PC Adm: Replicating Postoffice Address List Groups Between POs (124044)

SUMMARY

This article describes how the Microsoft Mail Group Import program, GIMPORT.EXE, can be used to automate the process of creating Mail Postoffice Address List Groups. These groups can contain local postoffice users, external postoffice users, and certain gateway users.

GIMPORT.EXE is a utility that is available as part of the "Database Maintenance Utilities" document. This document describes operational details for utilities used to repair and maintain the database for Microsoft Mail for PC Networks. The procedures described apply to versions 2.1 and later of Microsoft Mail except where noted.

To obtain the document containing the Database Maintenance Utilities, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

99419 PC DB: Database Maintenance Utilities (Complete)

MORE INFORMATION

GIMPORT.EXE can create groups based on information in an input text file. The format of this input file is very similar to that used with the IMPORT.EXE program that ships with Microsoft Mail. For more information on the format of this file, please refer to the documentation on GIMPORT.EXE available with the Database Maintenance Utilities. The GIMPORT.EXE input file can be created manually or can be automatically created by the GIMPORT.EXE program by extracting the group information from a Microsoft Mail postoffice.

The following steps show how groups created by Mail Administrator can be replicated into other Mail postoffices. This is especially useful when trying to create groups spanning multiple postoffices. The example used in the steps shows how to create groups on postoffice A and replicate them to postoffice B. (Postoffice A is on drive M, and postoffice B is on drive N.)

NOTE: Before proceeding, it is recommended that you read the information on GIMPORT.EXE available in 99419.

Create the groups for postoffice A you wish to replicate to postoffice B. From Mail Administrator, select Local-Admin, Group, Create. Select the users you wish to add to the group and enter the group name and group address.

NOTE: To add external postoffice or gateway users to a group, you need to first add these users to the postoffice Address List by selecting Address, Create.
Use GIMPORT.EXE to extract the group information. Type the following command at the MS-DOS prompt
gimport -dm <admin> -p<password> -f<groups.ext> -x -i<grpusers.dat>
where:
- <admin> is a Microsoft Mail mailbox with administrative privileges on postoffice A.
- <password> is the password for the <admin> account.
- <groups.ext> is the name of a text file that will be created by the GIMPORT.EXE program containing the group information.
- <grpusers.dat> is the name of a file that will contain only the names of the members of all the groups extracted. This file is for use with the IMPORT.EXE program.
In case you wish to extract information for only certain groups, replace the -X in the above command with -X<GRPNAMES.INP> where <GRPNAMES.INP> is a text file that contains the full (friendly) names of the groups you wish to extract. You must create this file yourself and place each name you want included on a separate line.
To replicate the users in the groups extracted from postoffice A to the Postoffice Address List on postoffice B, type the following command at an MS-DOS prompt
import -dn <admin> -p<password> -f<grpusers.dat> -a
where:
- <admin> is a Microsoft Mail mailbox with administrative privileges on postoffice B.
- <password> is the password for the <admin> account.
- <grpusers.dat> is the file created in Step 2.
Replicate the groups into postoffice B by typing the following command at an MS-DOS prompt.
gimport -dn <admin> -p<password> -f<groups.ext>

The groups created on postoffice A should now be available in the Postoffice Address List on postoffice B. The groups will not be visible in the Global Address List until after the REBUILD.EXE program is run. If you have automatic Directory Synchronization configured, REBUILD.EXE will be automatically run the next time your directories are synchronized.