Introduction

One of the things that have changed drastically in Exchange Server 2007 is the way in which you manage recipients. As most of us are aware, recipients were managed via Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) MMC snap-in in the Exchange 2000 and 2003 environments, but with Exchange 2007, the recipient management tasks have been integrated back into the Exchange Management Console and removed from ADUC, as was the case in Exchange versions prior to Exchange Server 2000. In addition to performing the recipient tasks using the Exchange Management Console, you also have the option of using the Exchange Management Shell, which is perfectly suited for performing bulk user changes using one-liners (single-line commands).

So, why did the Exchange Product group choose to move away from extending and using the ADUC MMC snap-in to manage recipients in Exchange 2007? There are several reasons. For one, the team wanted to attack the cost of managing recipient users by introducing automation. This automation has been introduced via PowerShell CMDlets, which, as mentioned, really shine when it comes to bulk user changes. For another, they wanted to truly support the split-permissions model, making it possible for an Exchange Administrator to do any relevant Exchange tasks from within a single console: the Exchange Management Console (EMC). Another goal was to simplify the management of the Global Address List (GAL) and recipient types from within the EMC. This goal was accomplished because only the objects and attributes that pertain to Exchange are shown...