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Create a Test Mailbox for an Exchange 2007 Hybrid Deployment

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP1

Estimated time to complete: 5 minutes

We recommend that you create a test mailbox in the cloud-based organization so that you can test your configuration changes as you progress through the checklist.

Learn more at: Understanding Hybrid Deployment

Warning

This topic is meant to be read as part of the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Office 365 Hybrid Deployment checklist. Information or procedures in this topic may depend on prerequisites configured in topics earlier in the checklist. To view the checklist, see Checklist - Exchange 2007 and Office 365 Hybrid Deployment

How do I do this?

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Remote mailboxes" entry in Mailbox Permissions.

You can use the New Remote Mailbox wizard in the EMC on the hybrid server to create a test mailbox in the cloud-based organization. If you want to create more than one test mailbox, you'll have to use this wizard for each test mailbox. You can't use the wizard to create multiple test mailboxes.

Note

You must have a remote domain configured as the target delivery domain for the cloud-based organization to complete the New Remote Mailbox wizard process.

  1. In the console tree, click Recipient Configuration in the on-premises organization node.

  2. In the action pane, click New Remote Mailbox.

  3. On the Introduction page, select User Mailbox to create a mailbox that will be owned by a user to send and receive e-mail messages. Click Next to continue.

  4. On the User Information page, specify the following settings:

    • First Name   Type the first name of the new user.

    • Last Name   Type the last name of the new user.

    • User logon name   Type the user logon name of the new user and select the primary SMTP domain used for your other on-premises users. For example, @contoso.com.

    • Password   Type the password.

    • Confirm password   Retype the password.

  5. Click Next to continue.

  6. On the Archive Mailbox page, make sure the Add an archive mailbox check box is not selected. Click Next to continue.

  7. On the New Remote Mailbox page, review your configuration settings. Click New to create the test mailbox.

  8. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:

    • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.

    • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

    Note

    By default, directory synchronization occurs once every three hours. To force immediate directory synchronization, open C:\Program Files\Microsoft Online Directory Sync\DirSyncConfigShell.psc1 on the Active Directory synchronization server and type the following at the command prompt.

    Start-OnlineCoexistenceSync

  9. Log on to: Cloud-based service administration portal

  10. Assign a license to the new user. Learn more at: Activate synced users

How do I know this worked?

When you create a test mailbox on the cloud-based organization, the successful completion of the New Remote Mailbox wizard will be your first indication that creating the mailbox worked as expected.

To verify that you've created a test mailbox and that the mailbox is accessible in the cloud-based organization, do the following:

  1. Log on to: Cloud-based service administration portal

  2. Verify that the user has been synchronized to the service directory. If the user has synchronized correctly, the user will appear in the user list in the administration portal.

  3. Verify that the user has an associated license by doing the following:

    1. Click the name of the user to open the user's property information.

    2. Click Licenses to view the licenses available to the user. If a license has been assigned to the user, the check box next to the license will be selected.

  4. Attempt to log on to the user's mailbox by browsing to the cloud-based organization's Outlook Web App URL, https://www.outlook.com/owa/contoso.com, and logging in with the user's credentials.

Now that you’ve created a test mailbox in the cloud-based organization, it’s time to also validate that you've correctly configured Outlook Web App for cloud-based redirection.

  1. Browse to the Outlook Web App URL of your hybrid server. You need to use the externally accessible FQDN of the hybrid server. For example, https://mail2.contoso.com/owa in an Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007 hybrid deployment scenario and https://mail.contoso.com/owa in an Exchange 2010 hybrid deployment scenario.

  2. Enter the credentials of a test mailbox created in the cloud-based organization.

  3. If cloud-based OWA redirection is working, the hybrid server should present you with the new Outlook Web App URL that you can use to open the mailbox in the cloud using Outlook Web App. Click the link to take you to the cloud-based service. Click Add to Favorites to add the cloud-based URL to your browser's Favorites list.

Having problems? Ask for help in the Office 365 forums. To access the forums, you'll need to sign in using an account that's granted administrator access to your cloud-based service. Visit the forums at: Office 365 Forums

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