Understanding Public Folder Referrals

When a user connects to a public folder store that does not contain a copy of the content that the user is looking for, the user is redirected to another store that has a copy of the content. You can use public folder referrals to control this redirect traffic. Referrals perform the function that public folder affinities performed in Exchange 5.5, although in a slightly different manner. (If you need information about Exchange 5.5 affinities, see the Exchange 5.5 documentation.)

Using the default referral configuration, Exchange 2003 follows the organization's routing group structure to find an appropriate server. However, to modify the flow of user traffic, you can override this configuration by specifying whether to allow referrals over certain connectors. For Exchange 2003 servers, you can also specify a list of referral servers and assign routing costs to each server. For example, you can limit referrals to a single routing group, or only allow referrals between certain servers in each routing group. Use the following methods to configure referrals.

For detailed steps about how to configure a connector to allow or block referrals from one routing group to another, see "How to Configure a Connector to Allow or Block Referrals from One Routing Group to Another."

For detailed steps about how to configure an Exchange 2003 server to use a specific list of servers and costs for referrals, see "How to Configure an Exchange 2003 Server to Use a Specific List of Servers and Costs for Referrals."