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Microsoft® Exchange Server
Deployment Case Study: Texaco
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A technical discussion of Texaco’s implementation of Microsoft Exchange Server.
Feb., 1996
ver. 1.0
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Microsoft® Exchange Server
Deployment Case Study: Texaco
___________________________
A technical discussion of Texaco’s implementation of Microsoft Exchange Server.
Feb., 1996
ver. 1.0
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................................................
Background.............................................................................................................................................................................
Microsoft’s Early Adopter’s Program.......................................................................................................................
Texaco’s Current E-Mail Architecture...........................................................................................................
E-Mail Connectivity............................................................................................................................................................
Legacy Mail Hub...................................................................................................................................................................
Site Connectivity..................................................................................................................................................................
Pilot Deployment..................................................................................................................................................................
Texaco’s E-Mail Migration to Microsoft Exchange..............................................................................
Migration Strategies from the legacy E-Mail Systems to Microsoft Exchange..................................
Texaco’s Windows NT Domain Architecture.................................................................................................
Texaco’s Administrative Organization......................................................................................................................
Texaco’s Microsoft Exchange Architecture...........................................................................................
Microsoft Exchange Site Architecture...................................................................................................................
North American Site...........................................................................................................................................................
European Site......................................................................................................................................................................
Other Sites............................................................................................................................................................................
Microsoft Exchange Connector Architecture....................................................................................................
Site Connector....................................................................................................................................................................
X.400 Connector.................................................................................................................................................................
Internet Mail Connector (IMC)........................................................................................................................................
Microsoft Mail Connector................................................................................................................................................
Legacy Mail Hub Reduction.............................................................................................................................................
Microsoft Exchange Backup Procedures................................................................................................................
Microsoft Exchange Client Architecture.............................................................................................................
Maximum Mailbox Store Size........................................................................................................................................
Microsoft Exchange Client Remote Access...........................................................................................................
Work Online.........................................................................................................................................................................
Work Off-line.......................................................................................................................................................................
Offline Folders....................................................................................................................................................................
Microsoft Exchange Client Address Book Structure......................................................................................
Personal Address Book Recommendations....................................................................................................................
Public Folders.....................................................................................................................................................................
Texaco’s Current Directory Processes....................................................................................................................
Property Sheet Information..............................................................................................................................................
Custom Recipient Addresses.............................................................................................................................................
Texaco’s Future Directory Processes.......................................................................................................................
Property Sheet Information..............................................................................................................................................
Custom Recipient Addresses.............................................................................................................................................
Mail-Enabled Applications.......................................................................................................................................
Public Folders......................................................................................................................................................................
E-Forms....................................................................................................................................................................................
Conversion of Mainframe Applications...................................................................................................................
FAX.............................................................................................................................................................................................
Telex.........................................................................................................................................................................................
Summary....................................................................................................................................................................................
In the spring of 1993, Texaco’s corporate information planning group requested a team of Texaco employees representing a cross-section of the company’s locations, to develop a long range corporate strategy for e-mail. The team recommended that the e-mail system be LAN-based, operate in a windowing environment, and comply with the full MAPI (Mail Application Programming Interface) industry standard. Microsoft’s new mail product “Microsoft® Exchange Server” was selected and formally approved by the planning group and senior management in the fall of 1993. This strategy was further endorsed by the CEO in a letter to department heads.
Microsoft Exchange Server is a robust messaging and calendaring client server system that is designed for effective and efficient corporate-wide implementation. The calendaring/scheduling functionality provided by Schedule Plus is integrated with Microsoft Exchange. Public Folders also provide integrated groupware functionality.
Microsoft introduced an Early Adopter Program for customers who were interested in implementing Microsoft Exchange Server as soon as realistically possible. This program enabled key customers to put the product into true production environments, with full production support from Microsoft, while the software product was in the late stages of development. Texaco was one of the first and most active participants in this program. As a result, Texaco has had the opportunity to work directly with Microsoft in the design and implementation of Microsoft Exchange’s messaging infrastructure. Texaco’s participation in this program has also ensured that Microsoft Exchange is thoroughly tested, and is suited to Texaco’s needs.
