How to Move the Offline Address Book Generation Process to Another Server

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell to move the offline address book (OAB) generation to another server. OAB generation is the process by which Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 creates and updates the OAB. When the OAB generation occurs, Exchange 2007 generates new OAB files, compresses the files, and then places the files on a local share.

Before You Begin

To perform the following procedures, the account you use must be delegated the following:

  • Exchange Organization Administrator role

For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange 2007, see Permission Considerations.

Also, before you perform this procedure, be aware of the following:

  • If you use Web-based distribution, the Client Access server replicates the files. If you use public folder distribution, the OAB generation process places the files directly in one of the public folders, and then the Exchange store replication copies the data to other public folder distribution points.

  • The client computers that are running Microsoft Outlook periodically check for and download OAB updates. For information about how to modify when OAB generation occurs, see How to View and Modify Offline Address Book Settings.

  • If your organization contains both Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange 2007 servers, you can generate the OAB from an Exchange 2003 server or an Exchange 2007 server, provided that public folder distribution is enabled. However, if you generate the OAB from an Exchange 2003 server, you will lose the following functionality:

    • Japanese phonetic display name

    • Japanese phonetic surname

    • Japanese phonetic given name

    • Japanese phonetic company name

    • Japanese phonetic department name

    • PR_DISPLAY_TYPE_EX, which is used by Office Outlook 2007 to render the correct icon for objects that are replicated across the forest

Procedure

To use the Exchange Management Console to move the OAB generation process to another server

  1. Start the Exchange Management Console.

  2. In the console tree, expand Organization Configuration, and then click Mailbox.

  3. In the result pane, click the Offline Address Book tab, and then select the OAB for which you want to move the generation to a new server.

  4. In the action pane, click Move. The Move Offline Address Book wizard appears.

  5. On the Move Offline Address Book page, click Browse to open the Select Mailbox Server dialog box.

  6. Select the server to which you want to move the OAB generation process, and then click OK.

  7. Click Move to move the OAB generation process to the new server.

  8. View the status of the move operation. The wizard will move the generation of your OAB to the new server and copy the existing files for the OAB to the new server.

  9. On the Completion page, confirm whether the OAB generation process was moved successfully. A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully. A status of Failed indicates that the task was not completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

  10. Click Finish to complete the Move Offline Address Book wizard.

To use the Exchange Management Shell to move the OAB generation process to another server

  • Run the following command.

    Move-OfflineAddressBook -Identity <OfflineAddressBookIdParameter> -Server <ServerIdParameter>
    

    For example, to move the OAB generation process to SERVER01 for the OAB named My OAB, run the following command.

    Move-OfflineAddressBook -Identity "My OAB" -Server SERVER01
    

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see the Move-OfflineAddressBook reference topic.

For More Information

To learn more about OABs, see Understanding Offline Address Books.

For information about managing OABs, see the following topics: