Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1
Topic Last Modified: 2009-01-02

This document describes how to use the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 version of the Inter-Organizational Replication Tool (IORepl) to share free/busy and public folder information. You can use IORepl to share calendar data with legacy Outlook clients in the environment or with other organizations that are running a legacy version of Exchange, such as Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2000 Server.

In organizations that are running Exchange Server 2007 and Office Outlook 2007, you can use the Availability service to share free/busy information with other Exchange organizations that also use Exchange 2007 and Outlook 2007. For more information about how to use the Availability service, see How to Configure the Availability Service for Cross-Forest Topologies.

If you want to share free/busy information with other organizations that are running legacy versions of Exchange, you can use IORepl. IORepl is a MAPI-based application that enables you to replicate public folder data between different Exchange organizations. In organizations that are running legacy versions of Exchange, the user’s free/busy information is saved in a public folder. You must have a public folder in Exchange 2007 to use IORepl to replicate free/busy data between an Exchange 2007 organization and a legacy Exchange organization. 

IORepl consists of two programs, the Exchange Server Replication Configuration utility (Exscfg.exe) and the Exchange Server Replication Service (Exssrv.exe). You can use these programs to coordinate meetings, appointments, and contact information between members of different Exchange organizations. Additionally, message types can automatically be converted to posts and added to public folders that can then be replicated.

By using a configuration file that is created by the Exchange Server Replication Configuration utility, the Exchange Server Replication Service continuously updates information from one server (designated as the publisher) to one or more Exchange computers (designated as subscribers). Public folders can be replicated from publisher to subscriber or bi-directionally. You can configure the replication frequency, the logging of message and folder replication, and how much processing power you want devoted to the replication process.

Note:
For specific information about how to create a configuration file, see the Help file for the InterOrg Replication Configuration utility (Exscfg.exe).

The ExchSyncSecurityFolder public folder must exist on both the publisher computer and the subscriber computer. In an Exchange Server 2007 organization that has only Outlook 2007 clients, a public folder may not exist. If you must use the IORepl tool to synchronize free/busy time with an organization that contains legacy versions of Exchange server, create a public folder store on the Exchange 2007 server.

Before You Begin

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

  • Exchange Server Administrator role and local Administrators group for the target server

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

Procedure

If a public folder store does not exist, create a public folder store on the Exchange 2007 server. For more information about how to create a public folder, see How to Create Public Folders. 

Next, create a user account and an associated Exchange mailbox for IORepl to use as a service account on the publisher computer and on the subscriber computer. For more information, see Create a New User Account and New Mailbox Wizard > Introduction Page (RTM).

After ExchSyncSecurityFolder is created, set the appropriate permissions on the folders.

To set the appropriate permissions on ExchSyncSecurityFolder

  1. In Exchange Management Shell, run the following commands:

    Copy Code 
    add-publicfolderclientpermission -user <IoreplServiceAccountName> -accessrights:FolderVisible -id "\ExchsyncSecurityFolder"
remove-publicfolderclientpermission -user default -accessrights:author -id "\ExchsyncSecurityFolder"
remove-publicfolderclientpermission -user anonymous -accessrights:createitems -id "\ExchsyncSecurityFolder"

  2. If the Exchange 2007 organization contains Outlook 2007 users, you must configure the Availability service to check the public folder to obtain free/busy data for users from the legacy Exchange organization. In Exchange Management Shell, run the following command:

    Copy Code 
    Add-AvailabilityAddressSpace -forestname <SMTPDdomainNameOfExchange2003Organization> -accessmethod publicfolder

  3. Use Outlook to create a top-level folder for every part of the folder hierarchy that you are replicating. IORepl creates subfolders automatically.

  4. For each top-level folder, use Outlook 2007 to grant Publishing Editor permission to the service account mailbox that you created.

On servers that are running Exchange 2007, use the Exchange 2003 version of IORepl.

To obtain the Exchange 2003 version of IORepl, see Microsoft Exchange Server Inter-Organization Replication.

Important:
For public folder replication to succeed, the folder permissions for a specified user in each forest must be identical. If the permissions do not match, replication will fail. Replication may seem to succeed when you view the interface. However, the log file will contain an error. This behavior is by design.
Note:
If you configure IORepl and then try to run the Replication service on a computer that is not running Exchange Server, you will receive a "ERROR: Unable to get ICS Synchronizer object from source folder, failed [80004002]" error in the log file.

To set up the InterOrg Replicator utility

  1. Create a working directory for the utility to use. For example, create the C:\Exchsync directory.

  2. Copy the Exssrv.exe and Exscfg.exe files to your working directory.

To set up replication, you must create a configuration file for the replication of free/busy information and a configuration file for public folder replication.

To create a configuration file for free/busy replication

  1. Double-click the Exscfg.exe file.

  2. On the Session menu, click Add.

  3. In the Select Session Type box, click Schedule+ Free/Busy Replication, and then type a display name for the session.

  4. In the Schedule box, enter the time, day, and frequency for the replication session.

  5. If you want the utility to write a log during the replication process, click Logging, and then set the appropriate parameters.

    Note:
    Log files report if the service starts or stops, any errors it encounters, and statistical information for each session, such as the number of messages and folders that were replicated.

  6. Type the publisher and subscriber server names, and then type the name of the service account mailbox that you created for each item.

  7. Click Advanced, and then type the Windows domain, service account, and password for each publisher and subscriber account.

  8. Click OK to add the session to the configuration file, and then click Save.

To create a configuration file for public folder replication

  1. Double-click the Exscfg.exe file.

  2. On the Session menu, click Add.

  3. In the Select Session Type dialog box, click Public Folder Replication, and then type a display name for the session.

  4. In the Maximum Task Number box, enter the number of threads that you want to use for replication.

    Note:
    The number of threads must be less than or equal to the number of sites to which you want to replicate information. If you use higher task number values, you may adversely affect performance.

  5. In the Schedule box, enter the time, day, and frequency for the replication session.

  6. If you want the utility to write a log during the replication process, click Logging, and then set the appropriate parameters.

    Note:
    Log files report if the service starts or stops, any errors it encounters, and statistical information for each session, such as the number of messages and folders that were replicated.

  7. Type the publisher and subscriber server names and the service account mailboxes that you created for each item.

  8. Click Advanced, and then type the Windows domain, service account, and password for each publisher and subscriber account.

  9. Click Folder List to select the folders that you want to replicate.

  10. In the Session Folder List dialog box, select the folder or folder hierarchy on the publisher that you want to replicate, and then select the destination folder on the subscriber.

  11. Click the > button to replicate public folder information only from the publisher to the subscriber. Click it again to toggle bidirectional replication.

  12. Click OK to add the session to the configuration file and click Save.

Before you start the Replication service, you must provide the program with some information that is required for the replication process.

To set up the Replication service

  1. Double-click the Exssrv.exe file. The first time that you run the Exssrv.exe file, click Install.

  2. Type the exWinNoVersionNoMk domain\account name and the password from the service account and mailbox that you created. You can use either the publisher service account or the subscriber service account.

  3. Type the path and file name of the configuration file that you created.

  4. Specify whether you want the service to automatically start when you start the computer.

  5. After you have installed the service, click Start, or start the service from Control Panel.

Note:
For each mailbox on the publisher server to which you want to replicate free/busy information, a corresponding custom recipient must exist on the subscriber server. The SMTP address of the mailbox is the unique key that is used to match mailboxes to custom recipients.