Managing Protocols

In your Exchange messaging deployment configuration, you use Exchange System Manager to manage the protocols that you support. When you use Exchange System Manager to manage protocols, you handle settings on the individual virtual servers for the protocol that is to be configured. The virtual servers that are associated with the various protocols, such as the Exchange Virtual Server and the Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP4) virtual server, contain settings based on the capabilities and use of the specific protocol. For example, the Exchange Virtual Server, which manages HTTP access to Exchange, provides settings for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Web Access, such as gzip compression support.

Generally, managing the virtual server for one protocol is the same as managing a virtual server for a different protocol. The common management tasks include enabling a virtual server, assigning ports, setting connection limits, starting or stopping a virtual server, and disconnecting users. However, there are some server-specific management tasks. The following sections describe the common tasks for all virtual servers associated with protocols and the server-specific tasks for the Exchange Virtual Server, IMAP4 virtual server, and the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) virtual server.