The Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Management Shell are two administrative interfaces that can be used to manage all of the Unified Messaging objects that are found in the Active Directory directory service.

In the past, when using some third-party unified messaging solutions, there was no single point of administration for both voice mail and e-mail. Administrators would have to make configuration changes for e-mail in one interface and configuration settings for voice mail in another interface. For example, if they wanted to configure a mail-enabled user for Microsoft Exchange and a unified messaging user, they would have to make those configuration changes using two separate interfaces. Some third-party unified messaging solutions required them to maintain and manage multiple Active Directory domains or Exchange databases.

Using the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Management Shell in Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging, you can manage all e-mail, voice mail, and fax messages.

Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging requires that several Active Directory directory service objects be created and then configured for Unified Messaging to function properly. After the UM objects are created, you can manage them by using the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell.

For more information about using the Exchange Management Console to manage Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging Active Directory objects, see the following topics:

• Managing Unified Messaging Dial Plans
  
• Managing Unified Messaging IP Gateways
  
• Managing Unified Messaging Hunt Groups
  
• Managing Unified Messaging Mailbox Policies
  
• Managing Unified Messaging Auto Attendants
  

Note:
The configuration settings for the UM Active Directory objects are contained within the configuration partition of Active Directory.

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