Microsoft KB Archive/264482

= XADM: Support Boundaries for Active Directory Connector Inter-Organizational Synchronization =

PSS ID Number: 264482

Article Last Modified on 9/14/2002

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server

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This article was previously published under Q264482



WARNING: If you configure the Active Directory Connector (ADC) incorrectly, you may modify the Active Directory forest so that you cannot deploy Exchange 2000 in that forest.



SUMMARY
This article describes the support boundaries of using the Active Directory Connector to replicate directory information from multiple Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 organizations into the Active Directory forest.

The ADC is a utility that allows Exchange Server 5.5 organizations to co-exist with Exchange 2000 organizations.

There are two versions of the ADC:
 * The Windows 2000 ADC, which is included with Microsoft Windows 2000.
 * The Exchange 2000 ADC update, which is included with Exchange 2000.

When you install the ADC on a server, you are simply defining a service in Windows 2000. To establish a relationship between an existing Exchange Server 5.5 organization and the Active Directory forest, you must configure a Connection Agreement.

The Connection Agreement holds the configuration information needed by Exchange and Windows to synchronize directory information. For example, it holds information such as server names to contact for replication, object classes to replicate, target containers, and the replication schedule. More importantly, the Connection Agreement settings define whether the Connection Agreement is an inter-organization Connection Agreement or an intra-organization Connection Agreement.

IMPORTANT: You must have a clear understanding of the support boundaries before you deploy and configure any version of the ADC:
 * The Windows 2000 ADC version is not supported under any circumstance if you use it to connect different Exchange Server 5.5 organizations together. Future versions of the Windows 2000 ADC are not planned. Moving forward, there will be only one version of the ADC, the Exchange 2000 version.
 * The Exchange 2000 ADC update version is not supported under any circumstances if you use it to connect different Exchange Server 5.5 organizations together unless:
 * You first deploy Exchange 2000 into the Active Directory forest. -or-


 * You first run Exchange 2000 forestprep before you enable an inter-organizational Connection Agreement to indicate the Exchange organization for the Active Directory forest.
 * After you create an intra-organizational Connection Agreement between an Active Directory forest and an Exchange Server 5.5 organization, you must create all Connection Agreements to subsequent Exchange Server 5.5 organizations as inter-organization Connection Agreements.



MORE INFORMATION
Note that the purpose of the Exchange 2000 ADC inter-organizational Connection Agreement is to permit co-existence between Exchange Server 5.5 organizations and Exchange 2000 for the migration of the Exchange Server 5.5 organizations to Exchange 2000. It is an intermediate, not a permanent, step in developing an Exchange infrastructure.

You can change the Connection Agreement settings through a provided user interface (UI). To do so, on the Advanced tab of the Connection Agreement UI, click to select the This is an Inter-Organizational Connection Agreement check box to define a Connection Agreement as an inter-organizational Connection Agreement. If you do not select this option, the Connection Agreement is considered as an intra-organizational Connection Agreement.

IMPORTANT: If you select this option and apply the change, a process starts that cannot be stopped. The Connection Agreement becomes an inter-organizational Connection Agreement and begins linking objects in the Active Directory forest to facilitate inter-organizational synchronization.
 * If you clear the This is an Inter-Organizational Connection Agreement check box, it does not roll back the changes.
 * If you delete and re-create the objects in the Active Directory forest, it does not roll back the changes.
 * If you delete the Connection Agreement, it does not roll back the changes.

There is no tested, documented, or supported procedure whatsoever to undo the changes after the inter-organizational Connection Agreement links objects within the Active Directory forest.

Additional query words: interorg

Keywords: kbinfo KB264482

Technology: kbExchange2000Search kbExchange2000Serv kbExchangeSearch

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