How to Assign Costs on the Public Folder Referrals List

You can use public folder referrals to control how Exchange redirects users among the public folder servers. Costs are a method of prioritizing servers in the public folder referral list. You define costs for each connector in your organization by using network connectivity and available bandwidth as criteria. You then assign the lowest cost to the connectors that have the best network connectivity and the most available bandwidth. Exchange uses higher-cost servers only if lower-cost servers are not available. This procedure outlines how to specify assign costs on the public folder referrals list.

Procedure

To change a server's priority in a custom public folder referrals list

1. In Exchange System Manager, right-click an Exchange server, and then select Properties.

2. On the Public Folder Referrals tab, select a server in the list, and then click Modify.

3. In the Modify Referral Cost dialog box, specify a cost for that server.

   Modify Referral Cost dialog box

   

   Note

   If you want to prioritize the order in which Exchange uses the listed servers, you must change the costs associated with each server, assigning lower costs to those servers that you want Exchange to use first.

For More Information

• For information about creating a custom list of public folder referrals, see How to Specify a Custom List for Public Folder Referrals.

• For additional information about public folder referrals, see Managing Mailbox Stores and Public Folder Stores.

• For more information about routing in Exchange, see Understanding and Configuring Message Routing and Transport.