Configure Distribution Group Properties
Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP2, Exchange Server 2010 SP3
Distribution groups are mail-enabled Active Directory group objects that are created to expedite the mass sending of e-mail messages and other information within an Exchange organization.
There are two types of distribution groups:
Mail-enabled universal distribution groups can be used only to distribute messages.
Mail-enabled universal security groups can be used to distribute messages as well as to grant access permissions to resources in Active Directory.
It's important to note the terminology differences between Active Directory and Exchange 2010. In Active Directory, a distribution group refers to any group that doesn't have a security context, whether it's mail-enabled or not. In contrast, in Exchange 2010, all mail-enabled groups are referred to as distribution groups, whether they have a security context or not.
Looking for other management tasks related to distribution groups? Check out Managing Distribution Groups.
What Do You Want to Do?
Use the EMC to configure distribution group properties
Use the Shell to configure distribution group properties
Use the EMC to configure distribution group properties
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Distribution groups" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.
In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration > Distribution Group.
In the result pane, click the distribution group that you want to configure.
In the action pane, click Properties.
Use the General tab to view or modify the display name, alias, and custom attributes for the distribution group.
Display name Use this unlabeled box at the top of the page to view or change the display name for the distribution group.
Organizational unit This read-only field displays the organizational unit (OU) that contains the distribution group.
Modified This read-only field displays the last date and time a configuration change was made.
Note
Configuration changes made through any other method, such as the Exchange Management Shell or Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) Edit, will also update this field.
Alias Use this box to view or change the alias of the distribution group. The alias cannot exceed 64 characters and must be unique in the forest.
Custom Attributes Click this button to open the Custom Attributes dialog box. You can specify up to 15 custom attributes for the recipient. To specify the custom attribute values, use the corresponding boxes, and then click OK. To learn more, see Understanding Custom Attributes.
Use the Group Information tab to view or change the Active Directory information for the distribution group.
Name Use this text box to view or change the name of the group. The name cannot exceed 64 characters.
Name (pre-Windows 2000) Use this text box to type the name of the group that is compatible with legacy versions of Windows (prior to the release of Windows 2000 Server).
The name of the group that is compatible with earlier versions of Windows can't exceed 20 characters. It can contain letters, numbers, and the following characters: ! # $ % ^ & - . _ { } | ~.
Managed By The recipient that is designated as the manager for this distribution group will be visible when users view the properties of this group in Outlook or Outlook Web App. If the delivery reports option on the Advanced tab is set to Send delivery reports to group manager, the manager will also receive delivery reports for the group.
Click Add to open the Select Mailbox or Mail-enabled User dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the recipient you want to add as a manager of the distribution group, and then click OK.
Click
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to remove the selected manager from the distribution group.Notes Use this box to view or modify administrative notes about the distribution group. These notes are also visible from Outlook. When a user views the properties of the distribution group in Outlook, the notes will be displayed on the General tab.
Use the Members tab to add members to or remove members from the distribution group.
Click Add to open the Select Recipient dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the recipients you want to add to the distribution group, and then click OK.
Click
to remove the selected members from the distribution group.
Use the Membership Approval tab to configure how membership requests should be handled for this distribution group.
Choose whether owner approval is required to join the group
Open Click this button to allow users to join this distribution group without the approval of the distribution group owners.
Closed Click this button to specify that only distribution group owners can add members to this distribution group. Requests to join this distribution group will be rejected automatically.
Owner approval Click this button to specify that users can request membership to this distribution group. Requests to join the distribution group must be approved by a distribution group owner before the user can join.
Choose whether the group is open to leave
Open Click this button to allow users to leave this distribution group without the approval of the distribution group owners.
Closed Click this button to specify that only distribution group owners can remove members from this distribution group. Requests to leave this distribution group will be rejected automatically.
Use the Member Of tab to view a list of the groups to which this recipient belongs. Some of these groups may not be mail-enabled. Mail-enabled groups will have an envelope icon next to them. You can't use this tab to modify membership information. The recipient may match the criteria for one or more dynamic distribution groups in your organization. However, dynamic distribution groups aren't displayed on this tab because their membership is calculated each time they are used. For more information, see Managing Distribution Groups.