As in many large companies, various departments implemented workgroup solutions specific to their requirements. Creating a corporate messaging system from these workgroup solutions required Texaco to utilize a number of gateways to connect these systems into a central routing hub. This configuration required a message to pass through a number of gateways on its way from the sender to the recipient, which not only increases the chances of message loss and data corruption, but greatly increases the administrative burden. It is a credit to Texaco’s IS staff that they kept this system operational as long as they did. The diagram below depicts Texaco’s E-Mail Architecture during their transition. This transition entails removing the nine legacy e-mail systems and replacing them with a single messaging system, Microsoft Exchange.
The legacy mail hub is a software product that serves as a central connector and translator and enables Texaco's different mail systems to communicate with each other. Each of their current e-mail systems has a gateway that connects them to the legacy mail hub. A gateway is a software product that translates and delivers messages from one mail system to another.
The legacy mail hub also currently provides Texaco’s corporate “e-mail” directory and connects their mail systems to other services outside of Texaco, including the Internet, X.400 and outgoing Fax.
The diagram below describes the pilot environment of the Microsoft Exchange Organization. The organization is currently comprised of two “sites”, North America and Europe. A site is a logical collection of Microsoft Exchange based servers that are administered as a single entity. Sites and the criteria for defining site boundaries are described in the “Texaco’s Microsoft Exchange Architecture” section of this document.
The graph below shows the growth of the Microsoft Exchange Pilot program as of when this study was written. This represents the number of Texaco employees using Microsoft Exchange as their production mail system. In addition to those listed below, many other Texaco employees have been using Microsoft Exchange as a test mail system. The majority of the pilot users use Windows® for Workgroups as their operating system, though Windows® 95 and Windows NT® users are also represented.
Texaco utilizes nine different e-mail systems which are currently targeted for migration to Microsoft Exchange. They are listed below in descending order according to user population. There are people who use multiple e-mail systems; only one, however, is designated as their primary e-mail system.
· Office Vision/VM™ (PROFS®)
· Microsoft Mail
· CEO
· Banyan®
· AS/400®
· Lotus Notes® Mail
· cc:Mail™
· DEC™
· SMTP
The graph below shows the planned deployment of Microsoft Exchange, as well as the reduction, and eventual elimination of these nine legacy mail systems.
Office Vision/VM (PROFS) users represent the largest of Texaco’s user population. Texaco will use the PROFS migration utilities included in Microsoft Exchange to migrate only the user’s PROFS notelogs to their Microsoft Exchange mailbox. Texaco will download and import the notelogs after they have successfully installed the Microsoft Exchange client on the user’s workstation. Texaco will not automatically migrate PROFS Documents. They will, however, provide a window in which both the PROFS and Microsoft Exchange accounts are active. This will allow the user to selectively forward any document(s) they desire from their PROFS account to their Microsoft Exchange account. As part of the client install, Texaco will generate a file from the user’s PROFS calendar data. They will then download this file and import it into the Schedule Plus calendar.
Texaco commonly uses PROFS calendaring to manage personal calendars as well as managing conference room calendars in major Texaco buildings. These calendaring responsibilities will be migrated to the Schedule Plus component of Microsoft Exchange. Texaco, therefore, in order to facilitate the sharing of calendar data between PROFS and Schedule Plus, will be implementing a PROFS/Microsoft Exchange gateway product during the transition. As people are migrated to Microsoft the gateway will allow remaining PROFS users the ability to view the personal calendars of Schedule Plus users, and Schedule Plus users can view the personal calendars of PROFS. Similarly, as conference rooms are migrated to Microsoft Exchange, PROFS users will continue to have the ability to view and update the conference room calendars.
