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How to Configure the Drop Directory of a Foreign Connector

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Shell to configure the Drop directory that is used by a Foreign connector in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

Every Foreign connector that installed on or assigned to an Exchange 2007 computer that has the Hub Transport server role installed uses a different Drop directory. The Drop directory is used by the Foreign connector to send messages to the foreign gateway server that does not use the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to transmit messages. Messages that are sent to recipients that exist in the address space that is defined on the Foreign connector are copied into the Drop directory of the Foreign connector.

Before You Begin

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

Note

You cannot configure the Drop directory by using the Exchange Management Console. To configure the Drop directory, you must use the Exchange Management Shell. For more information about how to use the Exchange Management Shell, see Using the Exchange Management Shell.

Configuring the Drop Directory Location

Two items control the location of the Drop directory for each Foreign connector:

  • The RootDropDirectoryPath parameter in the Set-TransportServer cmdlet   This option is used for all Foreign connectors that exist on the Hub Transport server. The value of the RootDropDirectoryPath parameter may be a local path or a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to a remote server.

  • The DropDirectory parameter in the Set-ForeignConnector cmdlet   This value is set for each Foreign Connector that exists on the Hub Transport server. The value of the DropDirectory parameter may be a simple directory name or an absolute file path. If the value of the RootDropDirectoryPath is specified, the value of the DropDirectory parameter must be a simple directory name. If the value of the RootDropDirectoryPath is not specified, the DropDirectory parameter may contain absolute path information or may be a simple directory name.

By default, the value of the RootDropDirectoryPath parameter is blank. This indicates the value of the RootDropDirectoryPath parameter is the Exchange 2007 installation folder. The default Exchange 2007 installation folder is C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\. By default, the value of the DropDirectory parameter is the name of the Foreign connector. The Drop directory is not created for you. Therefore, you have to manually create each Drop directory folder.

If the value of the DropDirectory parameter doesn't contain absolute path information, the location of the Drop directory is defined by the combination of the DropDirectory and the RootDropDirectoryPath. If the value of the DropDirectory parameter contains absolute path information, the value of the RootDropDirectoryPath must be unspecified. The location of the Drop directory is defined only by the value of the DropDirectory parameter.

To use the Exchange Management Shell to configure the location of the Drop directory

  • Run the following commands:

    Set-TransportServer <ServerIdentity> -RootDropDirectoryPath <FilePath>
Set-ForeignConnector <ConnectorIdentity> -DropDirectory <DirectoryName>

    For example, to set the root Drop directory for all Foreign connectors on an Exchange 2007 computer named "Hub01" that has the Hub Transport server role installed to "C:\Drop Directory", run the following command:

    Set-TransportServer Hub01 -RootDropDirectoryPath "C:\Drop Directory"

    To set the Drop directory for the Foreign connector named "Fax Connector" to a directory named "Fax" in the root Drop directory path, run the following command:

    Set-ForeignConnector "Fax Connector" -DropDirectory "Fax"

Changing the location of the Drop directory does not copy any existing message files from the old Drop directory to the new Drop directory. The new Drop directory location is active almost immediately after the configuration change, but any existing message files are left in the old Drop directory.

The following permissions are required on the Drop directory:

  • Administrator: Full Control

  • System: Full Control

  • Network Service: Read, Write, and Delete Subfolders and Files

Configuring the Maximum Size of the Drop Directory

The maximum size of the Drop directory that is used by a Foreign connector is controlled by the Set-ForeignConnector cmdlet. By default, the maximum size of the Drop directory is unlimited.

To use the Exchange Management Shell to change the maximum size of the Drop directory

  • Run the following command:

    Set-ForeignConnector <Identity> -DropDirectoryQuota <DirectorySize>

    For example, to set the maximum size of the Drop directory to 400 MB for a Foreign connector that is named "Fax Connector" an Exchange 2007 computer that is named Hub01, run the following command:

    Set-ForeignConnector "Fax Connector" -DropDirectoryQuota 400MB

When you enter a value for the DropDirectoryQuota parameter, qualify the value with one of the following units:

  • B (bytes)

  • KB (kilobytes)

  • MB (megabytes)

  • GB (gigabytes)

Unqualified values are treated as bytes. The valid input range for this parameter is 1 to 2147483647 bytes.

For More Information

For more information, see Foreign Connectors.