Use the E-Mail Addresses tab to configure the e-mail addresses for the recipient. You can modify the existing addresses or create additional ones. Each recipient must have at least one primary STMP address that is internal to your Exchange organization and one external address.
Add Click Add to add a new e-mail address for this recipient. Use the drop-down box to select from the following address types:
SMTP Address This is the default address type. Click this button and use the corresponding dialog box to add an SMTP address.
EUM Address This address type is available only for user mailboxes. It's not available for mail users, mail contacts, distribution groups, or mail-enabled public folders. An EUM (Exchange Unified Messaging) address is used by Unified Messaging servers to locate UM-enabled users within an Exchange 2010 organization. EUM addresses contain the extension number and the UM dial plan for the UM-enabled user. Click this button and use the corresponding dialog box to add an EUM address.
Custom Address Click this button and use the corresponding dialog box to add a custom address (for example, fax or X.400).
Note
With the exception of X.400 addresses, Exchange doesn't validate custom addresses for proper formatting. You must make sure that the custom address you specify complies with the format requirements for that address type.
Edit Click this button to modify the selected e-mail address.
- Click this button to remove the selected e-mail address.
Set as Reply Click this button to set your selected address as the "reply to" address. A recipient can have multiple e-mail addresses for a specific address type. This allows the recipient to receive messages that are addressed to any one of these e-mail addresses. However, a single address must be used for any messages that are sent by the recipient. If a recipient has multiple e-mail addresses, the primary address is used for any messages sent by the recipient.
This button is available only when an address other than the primary address is selected. Primary addresses for each address type are displayed in bold type.
If an e-mail address policy in your Exchange organization applies to this mailbox, the Set as Reply setting will be controlled by that policy. To change the primary address for a specific address type, you must clear the Automatically update e-mail addresses based on e-mail address policy check box.
Set as External This button is available only for mail users and mail contacts. It's not available for user mailboxes, distribution groups, or mail-enabled public folders. Click Set as External to designate the selected e-mail address as the external e-mail address for the recipient.
Note
This button is enabled when an address other than the external e-mail address is selected.
Automatically update e-mail addresses based on e-mail address policy Select this check box to have the recipient's e-mail addresses automatically updated based on changes made to e-mail address policies in your organization. This box is selected by default.
Use the Advanced tab to view or change the advanced distribution group settings, such as the expansion server and delivery report options.
Simple display name Use this box to view or modify the simple display name for the recipient. The Display Name field (located on the General tab) can contain Unicode characters. However, third-party applications and older clients may not support Unicode characters. If the system that is displaying the recipient properties doesn't support Unicode characters, you can use the simple display name. For more information about Unicode characters, see Unicode. The simple display name field accepts only ASCII characters.
Set expansion server For each message that is sent to a distribution group, Exchange must access the full membership list to route the message to all recipients. This process is known as distribution group expansion. Use this box and corresponding Browse button to select a Hub Transport server in your Exchange organization that will be responsible for expanding the membership list for this distribution group.
Expansion of very large distribution groups is a resource intensive process. If it occurs on a production server, it may impact mail flow. To avoid any production impact, you may want to specify expansion servers for very large distribution groups.
Hide from Exchange address lists Select this check box to prevent the recipient from appearing in the global address list (GAL) and other address lists that are defined in your Exchange organization.
After you select this check box, users in your Exchange organization can still send messages to the recipient by using the e-mail address.
Send out-of-office message to originator Select this check box to allow Out of Office messages from group members to be sent to the message sender. If this check box is selected, users who send messages to the distribution group will receive Out of Office replies from any member that has an Out of Office rule turned on.
Clear this check box to prevent Out of Office replies from distribution group members to be sent to the message sender.
Send delivery reports to group manager Click this button to send non-delivery reports (NDRs) to only the distribution group manager.
