X400 Connector between 2003 & 5.5

[ritdaw]

I am trying to connect up our 5.5 organisation with our new 2003 organisation. As we are going to migrate to 2003 over a slow period (due to the slow rollout of 2000 servers).
Is this possible? I have been searching high and low over the net and haven't found much info, it seems it is possible but could do with some assistance on setting up the x400 connection?

Our 5.5 org has 4 servers in total.
The 2003 org has one 2003 server.
They will both be using the same external domain name.

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[xmsre]

If the question is "Is it possible to connect two exchange orgs via an X400 connector?", then the answer is yes. The problem is that simply allowing mailflow between the two orgs is not going to guarantee coexistence. You'll also need some form of directory synchronization, possibly an interorg CA.

 

[ritdaw]

Basically I would just like to get mailflow working and worry about anything else later. I have had a look at the tool for syncing public folders.

Any guides around for configuring the X400 connectors on both servers?

 

[xmsre]

Fairly standard. Port 102 if you're going through a firewall.

 

[ritdaw]

I'm not going through a firewall so I havent got that to worry about.

I have had a look at setting it up before, but not having done one before there are obviously a lot of fields I dont know about filling in. So is there anywhere with some examples I can relate to?

Is it ok that they are also on seperate domains?

 

[xmsre]

You can do X400 connectors between foreign systems. If they're in seperate Exchange ORGs, this is a viable solution. If they are seperate sites in the same ORG, this is still a viable solution.

On the 5.5 side,

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;165111

On the 2003 side, it's not too different. You still have to have the enterprise version. You create it from the connections container in your routing group. The rest is about the same.

 

[ritdaw]

cool, thanks for your help I will give it a try!

 

[ritdaw]

Wicked just got it working! Thanks for your help!

 

[ritdaw]

Right, I have got the connector semi working.

I can send e-mails from a 5.5 account to a 2003 user, but as I 2003 user I am unable to reply to that message, I get the following delivery report:

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject: RE:
Sent: 20/03/2004 02:02 PM

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

'Administrator' on 20/03/2004 02:02 PM
The message could not be delivered because the recipient's destination email system is unknown or invalid. Please check the address and try again, or contact your system administrator to verify connectivity to the email system of the recipient.
<rit-srvr2003.mydomain.co.uk #5.1.2>

This also applies when I put in an X400 address manually in the To: field.

Any ideas?

 

[xmsre]

What is in the address space on your X400 connector?

 

[ritdaw]

The exchange 5.5 organisation details etc. It all seems correct?

 

[xmsre]

From the error message, this looks to be a problem with address space on the connector. You're hand entering the X400 address, so directory is not an issue. Turn up the diagnostic logging on your connector, and you should get some additional information.

 

[ritdaw]

yes that has indeed helped (worked out the issue) and I can now send emails to a manual x400 address.

I am unable to reply to any of the recepients messages sent from the 5.5 box, it seems that the address that it comes from is unknown when replying. It comes up with a display name of:

/O=EXCHANGE 5.5/OU=BEAKERS MAIL 5.5/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=JSMITH

But the x400 address doesnt show

 

[xmsre]

It's using the 5.5 directory name. Now you have to work out dirsync. Either that, or create a whole bunch of mail enabled contacts.

 

[ritdaw]

Is dirsync a tool available from microsoft?
Also the alternative, when you say mail enabled contacts how do you mean?
I have made contacts on the 2003 server, I manage to send one email to the 5.5 user and then I can reply to that. But then replying as a 2003 user I get the same failure.....
Its so annoying that the basic connection is there, but just not quite good enough..

 

[xmsre]

On the contact, under email addresses, choose custom. Add the address it is attempting to reply to in the format:

X500:/O=EXCHANGE 5.5/OU=BEAKERS MAIL 5.5/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=JSMITH

Sort of like what you would do to prevent NDRs in replies to old emails after using exmerge to move a user.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;275134

The problem is that the reply address is the 5.5 directory name, or X500 name.

 

[ritdaw]

Cool, I will give it a try, oh so much fun....

 

[ritdaw]

All is well and the link is setup working perfectly.
I have got the free/busy info and folders replicating.
Thanks for all the help!

I was just wondering, its not possible to open users calendar on the 5.5 server from a 2003 user is it? As obviously a custom recipient doesn't have a mailbox and it is only a connection through to the user on the 5.5 box.

What do other people do in that situation?

 

[xmsre]

1. No, not in this scenario.

2. As long as you are replicating the public free/busy info for the other org, you should be able to view free/busy times.

 

[ritdaw]

I didnt think so, I guess that would be in the situation where the ADC is used?

I am able to see the free/busy times, I just thought I would check!

Cheers for all your help, I'm sure I will need some assistance again. I think we will try to roll out exchange 2003 to all of our sites as soon as possible!