Exchange Server 2007: Manage Recipients - Create Distribution Groups and Dynamic Distribution Groups

Problem : At times, users want to email an entire group of people. They might want to create their own groups in Outlook, but they might also want to simply email a group that already exists in AD. How do you mail-enable a group, and what types of groups can you do this with?

Solution : For starters, sending a mass email to a group that is already established is a logical thing to do and easy to set up. These are called distribution groups.

• Distribution Group— This is a group that is mail-enabled and has its own email address. When you send an email to the group, it results in expansion of the group and the messages are delivered to all the members of the group.

• Dynamic Distribution Group— A group is usually managed by users being added or removed. Dynamic distribution groups are different in that they are populated by user attributes that are defined by filters.

Exchange supports the following types of distribution groups:

• Mail-enabled universal distribution groups

• Mail-enabled universal security groups

• Mail-enabled non-universal groups

• Dynamic distribution groups

Create a New Distribution Group

To create a new distribution group (that is, a group that doesn’t previously exist that you wish to mail-enable but is an entirely new group), perform the following:

1.	Open the EMC.
2.	From the Navigation Tree, select the Recipient Configuration work center and click Distribution Group.
3.	On the Actions pane, note the option to create a New Distribution Group or New Dynamic Distribution Group. Choose New Distribution Group to open the wizard.
4.	From the Introduction screen, you are asked if you want to create a Distribution Group for a new or existing group. In this situation, choose New Group.
5.	On the Group Information screen shown in Figure 1, you are asked for the following information: Group Type— Leave as Distribution. Organizational Unit— The default is Users, but you can browse and select another location. Name— Provide the group name. Name (pre-Windows 2000)— Based upon legacy naming, this name is automatically populated by the Name field and should be fine. Alias— By default, this is also the name of the distribution group, but you can change that here. Figure 1. The Group Information screen when creating a new distribution group.
6.	After you have the information added, click Next.
7.	You’ll be taken to the New Distribution Group screen, where you confirm the configuration summary and click New.
8.	When the group is created, you are taken to the Completion screen and shown a green Completed checkmark. Click Finish.

Note that the group is now visible in your Recipient Configuration, Distribution Group node as well as from your Active Directory Users and Computers tool. If you open the group from the Active Directory Users and Computers tool, you will notice that it is a Universal distribution group. If you select the Members or Member Of tabs (in either location, the AD, or EMC), you will notice that these tabs are empty because this is a brand new group.

Mail-Enable a Distribution Group

To mail-enable a preexisting distribution group, perform the following:

1.	Open the EMC.
2.	From the Navigation Tree, select the Recipient Configuration work center and click Distribution Group.
3.	Over on the Actions pane, choose New Distribution Group to open the wizard.
4.	From the Introduction screen, you are asked if you want to create a Distribution Group for a new or existing group. In this situation, choose Existing Group.
5.	Select Browse. Notice that the options presented are Universal groups. You might have Universal distribution or security groups in place, both are presented but Local or Global groups are not shown.
6.	Select the group you wish to have mail-enabled, and then click Next.
7.	The Group Information screen is shown; however, in this scenario, the information is already filled out for you. The only item you can change is the Alias. Click Next.
8.	Review the Configuration Summary before clicking New.
9.	After the group is mail-enabled, you are notified with a green Completed checkmark. Click Finish.

Note

To add or remove members of a Distribution Group, you can open the group from within the Recipient Configuration, Distribution Group node (or from within Active Directory Users and Computers), and you can select the Members tab and click the Add button. If you wish to remove members, you can select users and click the X to remove them.

Create a New Dynamic Distribution Group

Differing from the standard types of groups that are based upon memberships, dynamic groups are defined by filters and conditions each time a message is sent to the group. An individual might potentially be part of the group one moment and not part of the group the next moment if he falls out of the scope of the group.

To create a dynamic distribution group, perform the following:

1.	Open the EMC.
2.	From the Navigation Tree, select the Recipient Configuration work center and click Distribution Group.
3.	Over on the Actions pane, choose New Dynamic Distribution Group to open the wizard.
4.	From the Introduction screen, you are asked what OU you want the group placed in. The default is the Users container, but you can click Browse and adjust this. You are asked to provide a name and alias for the group, too. Provide the information and click Next.
5.	From the Filter Settings screen, you are asked to select the recipient container where you want to apply this filter. The default is Users, but you can click Browse to locate a different container so that the group can be more narrowly defined to an OU. You are also asked if you want to include all recipient types or specific recipient types, such as the following: Users with Exchange mailboxes Users with external email addresses Resource mailboxes Contacts with external email addresses Mail-enabled groups
6.	Select your options and click Next.
7.	You are taken to the Conditions screen, shown in Figure 2. Note that the initial conditions are State or Province and Department or Company. However, then you have the various custom attributes that you can establish values for. You can select more than one condition, too. In Step 1, you select the condition, such as Recipient Is In a Department. Then you see a link in Step 2 that you click to specify the condition. For example, you might say Sales (for the Sales department). Figure 2. Creating conditions for your dynamic distribution group.
8.	Before clicking Next, you can choose the Preview option, which shows you (based upon the filter settings and conditions you have established) what users are going to be in your Dynamic Distribution Group. After you are satisfied with the filter and condition settings, click Next.
9.	Review the configuration summary and then click New.
10.	After the group is created, you see a green checkmark and a Completed response. Click Finish.

After the group is created, you can always return to the properties of the group and change the filter and condition settings. The Dynamic Distribution Group has an object in AD and you can view it in the AD Users and Computers tool; however, you will find that because of the nature of the group, there are no properties you can configure within AD. It’s simply a named object.

Note

Creating a dynamic distribution group set of conditions that relate to custom attributes might have you curious about where these attributes are configured. If you go to the Recipient Configuration/Mailbox node and go into the properties of any of the recipients, right on the General tab is a box at the bottom that says Custom Attributes. Select this and you can see that you can put any information within those boxes that you choose.

PS Note

The cmdlet through the EMS used to create a new distribution group or a new dynamic distribution group are New-DistributionGroup and New-DynamicDistributionGroup, with a variety of syntax and parameter information that can be added along with it.