Mail flow Architecture in Exchange Server 2003, 2007, 2010

TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

Author
Phani Krishna Y E!" #$ %&1'()02*
$e"art!ent +#S, ,$- .one/well*
$ate0 27
th
A"ril, 2011
E!ail i0 phani.krishna@wipro.com
1eviewer sanjivkumar.hipparagi@wipro.com
Mail flow in Exchange server 2003:-
The Message Transport:-
The main purpose of a message handling system is to provide a means for transferring
messages from one messaging server to another. This message transfer may occur on
the same server, between Exchange Server 2! servers in the same organi"ation,
between servers running Exchange Server and #nternet hosts, or between servers
running Exchange Server and foreign messaging systems. #n all cases, the Exchange
Server 2! message transport engine provides the routing and relaying of e-mail
messages.
Mail flow Architecture
#n Exchange Server 2! organi"ation, all messages are routed using S$T%. The S$T%
protocol is also supported by all #nternet messaging servers. #f a server running
Exchange Server sends a message to another messaging server that only supports the
&.' messaging protocol, the S$T% component in Exchange Server 2! is
responsible for routing the message. To accomplish this functionality, the S$T%
component includes several subcomponents.
The following components are involved in every message transfer on a server running
Exchange Server 2!:-
SMTP service
The S$T% service handles the S$T% communication between remote S$T% hosts and
clients. This service implements the S$T% protocol commands that Exchange Server
2! supports.
Store driver
The store driver allows the S$T% service to communicate with the Exchange store to save
messages that are passing through the S$T% service. The store driver also handles the
delivery of messages for local recipients.
Advanced ueuing engine
The advanced (ueuing engine provides (ueue management and logic for message delivery,
routing, and relaying.
!ategori"er
The categori"er provides categori"ation services for inbound and outbound messages. This
component is also responsible for distribution list expansion using the )*+% and +ctive
*irectory.
#outing engine
The routing engine provides the routing logic necessary to pass outbound messages to the
correct messaging connector or S$T% virtual server.
$ueue %anager
The (ueue manager controls lin, (ueues. )in, (ueues are used to store messages that are
waiting for transfer to the next remote destination.
Mail flow in Exchange server 200&:-
Exchange Server 2- contains a completely new implementation of email routing. Each of
the +ctive *irectory service sites where Exchange mailboxes are hosted must have a .ub
Transport server role to control messaging between sites, even within a single site. /ithin
this article we will dive a little bit deeper into this new technology and # will explain how it
wor,s
Message 'low Architecture
The .ub Transport server role is essential for each Exchange Server 2- to route internal
and external emails. The service running on these servers is the Exchange Transport
Service 0$SExchangeTransport.exe1.
(n)ound E%ail
#nbound email is email that is delivered from outside Exchange Server 2-, for example,
from the #nternet. /e should have a gateway server implemented which can be an Edge
Transport server role or .ub Transport server role. This depends on what internet
connectivity and firewall structure is implemented. 2est practice should be installing an
Exchange Server 2- Edge Transport server role residing in the perimeter networ, 0also
,nown as *$31 without the need of +ctive *irectory. This server then routes incoming
messages into your Exchange Server 2- organi"ation.
*ut)ound E%ail
4utbound email means messages that are being sent from internal mailbox users to external
recipients residing on the #nternet. +fter a .ub Transport server has processed the mail and
identified it as outbound mail, the server routes it to the #nternet, either directly or again by
passing a gateway server. This gateway server can be an Edge Server Transport server.
+ocal E%ail
)ocal mail flow refers to messages that are processed by a .ub Transport server in an
Exchange Server 2- organi"ation and delivered to a mailbox on the same +ctive *irectory
Site.
#e%ote E%ail
5emote Email flow refers to messages that are processed by a .ub Transport server in an
Exchange Server 2- organi"ation and delivered to a mailbox on a different +ctive
*irectory site from the source mailbox.
SMTP !onnectors
S$T% connectors are Exchange Server 2- components that support one-way S$T%
connections. *ue to this new restriction 0based on earlier versions of Exchange Server1 we
need two connectors:
6 S$T% 5eceive 7onnectors
6 S$T% Send 7onnectors
+n S$T% 5eceive connector is re(uired for an Exchange Server 2- server system
to accept any S$T% connection. #t is used to enable an Exchange Server .ub
Transport role or Edge Transport server role to receive email from any other S$T%
server on the #nternet, other Exchange Server 2- .ub Transport server roles,
Edge Transport server roles or other Exchange Server 2- environments. 8ou can
configure multiple S$T% 5eceive connectors with different parameters on a single
Exchange Server due to implementation or high availability reasons. 8ou do not have
to create S$T% 5eceive connectors to route mail between .ub Transport server
roles within the same forest.
+n S$T% Send connector is re(uired for an Exchange Server 2- system to send
