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Public Folder Trees

Public Folder Trees provide a shared repository for Exchange Server 2003

Have a collaborative architecture that provide collaboration capabilities to an AD environment Multiple Public Folder Trees Secure Items in public folders Accessibility from the web Accessibility from the file system All-text indexing capabilities for public folders Referrals enabled by default Public folders

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Public Folder Trees (2)

Need to Knows Each tree consists of a separate hierarchy and must be unique Folders at the first level are called top-level public folders Public folders can be replicated to other servers in the organization General purpose public folders can be created for collaboration with

Browsers Office Suites Both types of apps use HTTP to access the information store

Organizations can have only one default root level public folder tree Multiple root level folders can be created using Exchange

Accessible through MAPI Folders appear alongside the "All Public Folders" tree can only be viewed using apps that use Installable File System

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Public Folder Trees (3)

Support ConsiderationsReplicationSize MinimizationPermissionsTop-level hierarchiesDeep Traversal SearchesMixed/Native Mode settings

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Public Folder Stores

To reduce clutter and alleviate space issues consider modifying: Age Limit

If a deleted item reaches the age limit it is permanently deleted along with any other item that has reached their age limit

Deleted Item Retention When turned on deleted items are retained for a specified

period of time before being permanently deleted. Designed to ensure that postings and documents that

could be needed in the future aren't permanently deleted

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After creating a public folder Exchange assigns a set of permissions to that folderPermissions can be assigned to:

FoldersItemsProperties

Permissions can inherited from higher-level objectsPublic Folder TreeAdministrative Group

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Security principles within Exchange 2003 Access control can be applied to any resource not just the folder

Security may be applied separately to Folders Items in Folders Properties of an item

Permissions applied to a folder or item in the folder can be applied to a user or security group ACL uses SIDs of Server 2003 users and groups

Exchange applies anonymous access to the ANONYMOUS LOGON account ACL entries are processed unless:

An entry denies permission All of the requested permissions are granted The end of the list is reached with all permissions granted

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Security principles within Exchange 2003 (2)Permissions can be denied

Used to exclude a user or group from permissions granted to a larger group

Denied permissions are denied first

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Configuring Client Permissions

Client settings for a public folder can be configured through Outlook or ESM By default all users have permissions to access the folder and read it's contents

includes ANONYMOUS LOGON Users logged on through OWA or the network have additional permissions In order to change permissions you need to set a new role for the user

Owner Publishing Editor Editor Publishing Author Nonediting Nonediting Author Reviewer Contributor None

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Propagating Permissions

Assigning permissions to a parent folder causes them to propagate to all the folders within the tree

Parent folders inherit permissions from the folders above it in the administrative hierarchy

Inheritance Hierarchy Create public folder Create top level folder Modify public folder Modify public folder replica list Modify public folder ACL Modify public folder admin ACL Administer Information Store Create named properties in the Information Store View Information Store

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Propagating Permissions (2)

Rights used to control public folder access Client Rights

Enable control of the permissions of users accessing the folder and messages contained within

Directory Rights Mail enabling a public folder creates an object in Active Directory Enables you to control which users can manipulate AD object

Administrative Rights Administrative Rights enable you to assign specific rights to

specific administrators

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Intro

Public folder replication is a mail based process that makes use of SMTP to transport messages between servers that contain replicas of information

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Client Access

Clients attempt to connect to servers in the following order: A call is made to the Information Store that returns a list of all Exchange servers in the organization Information Store makes a call to the routing service that returns the cost for each server that the requested public

folder for one hour Done to prevent repeated calls

Information uses the following criteria to determine how to route the client to the closest copy of the public folder. If the original public folder is local, the client is directed to the server for public folder contents IF the public folder server that contains the public folder is in the same routing group as the client's mailbox,

the client is sent to the public folder server within that routing group If there is not a copy of the public folder contents in the local routing group, the Information Store initiates the

process of calculating the lowest cost route to a server in the organization that has a copy of the public folder. If none of the previous criteria are true, the client will not be able to view the contents of this public folder.

