Applies to: Exchange Server 2013

Topic Last Modified: 2012-10-17

You may have a scenario where you want to send messages to and receive messages from a fax-gateway server that doesn’t use SMTP as its primary transport mechanism. Follow the steps outlined in this procedure to create a Foreign connector that delivers messages to and receives messages from the foreign system.

Tip:
In most cases where you must deliver outbound messages to a non-SMTP system, we recommend Delivery Agent connectors, because they allow for queue management of messages, messages do not have to be written to the file system, and other benefits. The Delivery Agents and Delivery Agent Connectors topic provides more details.

Interested in scenarios where this procedure is used? See the following topics:

What do you need to know before you begin?

  • Estimated time to complete this task: 30 minutes

  • You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the “Foreign connectors” entry in the Mail Flow Permissions topic.

  • For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the procedures in this topic, see Keyboard Shortcuts in the Exchange Admin Center.

Tip:
Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at: Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection

How do you do this?

Step 1: Use the Shell to create a Foreign connector that sends messages to a non-SMTP gateway server

  1. Run the following command to create the Foreign connector:

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    New-ForeignConnector -Name "Contoso Foreign Connector" -AddressSpaces "X400:c=US;a=Fabrikam;P=Contoso;5" -SourceTransportServers Hub01,Hub02
    In this example, Hub01 and Hub02 are source servers in your organization that you designate to deliver messages to the foreign system. Using more than one source server provides fault tolerance.

Once you have created the Foreign Connector, you can configure the Drop Pickup, and Replay directories, depending on the requirements for your organization.

How do you know this step worked?

To verify that the Foreign connector was created successfully, run the following command:

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Get-ForeignConnector | Format-List Name

Verify that the name for the Foreign connector you created appears.

Step 2: Use the Shell to configure the Drop directory for a Mailbox server running the Transport service

The Drop directory for a Mailbox server running the Transport service is used to deliver outbound messages from your Foreign connector.

You create a directory to use as the Drop directory on your local file system. You can also use a directory on a network file share.

  1. Run the following script to specify the Drop directory for your Foreign connector (change the value for the DropDirectory parameter to a path appropriate for your environment):

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    Set-ForeignConnector "Contoso Foreign Connector" -DropDirectory "C:\Drop Directory"

How do you know this step worked?

To verify that you have set the Drop Directory correctly, you can run the following cmdlet script and verify the value for the DropDirectory parameter:

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Get-ForeignConnector "Contoso Foreign Connector" | Format-List

Once you have created your Foreign connector and specified your Drop directory, you can send a message using the Mailbox server where you created your Foreign connector and verify that a file is delivered to the Drop directory.

Step 3: Use the Shell to configure the Pickup directory for the Transport service on a Mailbox server

The Pickup directory for the Transport service on a Mailbox server is used to collect messages generated by non-SMTP systems. Use this procedure in cases where you want to gather new messages generated by a non-SMTP system, such as a fax gateway server, by means of file transfer.

For detailed instructions for configuring your Pickup directory, see Configure the Pickup Directory and the Replay Directory.

How do you know this step worked?

To verify that you have set the Pickup directory correctly, you can run the following command and verify the value for the PickupDirectoryPath parameter:

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Get-TransportService | Format-List PickupDirectoryPath

Step 4: Use the Shell to configure the Replay directory for the Transport service on a Mailbox server

The Replay directory for the Transport service on a Mailbox server is used to collect messages generated by non-SMTP systems. Use this procedure to configure the Replay directory in cases where you want to resubmit email messages, typically from a non-SMTP foreign gateway server, that were generated in your Exchange environment and exported from Exchange transport.

For detailed instructions for configuring your Pickup directory, see Configure the Pickup Directory and the Replay Directory.

How do you know this step worked?

To verify that you have set the Replay directory correctly, you can run the following command and verify the value for the ReplayDirectoryPath parameter:

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Get-TransportService | Format-List ReplayDirectoryPath

For more information