any S$T% email. #t is re(uired to send email to any S$T% server on the internet or to
any S$T% server within the same Exchange Server organi"ation.
8ou can manage each of them using the Exchange $anagement 7onsole or Exchange
$anagement Shell. To manage connectors using the shell use the Set-5eceive7onnector
and Set-Send7onnector cmdlets.
Message Transport !o%ponents
To wor, with Exchange Server and troubleshoot message transport problems you should
,now the internal wor,ings of Exchange message routing.
$essaging 7omponents are:-
6 Submission 9ueue
6 Store *river
6 $icrosoft Exchange $ail Submission Service
6 %ic,up *irectory
6 7ategori"er
$essages from outside your Exchange organi"ation enter the transport pipeline through an
S$T% 5eceive 7onnector. $essages inside enter the pipeline through the .ub Transport
server role.
Su)%ission $ueue
Each Transport server role 0.ub or Edge Transport1 has one submission (ueue that is
created by the categori"er when Exchange Transport Service starts. #t stores all messages
on the local hard dis, until they are processed by the categori"er for delivery. They are then
finally removed from this (ueue.
Store ,river
$essages sent by a mailbox user enter the transport pipeline when they reach the sender:s
outbox. The store driver on the .ub Transport retrieves it from the user:s 4utbox and then
transfers it to the submission (ueue. +fter the message has been successfully added to the
submission (ueue, it is moved from the sender:s 4utbox to the sender:s Sent #tems.
$essages are stored in $+%# format and must be converted to Summary Transport ;eutral
Encapsulation <ormat 0S=T;E<1 before being placed in the Submission 9ueue. This
conversion is the >ob of the store driver, too. #f this conversion is unsuccessful, a non-
delivery report 0;*51 is generated.
Microsoft Exchange Mail Su)%ission Service
The $icrosoft Exchange $ail Submission Service is a notification service that runs on
$ailbox server roles. #t notifies the .ub Transport server role to pic, up the message from
the sender:s 4utbox. #f there are multiple .ub Transport server roles on one +ctive *irectory
site, the $essage Exchange $ail Submission service attempts to evenly distribute
notifications between each transport role using static load balancing.
Pic-up ,irector.
Each message that is transferred to the pic,up directory has been successfully submitted to
the submission (ueue via the categori"er. $essages placed in the %ic,up *irectory must be
in the appropriate format and have read=write permissions configured. #t allows you to ta,e a
properly formatted text file and have the .ub Transport server role process and deliver it.
This can be very helpful when mail flow is being validated in the organi"ation or relaying
specific messages or returning to the transport pipeline. Even !rd party applications may
place messages in the %ic,up directory rather than communicating directly with the
Exchange Server.
!ategori"er
The categori"er always pic,s the oldest message from the Submission (ueue and chec,s
whether this message has to be routed internally in the Exchange organi"ation or externally.
4n each .ub Transport server the categori"er performs the following tas,s:
6 #dentification and verification of recipients
6 Expansion of distribution lists
6 *etermination of routing paths
6 7onversion of content formats
6 +pplication of message policies
/u) transport #ole Architecture
Edge Transport #ole Architecture
Mail flow in Exchange server 2000
$ail flow in Exchange server 2? is almost similar to the Exchange server 2- and
$essage Transport components are as follows
Mail Su)%ission Service
/hen a message is created and the Send button is clic,ed, the new message is
placed in the mailbox outbox. There:s a service running on the $ailbox Server role
called the @Exchange $ail Submission ServiceA which notifies the .ub Transport
Server that a new message is awaiting for processing. The $ailbox Server has an
internal list of .ub Transport Servers in the same +ctive *irectory site 0the
submission server list1 which is updated every ? minutes. This is done by the server
discovery process. + round robin mechanism is responsible for load balancing the
S$T% traffic across these .ub Transport Servers.
Store ,rivers
The .ub Transport Server:s Store *river retrieves the message from the 4utbox and
puts it in the Submission 9ueue on the .ub Transport Server. The Store *river uses
5%7 to retrieve the message from the $ailbox Server. There:s no traffic on port 2B
0i.e. S$T%1 between the .ub Transport Server and the $ailbox Server.

Su)%ission $ueue
This is a (ueue, located on the .ub Transport Server where all messages are stored
that need to be processed. ;ot only the Store drivers can store messages in the
submission (ueue, but this can also be done through a receive connector or the
pic,up directory.
!ategori"er
The categori"er retrieves messages from the submission (ueue and determines
where the message needs to be sent to. This can be an internal +ctive *irectory
recipient or an external recipient. The categori"er also expands distribution groups
and identifies alternative recipients or forwarding addresses.
Pic-up ,irector.
This is a directory that is chec,ed once every B seconds for new messages. /hen a
message is in the correct E$) format it is pic,ed up from this directory and when the
process is completed the file is deleted from the pic,up directory.