Guide to the Secure Configuration and Administration of Microsoft ...

Chapter
4
Core Component Administration
Introduction
Figure 1 illustrates the basic components of Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0/5.5. These
components work in concert to process information from client software packages, to
synchronize servers in multi-server environments, and to perform general Exchange
housekeeping.
Directory Store
Directory Store
Core Components
Information
Store
System Attendant
Figure 1 Exchange Server Core Components
Message
Transfer Agent
The Microsoft Exchange Server’s Directory Store contains all the information about a site
that is required to process data delivery. This includes addresses, distribution lists,
details about public folders and mailboxes (but not the public folders and mailboxes
themselves), and configuration information about the Exchange environment. The
Directory Store provides a single, central location where administrators, users, and
applications can look up and configure information about a variety of objects, such as
user mailboxes. The directory also generates address books that contain information
about users, such as e-mail addresses and other related information.
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