Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2008-05-19

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to configure the accepted domains for your organization. Accepted domains are any Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) namespace for which an Exchange organization sends and receives e-mail. Accepted domains include those domains for which the Exchange organization is authoritative. An Exchange organization is authoritative when it handles mail delivery for recipients in the accepted domain. Accepted domains also include domains for which the Exchange organization receives mail and then relays to an e-mail server that is outside the Active Directory forest for delivery to the recipient.

You must configure an accepted domain before that SMTP namespace can be used in an e-mail address policy. The accepted domain is automatically populated to the e-mail address policy editor. Each domain or subdomain that you want to use as part of an e-mail address policy must have an explicit accepted domain entry.

Before You Begin

Accepted domains are configured on computers that have the Hub Transport server role installed and on computers that have the Edge Transport server role installed. We recommend that you configure accepted domains only on the Hub Transport server role and then populate that data on the Edge Transport server by using the Edge Subscription process. When the Edge Subscription process runs, the accepted domain configuration information is replicated to the subscribed Edge Transport server. For more information, see Subscribing the Edge Transport Server to the Exchange Organization.

Note:
Do not perform this procedure on an Edge Transport server that has been subscribed to the Exchange organization by using EdgeSync. Instead, create the accepted domain on the Hub Transport server. It will be replicated to the Edge Transport server when synchronization next occurs.

To perform the following procedures, the account you use must be delegated the following:

  • Exchange Organization Administrator role

To perform the following procedures on a computer that has the Edge Transport server role installed, you must log on by using an account that is a member of the local Administrators group on that computer.

For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange 2007, see Permission Considerations.

Important:
The accepted domain cannot also exist as a remote domain.
Important:
You cannot modify the default accepted domain. To change which accepted domain is the default accepted domain, you must create a new accepted domain, and then set the new accepted domain as the default by using the Exchange Management Shell. For more information, see New-AcceptedDomain and Set-AcceptedDomain.

Procedure

To use the Exchange Management Console to create an accepted domain

  1. Open the Exchange Management Console. Perform one of the following steps:

    • To create an accepted domain on a computer that has the Edge Transport server role installed, on that computer, in the console tree, select Edge Transport, and then in the work pane, click the Accepted Domains tab.

    • To create an accepted domain on a computer that has the Hub Transport server role installed, on that computer, in the console tree, expand Organization Configuration, select Hub Transport, and then in the work pane, click the Accepted Domains tab.

  2. In the action pane, click New Accepted Domain. The New Accepted Domain wizard appears.

  3. On the New Accepted Domain page, complete the following fields:

    • Name   Use this field to identify the accepted domain in the user interface. You can type any name that you want. We recommend that you select a meaningful name that helps you easily identify the purpose of this accepted domain. For example, you may want to use a name that identifies this as a subsidiary domain or as a hosted domain. You must use a unique name for each accepted domain.

    • Accepted Domain   Use this field to identify the SMTP namespace for which the Exchange organization will accept e-mail messages. You can use a wildcard character to accept messages for a domain and all its subdomains. For example, you can type *.contoso.com to set Contoso.com and all its subdomains as accepted domains.

      Important:
      If you are using the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and you want to use a subdomain as part of an e-mail address policy, do not use wildcard characters. You must explicitly specify each subdomain that you want to use in an e-mail address policy as an accepted domain. This restriction does not apply if you are using Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 or higher.

  4. After you complete these fields on the New Accepted Domain page, select one of the following options to set the accepted domain type:

    • Authoritative Domain   E-mail is delivered to a recipient in this Exchange organization.

    • Internal Relay Domain   E-mail is relayed to an e-mail server in another Active Directory forest in the organization.

    • External Relay Domain   E-mail is relayed to an e-mail server outside the organization by the Edge Transport server.

  5. Click New.

  6. On the Completion page, click Finish.

To use the Exchange Management Shell to create an accepted domain

  1. Run the following command to create an authoritative domain:

    Copy Code 
    New-AcceptedDomain -Name "Contoso" -DomainName contoso.com -DomainType Authoritative

  2. Run the following command to create an internal relay domain:

    Copy Code 
    New-AcceptedDomain -Name "Fourth Coffee" -DomainName fourthcoffee.com -DomainType InternalRelay

  3. Run the following command to create an external relay domain:

    Copy Code 
    New-AcceptedDomain -Name "Woodgrove Bank" -DomainName woodgrovebank.com -DomainType ExternalRelay

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-AcceptedDomain. After you configure the accepted domain, you must verify that a public Domain Name System (DNS) mail exchange (MX) resource record for that SMTP namespace exists and that the MX resource record references a server name and an IP address that is associated with the Exchange organization.

For More Information

For more information about how to configure accepted domains, see the following topics: