Configuring the Connector in Notes
Microsoft provides a utility that it claims automatically configures all the connector's settings. I attempted to use the utility several times; every time, the connector's configuration required manual intervention. To configure the Notes side of the connector manually, I registered a Notes user identifier for the connector to run under. I created a router mailbox on DBO-EXCHANGEIST. Then, I assigned the user identifier permission to access the router mailbox, and I assigned the connector permission to access the Notes address book during directory synchronization.
Screen 1 shows the desktop for router mailbox configuration. I created a few files for the connector, including the holding container (Exchange.box, which Screen 2 shows) that the connector uses to route messages to and from Exchange and another container (Exchange.bad) that holds messages the connector can't handle. (The connector transfers almost every message, but I created the second container so that the holding container doesn't deal with improperly formatted messages.) I also created an address book to hold the network's Exchange users' entries when the directory synchronization process copies their directory entries to Notes. You don't need to create a separate address book for Exchange recipients, but doing so makes the synchronization process easier to manage.
Finally, I created the foreign domain for Exchange through the Notes administration program, as Screen 2 shows. I instructed Notes to route messages for recipients in the Exchange domain to the router mailbox. After you establish the foreign domain, Notes users can send messages to Exchange recipients at the email address displayname@domain. (For example, my display name is Tony Redmond and I named my foreign domain Exchange, so Notes users on my network email me at Tony Redmond@Exchange.) However, the messages will remain in the Notes holding container until you configure the connector in Exchange. Screen 3 shows the Notes server's console output for the transfer of a Notes message to the router mailbox for delivery to Exchange.
Configuring the Connector in Exchange
Microsoft provides all the software necessary for the Exchange side of connector configuration in Exchange Server 5.5, Enterprise Edition and Exchange Server 5.5, Standard Edition. You run the setup utility in the \exchconn directory on the distribution CD-ROM to begin installing the software.
Screen 4 shows components that the utility makes available for installation. You need to install three components for Exchange and Notes connectivity. First, you must install the Microsoft Exchange Connector for Lotus Notes; this connector makes interoperability possible.
Second, you need to install the Notes E-Mail Addressing Component, which generates proxy addresses for accounts in the Exchange directory. Exchange mailboxes have a proxy address for every connector that can deliver messages to them. Exchange users' proxy addresses let Notes users address messages to Exchange mailboxes as if they were Notes mailboxes. The custom recipient entries that directory synchronization creates in the Exchange directory for Notes users also require proxy addresses. Exchange users can send messages to Notes users through these Exchange-style proxy addresses without using the addressing format [NOTES: username@Notesdomain].
Third, you must install the Exchange Connectivity Administrator, which is not part of the setup utility. You can find the Exchange Connectivity Administrator in the \exchconn directory on the distribution CD-ROM. Microsoft has integrated the LinkAge Notes connector's configuration operations and some management procedures into the Exchange administration program, but you need the Connectivity Administrator for other tasks. For example, you can't view the connector's queues in Performance Monitor, so you must use the Connectivity Administrator to monitor and log the flow of messages. Screen 5, page 152, shows the Connectivity Administrator's log of connector operations.
After you install the three components, you must configure the connector. Microsoft provides a utility that helps with the configuration process. The utility, which installs with the connector, is a Lotus Notes database that works like a typical Microsoft configuration wizard, except that instead of presenting a series of screens that pose configuration questions, the utility loads the database into the Notes client and completes a Notes document that describes the connector's configuration. The utility preloads most of the values the document requires, but you need to check all the configuration details the document applies to the Notes server, such as the names of the address books the connector will use during the import and export phases of directory synchronization.
After the configuration document is complete, add the directory in which you've installed the Notes client .dll files to the path environment variable for the NT account that runs the connector (usually the Exchange service account). Then, start the Notes Connector and Exchange Connectivity Controller services from the Control Panel on the server that hosts the connector. At this point in your configuration, messages can pass from Notes to Exchange and back again. The connector preserves attachments, Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) objects, and rich-text message content, with a high degree of fidelity and maintains text formatting options such as boldface, underlining, italic, font, color, and size. It also maps priority and sensitivity flags from one platform to the other. The connector drops some features, such as Notes' mood stamps (graphics that Notes users can insert into messages to indicate their feelings), but most users won't notice that these features are missing.
Screen 6 shows a message I sent from my Exchange mailbox to my Notes mailbox. I cut the text out of a Microsoft press release, pasted it into an Outlook message, and sent it. The connector retained the text's font face and size differences and the underlined and italic type.
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