Decide which connector to use
Applies to: Exchange Online Protection
Topic Last Modified: 2014-09-10
The sections in this topic will help you find the instructions for setting up the connectors you need. For more general information about Exchange connectors, see Configure custom mail flow by using connectors.
If all of your organization’s mailboxes are within Exchange Online, a part of Office 365, this is commonly called a fully-hosted scenario, and you can use the following information to help understand how to work with connectors. The diagram below shows the relationship between this type of email flow and connectors. There are several scenarios in which you need to create connectors and those options are explained here.
| If you want to… | Follow this procedure |
|---|---|
| Send and receive email with a partner by using a secure channel over TLS. | Create connectors for a secure mail channel using transport layer security (TLS) |
| Send and receive email a certain way based on the condition of the individual email. For example; apply TLS for a specific sender only in a domain. | |
| Allow a program or a device, such as a printer, to send email through Office 365. | How to Allow a Multi-function Device or Application to Send E-mail through Office 365 Using SMTP |
| Send and receive email through a cloud-based, third-party email service or a secure email gateway. |
If some of your organization’s mailboxes are configured in Exchange Online and some are configured in your own email servers, this is commonly called a hybrid scenario. To manage connectors for this, we recommend starting the Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard. A part of that process will help you establish the appropriate connectors. For more information about the wizard, see Hybrid Configuration wizard. There are several important prerequisites that you need to complete before you use the Hybrid Configuration wizard. For example, you must meet the requirements for hybrid deployments outlined in Hybrid deployment prerequisites.
For more general information about routing email in a hybrid scenario, see Transport routing in Exchange 2013 hybrid deployments.
If your organization’s mailboxes are only configured in your own email server, for example a local Exchange server that is on your physical site and referred to as an on-premises server, and you subscribe to Exchange Online Protection (EOP) for spam and virus filtering, this is commonly called an EOP standalone scenario. The diagram here shows this type of email scenario and the connectors you need.
There are several scenarios in which you need to create connectors and those options are explained here.
| If you want to… | Follow this procedure |
|---|---|
| Set up basic email through EOP. These connectors are required in order for your own email servers to accept or deliver email through EOP. Your own email servers can include Exchange or non-Microsoft products, such as a filtering appliance. | Create required connectors to set up basic email flow through EOP |
| Send and receive email with a partner by using a secure channel over TLS. | Create connectors for a secure mail channel using transport layer security (TLS) |
| Send and receive email a certain way based on the condition of the individual email. For example; apply TLS for a specific sender only in a domain. | |
| Send and receive email through a cloud-based, third-party email service or a secure email gateway. |
If you don’t use either EOP or Exchange Online, then you can find appropriate connector information in the Exchange 2013 topic Connectors.
