Exchange Server 2007: Manage Recipients - Configure Expansion Servers

Problem : The work involved for the server when an email is sent to a distribution group is causing a problem for your server. How can you balance the workload?

Solution : By default, a distribution group is simply expanded on any server in the organization. However, you can change this for the distribution group or dynamic distribution group by performing the following:

1.	Open the EMC.
2.	From the Navigation Tree, select the Recipient Configuration work center and click Distribution Group.
3.	Select Distribution Group or Dynamic Distribution Group from the Results pane.
4.	From the Actions pane, select Properties.
5.	Go to the Advanced tab, shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Configuring an Expansion server.
6.	Notice the Expansion Server setting with the drop-down arrow. Use this list to select a Hub Transport (HT) server to handle the expansion list, or you can leave the default Any Server in the Organization. (Note: Extremely large distribution lists can affect performance on a production server, so it might be invaluable for you to offload this intense workload.)
7.	Click OK to finish the process.

Advanced Distribution or Dynamic Distribution List Properties

In determining your expansion server, you might have noticed that you can configure a few important settings from here, including the following:

Checkboxes:

• Hide Group From Exchange Address Lists— Users can still send messages to the group through the email address directly, but it does not show in the address lists.

• Send Out-Of-Office Messages to Originator— If you email the group and someone has the out-of-office message turned on and this checkbox is selected, you receive the out-of-office reply. If you don’t want this extra traffic going through your server, leave this checkbox blank.

Radio Buttons for Non-Delivery Reports (NDRs):

• Send Delivery Reports to Group Manager— Sends the NDR only to the distribution group manager.

• Send Delivery Reports to Message Originator— This is the default.

• Do Not Send Delivery Reports— This option minimizes traffic that you might consider unnecessary.