, auditorium, or training room. Equipment mailboxes are assigned to a resource that isn't location specific, such as a portable computer projector, microphone, or company car.

Custom resource properties can help users select the most appropriate room or equipment by providing additional information about the resource. For example, you can create a custom property for room mailboxes called AV. You can add this property to all rooms that have audio-visual equipment. This allows users to identify which conference rooms have audio-visual equipment available.

Note:
For every custom resource property you create in your organization, you must specify to which resource mailbox type it applies (room or equipment). When you are managing a resource mailbox, you can assign only those custom resource properties that apply to that specific resource mailbox type. For example, if you are configuring a room mailbox, you can assign only the custom resource properties that apply to room mailboxes.

Looking for other management tasks related to resource mailboxes? Check out Managing Resource Mailboxes and Scheduling.

Prerequisites

Before you can assign custom resource properties to a room or equipment mailbox, you must first create these properties by modifying the resource configuration of your Exchange organization. For detailed instructions, see Create or Remove Custom Resource Properties.

Use the EMC to add or remove custom resource properties for a resource mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration > Mailbox.

  2. In the result pane, select the resource mailbox that you want to configure.

  3. In the action pane, under the name of the resource mailbox, click Properties.

  4. In <Resource Mailbox Name> Properties, click the Resource General tab.

  5. Under Resource custom properties, perform the following tasks:

    • To add a custom resource property, click Add. The Select Resource Custom Property dialog box opens. This dialog box displays a list of all custom resource properties defined in your Exchange organization for the specific resource type. Select the custom resource properties you want to assign to this mailbox, and then click OK.

    • To remove a custom resource property, select the property you want to remove, and then click Remove icon.

  6. Click OK.

Use the Shell to add custom resource properties to a resource mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example adds the resource property AV to the room mailbox Conference Room 1. This example also overwrites any existing custom resource properties on the mailbox.

Copy Code 
Set-Mailbox -Identity "Conference Room 1" -ResourceCustom ("AV")

This example adds the custom resource properties TV and Whiteboard to the room mailbox Conference Room 1. This example adds the Whiteboard custom property and preserves any existing custom resource properties on the mailbox. This example also demonstrates the two acceptable syntaxes for adding a custom resource property.

Copy Code 
$ResourceMailbox = Get-Mailbox -Identity "Conference Room 1"
$ResourceMailbox.ResourceCustom+=("TV")
$ResourceMailbox.ResourceCustom.Add("Whiteboard")
Set-Mailbox -ResourceCustom $ResourceMailbox.ResourceCustom.Add

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-Mailbox and Set-Mailbox.

Use the Shell to remove custom resource properties from a resource mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example removes the custom resource properties AV and TV from the room mailbox Conference Room 1. This example also demonstrates the two acceptable syntaxes for removing a custom resource property.

Copy Code 
$ResourceMailbox = Get-Mailbox -Identity "Conference Room 1"
$ResourceMailbox.ResourceCustom-=("AV")
$ResourceMailbox.ResourceCustom.Remove("TV")
Set-Mailbox -Identity "Converence Room 1" $ResourceMailbox.ResourceCustom.Remove

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-Mailbox and Set-Mailbox.