Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 : Managing Mailboxes (part 5) - Creating a New User and Assigning a Mailbox Using the EMC

4. Creating a New User and Assigning a Mailbox Using the EMC

Previously, you saw that the EMC's New Mailbox wizard would allow you to create a new user account at the same time you enable the mailbox. It is true that the new EMC has some rudimentary user creation and management tasks. On the User Type page of the New Mailbox wizard, if you select the New User radio button and click Next, you are prompted for the user account information on the User Information screen (shown in Figure 15).

On the User Information screen, you provide some basic account information such as the first name, middle initials, last name, UPN name, pre–Windows 2000 account name, and the password. You must also specify the organizational unit (OU) in which the user account will be created, and you must have the Active Directory permissions necessary to create user accounts in that OU.

Figure 15. Creating a user account from the Exchange Management Console

The rest of the wizard is exactly the same as if you were enabling a mailbox for an existing user. On the Completion page, though, you will notice some small differences in the cmdlet and the cmdlet's parameters. To create a user named Chuck.Swanson in the Corporate OU, assign his mailbox to the MBX-003 mailbox database, and assign him an archive mailbox, here is the command that the EMC performed:

New-Mailbox -Name 'Chuck Swanson' -Alias 'Chuck.Swanson' 

-OrganizationalUnit 'ithicos.local/Corporate' -UserPrincipalName 

'Chuck.Swanson@ithicos.local' -SamAccountName 'Chuck.Swanson' -FirstName 

'Chuck' -Initials '' -LastName 'Swanson' -Password 

'System.Security.SecureString' -ResetPasswordOnNextLogon $true -Database 

'MBX-003' -Archive

Because the MBX-003 mailbox database is unique for the Exchange organization, no additional identifying information is necessary.

When you include the -Password:'System.Security.SecureString' option, you are prompted to enter the password for the user; this helps prevent the password from being compromised. The Enable-Mailbox cmdlet is used to assign a mailbox to an existing user account. The cmdlet used here is New-Mailbox; this cmdlet creates the user account as well as enables the mailbox. Notice there is an -OrganizationalUnit parameter that allows you to specify the domain and the OU name in canonical name format such as ithicos.local/Corporate.

The New-Mailbox cmdlet also has parameters for setting the password, pre–Windows 2000 account name, and UPN.