5.1 Introduction

Understanding and controlling the replication and affinity characteristics of Exchange 5.5 Public Folders has always been considered to be much more art than science. And with the introduction of Exchange 2000, we find ourselves with yet another dimension of Public Folder management with which to be concerned. Mixed mode Exchange 2000 environments must now consider the interoperability requirements of Public Folders that exist in both Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000. After a period of coexistence, there comes the inevitable requirement to migrate Exchange 5.5 Public Folders to Exchange 2000 servers.

In this chapter, I'll explore some of the core aspects of Public Folder coexistence in terms of Public Folder Connection Agreements what they do and why you need them, the replication of Public Folder hierarchy, and the effect of permissions interoperability associated with groups and distribution lists.

5.2 Public Folder Connection Agreements

In addition to the ConfigCAs and Recipient CAs that I've already described, the ADC supports another type of CA for dealing with the replication of address information associated with Public Folders. The Public Folder CA (PFCA) replicates mail addresses assigned to Exchange 5.5 Public Folders into the Active Directory so that Exchange 2000 users have the capability to send mail directly to Public Folders in the same way that they could with Exchange 5.5. A typical application for these mail-enabled Public Folders in Exchange 5.5 environments is to include them as members of Exchange 5.5 DLs so that they offer an archive for all messages sent to...