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Create a Linked Mailbox

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010

A linked mailbox is a mailbox associated with an external account. The resource forest scenario is an example of when you would want to associate a mailbox with an external account. In a resource forest scenario, user objects in the Exchange forest have mailboxes, but the user objects are disabled for logon. You must associate these disabled user accounts in the Exchange forest with enabled user objects in the external accounts forest.

Looking for other management tasks related to user mailboxes? Check out Managing User Mailboxes.

Use the EMC to create a linked mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration.

  2. In the action pane, click New Mailbox.

  3. On the Introduction page, click Linked Mailbox, and then click Next.

  4. On the User Type page, click New User.

    Note

    Every mailbox must have a user account associated with it. However, the user account that will access the linked mailbox doesn't exist in the forest where Exchange is deployed. Therefore, a disabled user account that exists in the same forest as Exchange must be created and associated with each linked mailbox, which is the new user account to which this wizard page is referring.

  5. Click Next.

  6. On the User Information page, complete the following fields. These fields are for the disabled user account that will be associated with the linked mailbox, and not for the actual user account in the remote forest that will be accessing the mailbox:

    • Specify the organizational unit rather than using a default one Select this check box to select an organizational unit (OU) other than the default (which is the recipient scope). If the recipient scope is set to the forest, the default value is set to the Users container in the Active Directory domain that contains the computer on which the Exchange Management Console is running. If the recipient scope is set to a specific domain, the Users container in that domain is selected by default. If the recipient scope is set to a specific OU, that OU is selected by default. To select a different OU, click Browse to open the Select Organizational Unit dialog box. This dialog box displays all OUs in the forest that are within the specified scope. Select the desired OU, and then click OK. To learn more about recipient scopes, see Understanding Recipient Scope.

    • First name   Use this box to type the first name of the user. This field is optional.

    • Initials   Use this box to type the initials of the user. This field is optional.

    • Last name   Use this box to type the last name of the user. This field is optional.

    • Name   Use this box to type a name for the user. This is the name that's listed in Active Directory. By default, this box is populated with the names you enter in the First name, Initials, and Last name boxes. If you didn't use those boxes, you must still type a name in this field. The name can't exceed 64 characters.

    • User logon name (User Principal Name)   Use this box to type the name that the user will use to log on to the mailbox. The user logon name consists of a user name and a suffix. Typically, the suffix is the domain name in which the user account resides.

    • User logon name (pre-Windows 2000)   Use this box to type the name for the user that's compatible with the legacy versions of Microsoft Windows (prior to the release of Windows 2000 Server). This field is automatically populated based on the User logon name (User Principal Name) field. This field is required.

    • Password   Use this box to type the password that the user must use to log on to his or her mailbox.

      Note

      Make sure that the password you supply complies with the password length, complexity, and history requirements of the domain in which you're creating the user account.

    • Confirm password   Use this box to confirm the password that you typed in the Password box.

    • User must change password at next logon   Select this check box if you want the user to reset the password when first logging on to the mailbox. If you select this check box, at first logon, the new user will be prompted with a dialog box in which to change the password. The user won't be allowed to perform any tasks until the password is successfully changed.

  7. Click Next.

  8. On the Mailbox Settings page, complete the following fields:

    • Alias   Use this box to type an alias for the mailbox. The alias can't exceed 64 characters and must be unique in the forest.

    • Specify the mailbox database rather than using a database automatically selected   Select this check box to specify a mailbox database instead of allowing Exchange to select a database for you. Click Browse to open the Select Mailbox Database dialog box. This dialog box lists all the mailbox databases in your Exchange organization. By default, the mailbox databases are sorted by name. You can also click the title of the corresponding column to sort the databases by storage group name or server name. Select the mailbox database you want to use, and then click OK. This is an optional field.

    • Managed folder mailbox policy   Select this check box to specify a managed folder mailbox policy for the mailbox. A managed folder mailbox policy is a logical grouping of managed folders. When a managed folder mailbox policy is applied to a user’s mailbox, all the managed folders linked to the policy are deployed in a single operation, thereby making the deployment of messaging records management (MRM) easier. To learn more, see Understanding Managed Folders.
      Click Browse to open the Select Managed Folder Mailbox Policy dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the managed folder mailbox policy to be associated with this mailbox. This is an optional field.

      Note

      Managed custom folders are a premium feature of MRM. Mailboxes with policies that include managed custom folders require an Exchange Server Enterprise client access license (CAL).

    • Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy   Select this check box to specify a Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy for the mailbox. Exchange ActiveSync enables access to an Exchange mailbox from a mobile device. To learn more, see Understanding Exchange ActiveSync Mailbox Policies.
      Click Browse to open the Select ActiveSync Mailbox Policy dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the policy that you want associated with this mailbox. This is an optional field.

  9. Click Next.

  10. On the Master Account page, complete the following fields:

    • Trusted forest or domain   Click Browse to open the Select Trusted Forest or Domain dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the forest or domain that contains the master account, and then click OK. This enables the Browse button for the Linked domain controller field.
    • Use the following Windows user account to access linked domain controller   To access the domain controller in the trusted forest or domain, you can use credentials other than the ones with which you are currently logged on. If you want to specify a different user account, select this check box, and then use the User name and Password boxes to type your credentials.
    • Linked domain controller   Click Browse to open the Select Domain Controller dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the linked domain controller that you want to use, and then click OK. Selecting a valid linked domain controller enables the Browse button for the Linked master account field.
    • Linked master account   Click Browse to open the Select Master Account dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the user account that you want to use as the master account for the linked mailbox, and then click OK.

  11. Click Next.

  12. On the New Mailbox page, review the Configuration Summary. To change the configuration, click Back. To create the new linked mailbox, click New.

  13. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:

    • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.
    • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

Use the Shell to create a linked mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example creates a linked mailbox for John Peoples. The fabrikam domain is in the accounts forest. The user account fabrikam\Admin01 is used to access the linked domain controller.

New-Mailbox -Database "Mailbox Database 1" -Name "John Peoples" -LinkedDomainController "DC01fabrikam" -LinkedMasterAccount fabrikam\john -OrganizationalUnit Users -UserPrincipalName john@contoso.com -LinkedCredential:(Get-Credential fabrikam\Admin01)

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-Mailbox.