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New Administrative Functionality in the Exchange Management Console

  • Article

Applies to: Exchange Server 2010

This topic describes the changes to the Exchange Management Console (EMC) in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

Contents

Feature Changes

Core EMC Changes

Exchange Help

Need help finding features in the EMC? Check out Roadmap for Exchange Features.

Feature Changes

This section briefly describes the new features that have been added to the EMC.

New Features in the Organization Configuration Node

Database management has moved from the Server Configuration node to the Organization Configuration node. In addition, the following wizards have been added to the node:

  • New Federation Trust wizard   Use this wizard to create a federation trust. A federation trust establishes a trust relationship between an Exchange organization and the Microsoft Federation Gateway. The trust is a prerequisite for enabling calendar free/busy sharing or federated delivery between two Exchange organizations, or allowing users to share their calendar and contacts with external recipients. For details, see Create a Federation Trust.
  • New Organization Relationship wizard   Use this wizard to create a relationship with an external Exchange 2010 organization for the purpose of sharing free/busy information, securing delivery of cross-premises e-mail using federated delivery, and moving mailboxes between on-premises Exchange servers and Microsoft Office Outlook Web App. For details, see Create an Organization Relationship.
  • New Sharing Policy wizard   Use this wizard to create a sharing policy to regulate how users inside your organization can share calendar and contact information with users outside the organization. For details, see Create a Sharing Policy.
  • New Outlook Web App Mailbox Policy wizard   Use this wizard to create an Outlook Web App mailbox policy to apply a common set of policy settings, such as attachment settings. Outlook Web App mailbox policies are useful for applying and standardizing settings for specific groups of users. For details, see Create Outlook Web App Mailbox Policy.

New Features in the Server Configuration Node

You can no longer manage mailbox or public folder databases from the Server Configuration node. Now, they're managed from the Organization Configuration node. However, you can view mailbox database properties (from the work pane of Server Configuration > Mailbox).

In addition, the following features have been added to the node:

  • Manage Diagnostic Logging Properties wizard   Use this wizard to modify the diagnostic logging level for processes used by Exchange 2010. Modifying these levels can help you troubleshoot issues that may occur in your organization. For details, see Manage Diagnostic Logging Levels.
  • Exchange Certificates tab   Use this tab to assign services to an Exchange certificate, remove or renew a certificate, or view the certificate's properties. For details, see the following topics:
  • **New Exchange Certificate wizard   **Use this wizard to help you determine what type of certificates you need for the features in your organization to function correctly. For details, see Create a New Exchange Certificate.
  • Import Exchange Certificate wizard   Use this wizard to help import a certificate with a valid private key to a specified Exchange server. For details, see Import an Exchange Certificate.

New Features in the Recipient Configuration Node

The following features have been added to the Recipient Configuration node:

  • Send Mail   Click this button to send mail to a recipient from the EMC. Before you can send mail, you need to set up an e-mail account on the computer from which you are sending mail.
  • Resource scheduling   The property pages for resource mailboxes now include tabs for configuring calendaring and scheduling. For details, see Configure User and Resource Mailbox Properties.
  • **Archive mailboxes   **You can enable or disable archive mailboxes directly from the EMC. In addition, you can manage the archive settings for users from the property page of their mailbox. For details, see Managing Personal Archive.
  • Move requests   If you want to move mailboxes, you can use the New Local Move Request or New Remote Move Request wizards. You can also keep track of move requests that are in progress by using the Move Requests node. For details, see Managing Move Requests.

Core EMC Changes

The following new functionality affects how you use the EMC, but not how you use specific features. Expand each of these new feature sections to learn more.

Add Exchange Forests to the EMC Console Tree

You can now add Exchange forests to the EMC. The first forest will always be named Microsoft Exchange On-Premises. This is the default forest for your organization. You can add additional forests by using the Add Exchange Forest wizard. For details, see View Forest Properties.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

The Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) collects anonymous information about how you use Exchange and the problems that you encounter. Microsoft uses this information to improve the products and features you use most often and to help solve problems. Participation in the program is voluntary, and the end results are software improvements to better meet your needs. For more information about the CEIP, see Microsoft Customer Experience Program FAQ. For details about how to opt-in or opt-out of the program, see Opt-in or Opt-out of the Customer Experience Improvement Program.

Organizational Health

The Organizational Health report lets you increase productivity by giving you a quick view of your organization and its operating characteristics. The report provides an organizational summary. This includes health and licensing information, and also a summary of Exchange servers and recipients.

Important

This report is for information only. If errors occur while collecting the information, the report may not be accurate.

Exchange doesn't automatically gather the organizational information. You must use the Collect Organizational Health Data wizard to view a summary of your organization's health. For details, see Collect Organizational Health Data.

Customer Feedback

The Customer Feedback tab is located in the result pane of the Microsoft Exchange On-Premises node. The tab is divided into two sections:

  • Customer Feedback **Options   **This section allows you to run the Customer Experience Improvement Program wizard, which allows you to opt-in or out of the CEIP. For more information, see Opt-in or Opt-out of the Customer Experience Improvement Program.
  • Help and Feedback   This section provides a link to the Exchange Server TechCenter and allows you to submit feedback or to report bugs directly to the Exchange team.

Exchange Management Shell Command Log

The Exchange Management Shell Command Log records the commands that you execute in the EMC. For example, if you view the list of recipients from the Mailbox node, the Get-Recipient cmdlet is executed, and the Exchange Management Shell Command Log records that action.

Note

The command log doesn't save the logging information. After you close the EMC, the log is erased. However, you can export the command log to tab-delimited or comma-delimited files.

To view the command log, from the EMC toolbar, click View, and then click View Exchange Management Shell Command Log.

For information about command logging, see Using the Exchange Management Shell Command Log to Track Tasks Performed in the EMC.

Property Dialog Command Exposure

Exposing the commands for actions executed in property pages allows you to see the Microsoft Windows PowerShell command and the parameters required to change object properties. To view the command, click the arrow icon located in the bottom left corner of the property page. To copy the command, select the command and press CTRL+C.

Note

The command viewer is made available only after you make a property change.

Role Based Access Control in the EMC

When you open the EMC, Exchange checks to see what Role Based Access Control (RBAC) permissions you have. You can only view or configure features and items for which you have the correct permissions. If an administrator has permission to view an object but not edit it, the field text will appear dimmed and a caution icon will display. For more information about RBAC, see Understanding Role Based Access Control.

Exchange Help

The Exchange Help files are no longer downloaded to Exchange. Instead, they're hosted on Microsoft TechNet. This ensures that you're always viewing the most up-to-date Help topics.

Exchange 2010 contains two new cmdlets for managing Exchange Help:

  • Set-ExchangeAssistanceConfig   Using this cmdlet, you can modify the URLs that the Exchange Help client uses to connect to the source of the Exchange 2010 documentation. By default, TechNet is used as the source. For details, see Set-ExchangeAssistanceConfig.
  • Get-ExchangeAssistanceConfig   Using this cmdlet, you can view the configuration information for the URLs that the Exchange Help client uses to connect to the source of the Exchange 2010 documentation. For details, see Get-ExchangeAssistanceConfig.