The PROFS/Exchange gateway will also provide e-mail transmission between Microsoft Exchange and Office Vision/VM (PROFS) systems. Previously, mail from the Microsoft Exchange pilot flowed through the MSMail connector, then through a SNADS gateway, then up to the legacy mail hub running on VM, and finally, to the intended recipient on PROFS. The gateway will reduce the number of nodes through which the mail must pass and will greatly increase speed and reliability of e-mail delivery between these mail systems. It will also allow for connectivity to remaining PROFS systems, if needed, after the legacy mail hub is phased out.
Texaco has approximately 4000 users of MS Mail. This environment is widely distributed and relies heavily on the legacy mail hub for addressing. Microsoft has provided a number of tools to ease migration and provide coexistence between Microsoft Mail and Microsoft Exchange. Texaco has not adopted a “universal” migration strategy for all of their Microsoft Mail systems. When possible, they plan to migrate whole post offices at a time. When this is not possible, Texaco will import individual mailbox files. By migrating all users together, however, Texaco can then easily configure the Microsoft Mail hub post offices to forward mail addressed to the migrated post office to the users’ new location on Microsoft Exchange. This will avoid the problem of misdirected mail during the migration process.
Another way Texaco will maximize the use of whole post office migration will be to first deploy the Microsoft Exchange client configured with the Microsoft Mail service. This will allow Microsoft Mail users to become accustomed to the Microsoft Exchange Client before they actually migrate to Microsoft Exchange Server. Texaco Administrators will then run the migration tool against selected post offices according to their migration schedule. The migration tool will create a Microsoft Exchange account for each user on that post office, migrate their Microsoft Mail data, and build a proxy address for their Microsoft Exchange account using their old Microsoft Mail address. Administrators would then make the necessary routing changes in the legacy mail hub and Microsoft Mail to redirect mail to Microsoft Exchange. Users would then simply change their Microsoft Exchange profile to remove the Microsoft Mail service and add the Microsoft Exchange service.
Texaco’s messaging team will not migrate data for these users migrating to Microsoft Exchange. After the messaging team creates accounts for these users, and installs their new clients, all new e-mail will be directed to their Microsoft Exchange mailbox. These users will retain connectivity to their legacy systems for a short time to allow them to forward any data that they wish to retain.
Texaco’s messaging team will use the cc:Mail migration utilities included in Microsoft Exchange to migrate data for cc:Mail users migrating to Microsoft Exchange. After the messaging team creates accounts for these users, and installs their new clients, all new e-mail will be directed to their Microsoft Exchange mailbox.
The vast majority of e-mail traffic on the DEC system is application generated. As these applications will be migrated to Microsoft Exchange, Texaco’s messaging team will not need to migrate data from DEC users.
Texaco is implementing a corporate-wide multi-master Windows NT domain architecture. The Microsoft Exchange Servers will be placed in a single, world-wide, resource domain that fits within Texaco’s adopted domain architecture.
To answer their security requirements, Texaco has chosen to standardize their corporate network on Microsoft Windows NT Server. They have chosen to deploy Windows NT along a three tiered, multi-master domain model. The Security domain comprises the top tier of this model. All accounts and groups containing any administrative privileges are defined in here, and are centrally administered. The security domain is "trusted" by every other NT domain in the organization. This allows administrative privileges set in the security domain to be validated across the entire organization.
Beneath the security domain, Texaco has defined five Regional account domains. These regional domains contain the user accounts for Texaco's entire user population. Each of these regional domains maintains a one way trust relationship with the security domain. This relationship allows the administrative accounts access validation to the regional account domains, while denying user accounts access validation to the security domain. Furthermore, as there are no trust relationships defined between the regional account domains, user access is restricted to their assigned region.
The third, and final, tier is comprised of various resource domains. These resource domains contain the machine accounts for Windows NT Workstations, file and print servers, and other departmental resources. As there are no users defined in these domains, each resource domain maintains one way trust relationships with each of the regional account domains as well as the security domain.
Texaco has placed all of their Microsoft Exchange Servers in a single Messaging resource domain. Placing these servers in a single domain will simplify the machine and service account administration. This messaging domain will maintain one way trust relationships with each of the regional account domains, as well as the security domain.
All Microsoft Exchange global and site administrators, as well as Windows NT administrators, will be located in the security domain.
The Windows NT based administrative groups in the security domain are as follows.
Microsoft Exchange NT Administrators
· This group will be the list of IDs that have Windows NT level administrative authority. They may or may not be Microsoft Exchange administrators. This group is only associated with the Windows NT side of the Microsoft Exchange based Domain and Servers.
Microsoft Exchange Global Administrators
· This group is associated with Microsoft Exchange and not Windows NT. This group will have Microsoft Exchange administrative authority on all the Microsoft Exchange sites. It will be the Windows NT based group that corresponds to the Microsoft Exchange based Global Administrators.
Microsoft Exchange Site Administrators
· This group is associated with Microsoft Exchange and not Windows NT. These groups will have Microsoft Exchange administrative authority for only designated site(s). It will be the Windows NT based group that corresponds to the Microsoft Exchange based Site Administrators.
Additional Windows NT based groups will be created as required to carry out Microsoft Exchange administration.
Microsoft Exchange is architected as a hierarchy of nested containers that contain implementation objects. The top-level container defines the Microsoft Exchange Organization and holds second-level containers that define messaging sites. Both the organization and the sites are logical objects, rather than physical devices. The messaging sites contain the physical Microsoft Exchange servers that implement the architecture, as well as other containers that define mailboxes, connections and other functions necessary to implement and manage an e-mail system.
There will be one Microsoft Exchange Organization for all of Texaco. Affiliates and companies engaged in joint ventures will have their own e-mail systems. For those affiliates and partners that also have Microsoft Exchange, Texaco may communicate with their Microsoft Exchange Organization via direct X.400 connections.
Microsoft Exchange sites are groups of Microsoft Exchange servers that are administered as a single entity. A site needs to have good internal connectivity to enable consistent administration.
Texaco will implement a single site for all of North America. This will provide the minimum administrative overhead when users move between business units or geographical locations within North America. The proposed locations for servers are shown below:
Texaco will implement a single messaging site for Europe where communications will allow. Texaco is continuing to evaluate the feasibility of separate sites for Eastern Europe (Poland, Baltic States) as part of their detailed implementation planning for Europe. Some of the factors they are considering include the number of people in a location, and the available bandwidth.
Additional sites will be needed for Africa, Latin America, and Middle and Far East locations, as determined by connectivity and usage. Also, additional sites may be needed for locations in North America and Northern Europe with poor communications. Oil platforms located in the North Sea would be an example of this type of site.
Connectors permit the high fidelity transfer of directory, message and public folder information between sites in the same Microsoft Exchange based organization, between multiple Microsoft Exchange based organizations and between Microsoft Exchange and other e-mail systems.
Microsoft Exchange Site Connectors are used to connect two sites in the same Microsoft Exchange based organization, when these sites are connected via a continuous network link with net available bandwidths of 56kb or greater. Site Connectors permit one to many connections between servers in the two sites. This provides for fast, reliable message transfer between sites.
Microsoft Exchange X.400 Connectors provide point to point connectivity between messaging sites. There are both advantages and disadvantages to using point to point connectors.
Advantages:
· Sites can be connected via public network
· Can take advantage of scheduled, or dial-up links
· Traffic between sites can be controlled
· Can be used to connect to other X.400 mail systems
Disadvantages:
· Slightly greater administrative overhead than Site Connector
· Slightly lower performance than Site Connector due to conversion
X.400 Connectors can convert both the “envelope” and “body” of a mail message to standard X.400 formats. Although this is an additional overhead in the transmission of the message, it allows for communication with other X.400 compliant messaging systems. For site-to-site connections and PRMD-to-PRMD connections, where both sides of the connection are Microsoft Exchange Server, it is possible to define the connection to only translate the “envelope,” and use Microsoft Exchange internal mail for the body. Texaco will use this configuration for their internal X.400 connections.
Currently, all inbound X.400 traffic must pass through the legacy X.400 gateway and mail hub before reaching its target recipient or another mail gateway. Outbound X.400 flows in the reverse order.
The transition to the Microsoft Exchange X.400 Connector will allow
inbound X.400 traffic to flow into Microsoft Exchange directly. During
migration, messages destined to non-Microsoft Exchange recipients will be
relayed to Texaco’s current legacy mail hub X.400 gateway, allowing
non-Microsoft Exchange clients to continue receiving external messages. Once
all users are migrated to Microsoft Exchange, it should be noted that the
legacy mail hub will be eliminated. During the migration to Microsoft
Exchange, however, this configuration should reduce network utilization and VM
cycle time.
The IMC provides a mechanism for connecting sites in the same Microsoft Exchange organization via the public or a private Internet. The IMC also provides for connections to other SMTP based mail systems.
Advantages:
· Access to a large number of mail systems
Disadvantages:
· Public Internet is not a secure environment for site-to-site traffic
Previously, all inbound SMTP traffic passed through the Internet firewall and legacy mail hub before reaching its target recipient or another mail gateway. Outbound traffic flowed in the reverse order. The Texaco SMTP user must be registered in DNS as well as in the legacy mail hub.
The transition to the Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Connector and the addition of routing by the Internet firewall has allowed inbound SMTP traffic destined for Exchange to flow directly from the firewall into Microsoft Exchange. During Migration, messages destined to non-Microsoft Exchange recipients will be directed to the legacy mail hub allowing non-migrated customers to continue receiving external messages.
The Microsoft Mail Connector provides a connection to Microsoft’s existing Microsoft Mail 3.2 and Microsoft Mail 3.5 post offices. The connector is implemented as a full Microsoft Mail 3.x shadow post office located on the Microsoft Exchange Server. Using the Microsoft Mail Connector, Microsoft Exchange interacts with Microsoft Mail 3.x Post Offices as a fully functional Microsoft Mail post office.
There are a number of ways Texaco will reduce the use of its legacy mail hub during the roll out of Microsoft Exchange.
· Texaco will use the Microsoft Exchange directory as their corporate e-mail directory.
· Migration to Microsoft Exchange for all of Texaco will eventually eliminate the need to address to a foreign mail system within Texaco.
· The deployment of a PROFS/Microsoft Exchange gateway will allow for direct addressing between Microsoft Exchange users and Office Vision/VM (PROFS).
· Using Microsoft Exchange, the Microsoft Mail user community, representing the second largest group of e-mail users in Texaco, will be able to directly address all other Microsoft Mail users, Microsoft Exchange users, and PROFS users. Additionally, mail addressed from Microsoft Exchange users to Microsoft Mail users will be routed directly to the Microsoft Mail environment.
Using Microsoft Exchange, Texaco is reducing the traffic volume flowing through the legacy mail hub. Microsoft Exchange, however, will not support direct addressing to Texaco’s other mail systems (e.g., Banyan, Lotus Notes Mail, CEO). Texaco will continue to use the legacy mail hub until all their users are migrated to Microsoft Exchange.
Texaco will perform nightly online incremental backups Monday through Thursday beginning at midnight (CST), and off-line full backups Friday and Sunday. The servers will be unavailable for approximately two (2) hours during the off-line backups. As more users are installed on Microsoft Exchange, it is anticipated the time span may expand.
Note: The use of off-line backups is a voluntary security procedure implemented by Texaco. Microsoft Exchange is designed to support 7X24 hour operation, and does not require off-line servicing.
Texaco recommends that each user maintain a personal store on the network for those mail messages or documents that they wish to secure for future retrieval. Texaco backs up the network drives daily, and can restore a personal store file from the network tapes. The exception to this recommendation would include “remote” or mobile users of Microsoft Exchange. Texaco would recommend these users store their personal files on the hard drive of their PC. These individuals would then be responsible to backup these systems. Texaco is planning to recommend the use of the off-line store feature for some mobile users.
The Microsoft Exchange Client provides a single window into the messaging system. This client has a similar look and feel across all supported Windows platforms, simplifying end user support and training. The client communicates with the Microsoft Exchange Server using an RPC mechanism over TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, Named Pipes or NetBIOS transports. Texaco will be using TCP/IP for most clients. Dial in machines running Windows for Workgroups will be an exception in that they will use Named Pipes.
The Win16 client runs under Windows® 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11, but because these operating systems do not natively support RPC mechanisms, the client install includes the additional libraries to include support for RPC’s to the operating system.
The Windows NT based client supports the full Microsoft Exchange Server capabilities.
Windows 95 ships with a Microsoft Exchange Inbox that supports access to Microsoft Mail 3.2, CompuServe®, Internet Mail, the Microsoft Network and Microsoft Fax-at-Work messaging transports. The Windows 95 Microsoft Exchange Server client is a superset of the Windows 95 Microsoft Exchange Inbox. The client adds long menus and other features that support the additional functionality provided by the Microsoft Exchange Server. Texaco’s Windows 95 users will implement the Microsoft Exchange client.
Microsoft will release clients for the Macintosh® and major UNIX® platforms after the general release of Microsoft Exchange Server. During the first phase of the production roll out, Texaco’s Messaging Services Team will only be supporting the Win16 (Windows for Workgroups 3.11 only), Windows NT and Windows 95 Microsoft Exchange clients. The MS-DOS® and Windows 3.1 clients may be tested and evaluated once the production roll out is begun. Texaco also has a requirement to run the Exchange client under OS/2®.
Texaco has restricted the size of each customer Mailbox store, located on their Microsoft Exchange “Home Server,” to a maximum of 25mb of disk space. They further encourage users to use a Personal Folders store (PST) to hold messages/folders that need to be archived for future retrieval. Available disk space on the local server will determine the size limits of a user’s PST.
Microsoft Exchange is designed to support remote access. Clients that have the underlying network support and remote communications software can make remote network connections to their personal mailboxes and public folders on Microsoft Exchange.
In order for a remote client to connect to Microsoft Exchange, the client must first be able to connect to a server which supports the client’s remote access program and has a network connection to Microsoft Exchange Server. At Texaco, the remote access option used is Microsoft RAS for asynchronous dial in. The clients must have remote communications software installed, a network operating system, network protocols, and a modem with support drivers.
Remote access can be via asynchronous phone lines, ISDN links or Internet connections. ISDN connections are suitable for the telecommuter or small office.
An Internet connection allows the client to be attached to a network in one location and use the Internet to access their Microsoft Exchange Server in another location. Texaco does not support this type of access, as it is not possible to securely enter the Texaco Network via the Internet firewall.
Remote users (PC at home) and mobile users with portable or laptop computers have two choices for working remotely. These are defined below:
The Microsoft Exchange client allows the mobile user to maintain a continuous connection to a Microsoft Exchange server using a modem. This option is useful for direct access to public folders, other users’ Schedule+ entries, or reading mail directly from a server-based mailbox. Working on-line is designed for the office user who needs to check mail from home or a remote location, just as if the user were sitting at their office desk.
The Microsoft Exchange client allows the mobile user to compose messages, and read any mail, or public folder information that has been stored on the local machine while disconnected from the network. The user may then connect to a Microsoft Exchange server and perform operations such as sending mail composed off-line, downloading all new mail or just headers of new mail, and downloading the off-line address book. After an operation is complete, users can disconnect from the server and work off-line again. Working off-line is designed for the mobile user who has a portable or laptop computer and is rarely in an office. These users need to get their mail and take it with them.