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The replication process can cause two types of public folder conflicts Message Edit Conflicts

Occurs when the content and/or properties associated with a message are modified on any server Message Edit Conflict Resolution

A conflict resolution message is generated and sent to the folder contact The messages in conflict are attached to the conflict message The contact can choose to keep one or all the messages in conflict

Folder Edit Conflicts Occurs when two or more public folder contacts change a public folder design at the same time Folder Edit Conflict Resolution

When a folder edit conflict occurs, all the properties of the losing (older) folder are discarded Replica lists of the losing and wining folder are merged

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Backfilling

Backfilling is the process by which out-of-sync public folders resynchronize themselves.

Backfilling recovers from the following situationsLost replication messagesA public folder server going offline, and then coming

online after an extended period of timeA public folder server being restored from a backup

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Configuring Replicas

Public folders can be configured to have replicas on multiple folders

Public folders use multimaster replicationPriority for replication can also be configured

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Configuring Replication Priority

Messages with higher priorities are sent firstReplication Priorities

Not Urgent Messages with this priority are delivered last

Normal Messages with this priority are sent before non-urgent

messages All Urgent messages are delivered first

Urgent Messages with this priority are sent before messages

normal not urgent priority

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Checking Replication Status

Replication Status is the best way to keep track of public folder replication

Statuses should be checked regularly by checking the public store in ESM

Replication status fields (accessed from replication status container)NameLast Received TimeNumber of ReplicasReplication Status

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Public Folder Referrals

Referrals enable you to route information to specific servers.

Routing group connectors are unidirectional by default

For bidirectional communication the connectors must configured in both directions

Public folder referrals are transitive

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Troubleshooting Public Folders

Accessibility Issues Issues related to accessing the content of public folders Usually tied to configuration issues with IIS or internet explorer

Permission Issues Issues related to accessing the content of public folders because of

permissions Especially prevalent after a migration

Delete Site and System Folder Issues Issues related to problems with site and system folders Usually occur when folders have been inadvertently deleted

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Troubleshooting Public Folders (2)Replication Issues

Issues related to replicating content to different Exchange servers within the organization

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Summary

You can e-mail enable public folders so that you can send message to the folder using entries from the GAL instead of having to post them directly

Public folders enable you to use a Web Browser to gain access to public folders by specifying a URL to the folder

Exchange Server 2003 supports multiple public folder trees, also known as hierarchies. Public folder trees enable you to store public folders in more than one hierarchy

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Summary (2)

Public folder referrals enable clients to gain access to any folder in the organization. Exchange 2003 enables referrals by default between routing groups

Exchange 2003 supports MAPI-based public folder trees and general purpose public folder trees.There can only be one MAPI public folder - All Public

Folders treeGeneral-purpose public folder trees are SMTP-enabled

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Summary (3)

If you configure multiple public folder trees, you need to configure additional public stores on each server that hosts content from the tree. Each public store contains the content of one public folder tree You cannot split a public folder tree across multiple stores.

Exchange 2003 relies on Active Directory to enforce security on Exchange Resources The operating system manages and enforces permissions that are

specific to Exchange 2003

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Summary (4)

Child folders inherit parent folder settings at time of creation only Changes made to the parent folder are not automatically

inherited by existing child folders. Any changes made to a child folder are lost if you choose to

propagate settings from the parent folder All replicas of a public folder are equal.

There is no master replica This format is known as mulitmaster replication (similar to

method used by AD DCs)

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Summary (5)

The Public Information Store uses change numbers, time stamps and predecessor change lists to keep track of replication progress and determine if a folder is synchronized

A public folder conflict occurs when a user edits an item located in a public folder on one server and then before the changes can be replicated to all instances of the public folder, another user on a different server edits the same item

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