Send delivery reports to message originator Click this button to send NDRs to the message sender.
Do not send delivery reports Click this button to prevent the sending of NDRs.
Use the Mail Flow Settings tab to configure message size or message delivery restrictions for the distribution group. To view or change a mail flow setting, select the setting from the list, and then click Properties.
Message Size Restrictions Select this setting and then click Properties to open the Message Size Restrictions dialog box. Use this dialog box to configure the maximum message size in kilobytes (KB) that users are allowed to send to this distribution group.
If a message larger than the specified size is sent to the distribution group, the message will be returned to the sender with a descriptive error message.
In the Message Size Restrictions dialog box, select the Maximum message size (in KB) check box to set the maximum size for messages that can be received by this distribution group. Use the corresponding box to specify the maximum message size allowed (in KB). The message size must be between 0 and 2,097,151 KB.
Clear the Maximum message size (in KB) check box to remove the size restrictions for receiving messages.
Message Delivery Restrictions Select this setting and then click Properties to open the Message Delivery Restrictions dialog box. Use this dialog box to configure the following settings:
All senders Click this button to allow the group to accept messages from all senders. This includes senders in both your Exchange organization and external senders. This button is selected by default. This option includes external users only if you clear the Require that all senders are authenticated check box. If you select this check box, messages from external users will be rejected.
Only senders in the following list Click this button to specify that the group can accept messages only from a specified set of senders in your Exchange organization. Click Add to open the Select Recipient dialog box. This dialog box displays a list of all recipients in the Active Directory forest. Select the recipients you want, and then click OK. You can also search for a specific recipient by typing its name in the Search box and then clicking Find Now.
Require that all senders are authenticated Select this check box to prevent anonymous users from sending messages to the group. By default, this check box is selected for distribution groups. This prevents external senders from sending messages to distribution groups.
No Senders Click this button to specify that the group will not reject messages from any senders in the Exchange organization. This button is selected by default.
Senders in the following list Click this button to specify that the group will reject messages from a specified set of senders in your Exchange organization. Click Add to open the Select Recipient dialog box. This dialog box displays a list of all recipients in the Active Directory forest. Select the recipients you want, and then click OK. You can also search for a specific recipient by typing its name in the Search box and then clicking Find Now.
Message Moderation Select this setting and then click Properties to open the Message Moderation dialog box. Use this dialog box to configure whether messages sent to this distribution group must be approved by a moderator before they are delivered to the distribution group members.
In the Message Moderation dialog box, select the Messages sent to this group have to be approved by a moderator check box to require all messages sent to the group to be approved by a moderator.
In the Specify group moderators field, click Add to open the Select Recipient dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the recipients you want to add as moderators of the distribution group, and then click OK.
Click
to remove the selected moderator from the distribution group.In the Specify senders who don't require message approval field, click Add to open the Select Recipient dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the recipients who don't require message approval to send to the distribution group, and then click OK.
Click
to remove the selected recipients who should no longer be allowed to send messages to the group without approval from the group.
Use the Shell to configure distribution group properties
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Distribution groups" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.
This example changes the MaxReceiveSize parameter to 20 MB for the distribution group Seattle Employees.
Set-DistributionGroup "Seattle Employees" -MaxReceiveSize 20MB -ModerationEnabled $True
This example enables moderation for the distribution group Customer Support and sets the moderator to Amy. In addition, this moderated distribution group will notify senders who send mail from within the organization if their messages aren't approved.
Set-DistributionGroup -Identity 'Customer Support' -ModeratedBy "Amy" -ModerationEnabled $true -SendModerationNotifications 'Internal'
This example changes the user-created distribution group Dog Lovers to require the group manager to approve users' requests to join the group. In addition, by using the BypassSecurityGroupManagerCheck parameter, the group manager will not be notified that a change was made to the distribution group's settings.
Set-DistributionGroup -Identity 'Dog Lovers' -MemberJoinRestriction 'ApprovalRequired' -BypassSecurityGroupManagerCheck
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