Move the Offline Address Book Generation Process to Another Server

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Offline address book (OAB) generation is the process by which Exchange creates and updates the OAB. When OAB generation occurs, Exchange generates new OAB files, compresses the files, and then places the files on a local share.

Looking for other management tasks related to OABs? Check out Managing Offline Address Books.

Cautions

  • If you use Web-based distribution, the Client Access server replicates the files. If you use public folder distribution, the OAB generation process places the files directly in one of the public folders, and then the Exchange store replication copies the data to other public folder distribution points.

  • Client computers that are running Outlook periodically check for and download OAB updates. For information about how to modify when OAB generation occurs, see Configure Offline Address Book Properties.

  • If your organization contains Exchange Server 2003 servers, you can generate the OAB from an Exchange 2003 server provided that public folder distribution is enabled. However, if you generate the OAB from an Exchange 2003 server, you will lose the following functionality:

    • Japanese phonetic display name

    • Japanese phonetic surname

    • Japanese phonetic given name

    • Japanese phonetic company name

    • Japanese phonetic department name

    • PR_DISPLAY_TYPE_EX, which is used by Office Outlook 2007 and later to render the correct icon for objects that are replicated across the forest.

What Do You Want to Do?

  • Use the EMC to move OAB generation to another server

  • Use the Shell to move OAB generation to another server

Use the EMC to move OAB generation to another server

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "OAB virtual directories" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Organization Configuration > Mailbox.

  2. In the result pane, click the Offline Address Book tab, and then select the OAB for which you want to move the generation to a new server.

  3. In the action pane, click Move.

  4. On the Move Offline Address Book page, click Browse to open the Select Mailbox Server dialog box. Select the server to which you want to move the OAB generation process, and then click OK.

  5. Click Move to move the OAB generation process to the new server.

  6. View the status of the move operation. The wizard will move the generation of your OAB to the new server and copy the existing files for the OAB to the new server. Click Back to make configuration changes.

  7. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:

    • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.

    • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

  8. Click Finish to close the wizard.

Use the Shell to move OAB generation to another server

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "OAB virtual directories" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example moves the OAB generation process to SERVER01 for the OAB MyOAB.

Move-OfflineAddressBook -Identity "My OAB" -Server SERVER01

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Move-OfflineAddressBook.

For More Information

Understanding Offline Address Books

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