XFOR: Server Location and the Internet Mail Service and Other Exchange Server Connectors

This article describes the concept of server location in Exchange Server and explains how to use server location to restrict users on a server or a group of servers to use only a specified Exchange Server connector.

Server locations in Exchange Server are generally used to control public folder access in a large Exchange Server organization. However, server locations can also be used to restrict users on an Exchange Server computer or group of Exchange Server computers to only use a specified Internet Mail Service or other Exchange Server connector.

The most common reasons to restrict the use of a connector are to allow only certain users (such as high-priority or management users) located on a server or group of servers to use a certain connector, or to restrict use by physical subnet or geographical location.

This article provides steps to create server locations for the Internet Mail Service, but you can also use server locations for the X.400 Connector, the Site Connector, and the Dynamic Remote Access Service (RAS) Connector. You can use the steps in this article to create server locations for any of these Exchange Server connectors.

For example, you may have two groups of Exchange Server computers in an Exchange Server site that are in different physical locations or on different physical subnets. Each location or subnet has one Exchange Server computer that has an Internet Mail Service (location 1 and location 2, respectively). Because of firewall and network issues, you may need the users in location 1 to send and receive e-mail from the only the Internet Mail Service in location 1, and users on the Exchange Server computers in location 2 to only send and receive Internet e-mail from the server that has the Internet Mail Service in location 2.

NOTE: Server locations only apply within a site, not between sites.

To enter a server location for location 1:

1. In the Microsoft Exchange Server Administrator program, click the server name.
2. On the File menu, click Properties, and then click the General tab.
3. In the Server Location box, type Location 1 to replace the default none.
4. Click Apply. When the following question is displayed
   Are you sure you want to create the new location 'Location 1'?
   click Yes.
5. Open the Internet Mail Service properties for each server that you want to associate with location 1, and then click the Address Space tab.
6. Double-click the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) address to open the properties.
7. Click the Restrictions tab, click This Location, and then click Apply.

Use these steps to add location 1 as the server location for the entire group of servers that you want to include in that server location. Then use the same steps to add location 2 as the server location for the different group of servers that you want to include in a separate server location.

After you perform these steps, all of the users on a server in location 1 use the services of the server in location 1 only, and all of the users on a server in location 2 use the services of the server in location 2 only. These users do not use the services of any other server.

When you want to bring a new server into the site, start the Administrator program, click the new server, click Properties on the File menu, click the General tab, and then type the name of the location (in this example, either Location 1 or Location 2) that you want the new server to join.

You may want to restrict users in other sites from using Internet Mail Service connectors in a different site. This is a completely separate issue. In this case, you must keep address spaces from being replicated to other sites, and you must mark the address space as LOCAL on its originating site. For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information the concept of server location in Exchange Server and how you can use server location to control public folder access, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: