How to create a public folder in Hosted Messaging and Collaboration 4.0 and 4.5

The documentation for the deployment of the Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) 4.0 and 4.5 solutions does not describe how hosts can create a top-level public folder for a hosted organization. This documentation was provided in earlier versions. However, the procedure that is used in the previous documentation does not work in HMC 4.0 or in HMC 4.5. The instructions for creating a public folder are omitted from the deployment documentation.

The only prerequisites for creating a top-level public folder for a hosted organization in HMC 4.0 or in HMC 4.5 are as follows:

• The organization has to be subscribed to an organization plan that has a publicStore feature.
• At least one mailbox must already be created in the organization.

To enable an organization for public folders and then to create a public folder in HMC 4.5 and HMC 4.0, follow these steps:

1. Use the Hosted Email 2007::Subscribe method to assign the organization a Hosted E-mail Organization plan that includes the publicStore feature. Or, you can use the Hosted Email 2007::ChangeOrganizationPlanAssignment method for organizations that are already subscribed.
   
   Note Either of these procedures will create the FolderAdmins and FolderUsers security groups in Active Directory.
2. Create one or more mailboxes in the target organization.
   
   Note For dynamic allocation, this sets up the required resource instance for the organization in Resource Manager. This is a prerequisite for creating an organization public folder.
3. Create the folder by using the Hosted Email 2007::CreateFolder method. This procedure performs the following key actions:
   • Creates the public folder in Exchange.
   • Mail-enables the FolderAdmins and FolderUsers groups that were created in step 1.
   • Configures security on the public folder based on the groups that were created in step 1.

Note The timing issue that existed in the earlier releases is not gone completely. This means that time must be allowed for replication between steps 1 and 3. However, the request will now fail as expected when replication is delayed. Also, the requirement that mailboxes be created as an interim step should allow for a reasonable period of time for Active Directory replication.