How to Configure Internet Message Formats for a Non-Exchange Messaging System

In addition to configuring the SMTP connector to a non-Exchange messaging system, you might also want to specify the message formats that the non-Exchange messaging system supports. This procedure describes how to configure Internet message formats for a non-Exchange messaging system.

Before You Begin

To successfully complete the procedure in this topic, ensure that your environment meets the following requirements:

• You have an existing Windows network, including an Exchange organization and Active Directory deployment.

• You can connect to TCP port 25 on the remote SMTP host. Use telnet.exe to verify that the remote SMTP host is responding with a welcome message when you connect. For details about how to test SMTP connectivity using telnet.exe, see Interoperating with and Migrating from Other Non-Exchange Messaging Systems to Exchange Server 2003.

• You have Exchange Administrator permissions to configure connector components in the Exchange organization.

• In Exchange System Manager, you have selected the Display routing groups and Display administrative groups options on the properties page for the organization object.

Procedure

To configure Internet message formats for a non-Exchange messaging system

1. In Exchange System Manager, expand Global Settings and then select the Internet Message Formats container.

2. Right-click the Internet Message Formats container, point to New, and then select Domain.

3. In the Properties dialog box, on the General tab:

   1. In the Name text box, type the name that you want to assign to this SMTP policy, for example, SMTP Policy for non-Exchange messaging system. (You can use a more descriptive name that clearly identifies the messaging system that you connect to.)

   2. In the SMTP domain text box, type the SMTP domain name that refers to your non-Exchange messaging system, such as legacy.fabrikam.com.

   General options for an SMTP policy

   

4. On the Message Format tab:

   1. Under Message encoding, select the encoding option that the messaging clients of your non-Exchange users support, either MIME or UUEncode. If the messaging client supports both encoding methods, select MIME.

   2. If your non-Exchange users work with Microsoft Office Outlook® in an IMAP4 configuration, select Provide message body as plain text. You will enable Exchange rich-text information in e-mail messages in a subsequent step. If the messaging clients of your non-Exchange users do not support MAPI but support HTML-formatted messages, select the Provide message body as HTML option or the Both option to provide the message body both as plain text and as HTML.

   3. Under Character sets, verify that US ASCII is selected for MIME and Non-MIME.

   Message format options for an SMTP policy

   

5. On the Advanced tab:

   1. Under Exchange rich-text format, select Always use if the messaging clients of your non-Exchange users support MAPI (such as Microsoft Outlook in an IMAP4 configuration). If users work with non-MAPI clients, select Never use. The default, Determined by individual user settings, allows the user to decide whether to send Exchange rich-text information.

   2. Under Message text word wrap, Never use is selected by default. If the messaging clients of your non-Exchange users impose a maximum number of characters per line in SMTP messages, select Use at column and specify the number of characters per line in the corresponding text box.

   3. Verify that the check boxes for Allow out of office responses, Allow automatic replies, Allow automatic forward, Allow delivery reports, Allow non-delivery reports, and Preserve sender's display name on message are selected. When connecting to an internal SMTP messaging system, enable all of these features for maximum interoperability. When connecting to the Internet, you might want to disable certain features, such as out of office responses.

   Advanced options for an SMTP policy

   

6. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box and apply the settings.