MSMQ Exchange Connector

Microsoft Exchange server site may be connected to MSMQ via MSMQ Exchange Connector. Similar to MSMQ MAPI transport it delivers MAPI-MSMQ connectivity, but does this for the whole Exchange site. MAPI transport enables only one client (computer), while Exchange connector enables the whole site.

Installing MSMQ Exchange Connector:

You can install MSMQ Exchange connector on any computer visible from an Exchange server site. It does not necessarily have to be a Windows NT server. Windows NT Workstation would do just fine. In fact, this applies to any Exchange gateway. Connector is a special case of an Exchange gateway.

To install MSMQ Exchange Connector (or to remove previous installation) run the Setup program from \Msmq\MQMail\exchconn\setup directory on Windows NT 4.0 Server 4.0 Enterprise edition Disk 2 (Disk 15 of Back Office Test Platform - U.S.). You'll need to specify the queue name for incoming MSMQ messages, service account and password, and the directory name for the service.

Setting up Inbound and Outbound Message Queues:

You specify the inbound message queue during setup. This queue is not created, however, until the Exchange Connector service starts up. If the queue is not available at service start up, it will create it by giving a label name you entered, the pathname in the form: ComputerName\InboundQueueLabel_mqgw, and the type ID {5EADC0D0-7182-11CF-A8FF-0020AFB8FB50}.

You need to set up an outbound message queue. Use Message Queue Explorer to create the queue with any pathname and label you like. The label will be later used as the recipient's E-mail address. One trick to remember is the following: the queue's type ID must be:

{5EADC0D0-7182-11CF-A8FF-0020AFB8FB50}

Just cut and paste this from here to the queue's properties. Message Queue Explorer puts zeroes for type ID by default.

Testing MSMQ Exchange Connector:

Create a new custom recipient of "MSMQ" e-mail type with e-mail address equal to the queue label. Send a message to this recipient. You should normally see it appear in this queue.

If something is wrong with your setup, you may see an NDR with the following body:

"The message was undeliverable because the recipient specified in the recipient postal address was not known at this address."

For example, when queue names do not match, or the type ID is different from the specified above, you would definitely see an NDR like that.

Testing MSMQ Exchange Connector with the "booksrvr" Sample:

MSMQ SDK contains the "booksrvr" sample application, which can be used together with MSMQ Exchange Connector to demonstrate how simple form based messages can travel between MAPI clients and MSMQ servers. MSMQ on-line documentation has the article named: "MSMQ Exchange Connector: Book Server Application", which explains how to set it up. The only tricky part that I faced with it was figuring out how to install its two forms on MS Exchange site. You'll need to install Microsoft Exchange Forms Designer in order to do this. It may be found on Disc 6 of the MSDN BackOffice Test Platform.

Having installed everything successfully, you'll be able to send a form request to the "booksrvr" program. This MSMQ server will process the request and send another form based message back to you. In general, this application demonstrates how MAPI forms may be processed by MSMQ servers. Source code is provided.

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