Microsoft Exchange also supports local replication (or off-line folders) so remote users have the option to use server-based public folders when they are not connected to the network. When users log on to their home server and the network connection is re-established, the Microsoft Exchange client can automatically synchronize changes made in an off-line copy of a folder, that is stored locally on the client, with a copy on the server.
TEXACO is the Organization name for Texaco’s worldwide messaging system. Within the TEXACO Organization there will exist multiple Regional Sites. (A Site may contain one or more actual Microsoft Exchange Servers) Europe and North America are two separate Microsoft Exchange Sites within the Organization. Within every Site in the Organization there will exist a standard structure of Containers which contain specific subsets of recipients. This structure is depicted below:
Global Address List
TEXACO
Europe
Conference Rooms
Distribution Lists
Public Folders
Recipients
North America
Conference Rooms
Distribution Lists
Public Folders
Recipients
Personal Address Book
· The Conference Rooms container is a list of all Conference room mailboxes within the site.
· The Distribution Lists container is a list of all Public distribution lists that are available within the site.
· The Public Folders container is a list of all NON-HIDDEN Public Folders within the site.
· The Recipients container is a list of all Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Recipients as well as Custom recipient addresses defined on this site.
· The Global Address List container will contain the SUM of ALL the above Site containers from all Sites within the Organization.
· The Personal Address Book is unique to each client user. It contains personal address entries created by the client user.
The Personal Address Book (PAB) is best suited to store custom addresses for NON-Microsoft Exchange recipients. Texaco does not recommend adding recipients from the Recipient container to your PAB, as PAB entries are not synchronized with the directory, and will not reflect subsequent changes in the Global Address List. This may result in invalid PAB and undeliverable addresses.
A folder is a container for messages, forms, files, and other folders. There are three types of folders: private folders (stored on the server), personal folders (usually stored on the client workstation), and public folders( stored on the server). Folders are displayed in the folder list in the Microsoft Exchange Client (see example below). Note that folders are displayed in a hierarchical manner.
Public Folders, as opposed to mailbox or personal folders, can be used as a central location for submitting, viewing, and sharing information among individuals, workgroups, and organizations. Public Folders may contain messages, documents, spreadsheets, graphic images, or just about any other type of file. Texaco will use Electronic forms (E-Forms) to structure and control access to information in many of these folders.
During the initial phases of the Microsoft Exchange roll out, the Callup directory on VM will supply the properties sheet information (i.e., directory data) for each entry in the Recipients Container. Texaco will refresh the property fields in the Microsoft Exchange directory from the Callup directory twice a week. These fields are listed below. Texaco will use the Callup maintenance procedures that are currently in place to process Microsoft Exchange customer update requests.
Property Sheet Values Updated from Callup
City
State
Country
Job Title
Department
Office
Texnet number
Non-Texnet number
Fax Number
FRS Dept Code
FRS SubDept Code
Currently all Custom (non-Microsoft Exchange) recipient addresses are being populated in Microsoft Exchange via the legacy mail hub directory. Texaco will refresh the Microsoft Exchange directory with all deletes, adds, and changes made in the legacy mail hub on a weekly basis. Texaco will process non-Microsoft Exchange recipient addresses via the legacy mail hub directory first, and refresh the Microsoft Exchange Global Address List from there. Texaco’s Universal Logon ID database will contain all non-Microsoft Exchange address recipients before they appear in the Microsoft Exchange directory.
In the future, Microsoft Exchange will replace Callup as Texaco’s Corporate phone directory. Texaco will allow administrative updates to all of the employee property sheet fields within Microsoft Exchange.
In the future, Microsoft Exchange will replace the legacy mail hub as Texaco’s e-mail hub. Texaco will allow administrative updates to non-Microsoft Exchange addresses to occur directly within Microsoft Exchange. This will include all modify, delete and add functions.
