Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server
2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2009-01-13
In Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, the Mailbox server role is one of several server roles that you can install and then configure on a computer. The Mailbox server role hosts mailbox and public folder databases. It also generates the offline address book. Mailbox servers provide services that calculate e-mail address policies and address lists for recipients, and enforce managed folders.
Mailbox Server Interactions
The Mailbox server must interact directly with the following:
- Active Directory directory service server
- Hub Transport server
- Client Access server
- Unified Messaging (UM) server
- Microsoft Outlook clients
Figure 1 shows what protocol the Mailbox server uses to communicate with each of these roles or computers. Each numbered interaction in Figure 1 corresponds to the following list, describing what types of information is shared between these roles and computers.
Note: |
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If more than one server role coexists on a single computer, the server roles still use the protocols described in Figure 1 to communicate. However, the communication is internal to a single computer instead of traveling across your network to reach a different computer. |
- The Mailbox server accesses recipient, server, and organization
configuration information from Active Directory.
- The Store driver on the Hub Transport server places messages
from the transport pipeline into the appropriate mailbox. The Store
driver on the Hub Transport server also adds messages from the
Outbox of a sender on the Mailbox server to the transport
pipeline.
- The Client Access server sends requests from clients to the
Mailbox server, and returns data from the Mailbox server to the
clients. The Client Access server also accesses offline address
book files on the Mailbox server through NetBIOS file sharing. The
types of data that the Client Access server sends between the
client and the Mailbox server are messages, free/busy data, client
profile settings, and offline address book data.
- The Unified Messaging server retrieves e-mail and voice mail
messages and calendar information from the Mailbox server for
Outlook Voice Access. The Unified Messaging server also
retrieves storage quota information from the Mailbox server.
- Outlook clients that are inside your firewall can access a
Mailbox server directly to send and retrieve messages.
Outlook clients outside the firewall can access a Mailbox
server using remote procedure call (RPC) over Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP).
Note: To send free/busy information and client profile settings between an Outlook client and a Mailbox server, you must have the Client Access server role installed. This information cannot be passed directly between the Outlook client and the Mailbox server. - The administrator-only computer retrieves Active Directory
topology information from the
Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology
service. It also retrieves e-mail address policy information and
address list information.
For More Information
For more information about new features of the Exchange store in Exchange 2007, see New Exchange Database Functionality.
For more information about client throttling, see Understanding Client Throttling.
For more information about the transport pipeline, see Transport Architecture.
For more information about the technical details of Mailbox server role features, see the following topics:
- Understanding
Recipients
- Understanding Recipient
Restrictions
- Understanding Mailbox
Permissions
- Understanding Recipient
Scope
- Understanding
Disconnected Mailboxes
- Understanding Offline
Address Books
- Understanding Address
Lists
- Understanding E-Mail
Address Policies
- Understanding Exchange
Search
- Understanding Client
Throttling
- Understanding the
Availability Service
- Understanding Quota
Messages
- Understanding the
Exchange 2007 Store
- Understanding Public
Folders
- Understanding Messaging
Records Management
- Understanding Send As
Behavior in Exchange 2007