The term “application” has taken on a wide scope with the introduction of client/server and groupware products. Mail-enabled applications can be defined as those “applications” that require some type of messaging capability in order to function. Mail-aware applications represent another class of applications that use messaging to enhance the value of other features within the applications.
A liberal interpretation of “mail-enabled applications” allows public folders to be classified as the first “class” of applications that can be encountered in Microsoft Exchange. Customers can use public folders as a central location for submitting, viewing, and sharing information among individuals, workgroups, and organizations. Public folders may contain messages, documents, spreadsheets, and/or graphic images. Electronic forms (E-Forms) are often useful in structuring and controlling access to this information. Just as the content of a public folder can vary widely, the context (complexity) of a public folder can vary as well. The use of E-Forms, views, filters and rules allow for the creation of very powerful, complex applications tailored to meet the diverse needs of the corporation.
Texaco considers reference folders, used to store and organize information, as the simplest form of a public folder (and therefore “mail-enabled” application). They will use this type of folder to allow a select group (individual or team) to provide a large audience with access to read-only material; such as product specifications, company policies, or specialized documentation. The Texaco Daily Employee News Alert bulletin boards are a good example of this type of folder.
Because of their experience with Lotus Notes, Texaco is familiar with discussion folders, or bulletin boards, that are used to create public forums that allow groups to submit and respond to specific topics. Texaco can further add an element of control to this class of public folder by creating “Moderated” discussions - allowing a control agent to “approve” submissions.
The Microsoft Exchange Site Administrators will control the creation of public folders to: ensure orderly growth of Microsoft Exchange; establish proper placement in the public folder hierarchy; endorse the use of established “best practices”; facilitate re-use of resources; and control duplication of data.
E-Forms (Electronic Forms) are what most individuals will relate to the traditional definition of an “application”. E-Forms allow us to structure information so that it can be accessed and organized to the advantage of the user. E-Forms can take on one of two forms - a POST form that can be used to place information in a folder, or a SEND form which can be used to communicate with individuals or groups. As with other application development environments, formatted fields with specific properties can be created to control the entry and display of information. These fields can be used to create custom “views”, allowing information within folders to be grouped and sequenced. Advanced E-Forms can access external databases, validate data, perform calculations, and access OLE objects (e.g., Excel spreadsheets, Word Documents, and Schedule+).
Texaco has a number of mainframe applications that utilize legacy e-mail systems, and it is only natural to assume that these applications will migrate to Microsoft Exchange. The timeframe for this conversion will depend upon available resources and their desire to eliminate legacy e-mail systems to take full advantage of Microsoft Exchange features.
Texaco will integrate Fax servers with the Microsoft Exchange infrastructure, once a solution becomes available. This will provide more robust functionality than the current legacy mail hub and value added network fax solution in place today. For North America, fax servers will initially be centralized in Houston. Texaco will be acquiring code during the pilot for in-house testing with Microsoft Exchange.
Texaco will handle Telex requirements via X.400 through a value added network (VAN).
This implementation and migration strategy, designed by Texaco, serves as one example of how large organizations can take advantage of the strengths of Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft will serve as Texaco’s one mail system, providing rock solid, reliable e-mail that will scale across their entire organization. Texaco looks forward to lower administrative costs, reliable connections to the outside world via Internet and X.400 connectivity, and providing Microsoft Exchange’s rich feature set to the entire company. Texaco also intends to reap the benefits of a robust, standards based infrastructure, upon which they can build company wide custom business solutions.
© 1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.
Microsoft, MS-Dos, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
AS/400, OS/2, and PROFS are registered trademarks and Office Vision/VM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.
Banyan is a registered trademark of Banyan Systems, Inc.
Lotus Notes is a registered trademark of Lotus Development Corp.
DEC is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.
CompuServe is a registered trademark of CompuServe, Inc.
Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open company, Ltd.
cc:Mail is a trademark of cc:Mail, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lotus Development Corporation.
