One of the challenges in running an Exchange organization is keeping the Global Address List up to date. If you are running Exchange 5.5, you can take advantage of a tool found in the BackOffice Resource Kit (version 4.5) called the Global Address List Modify for Web tool.
For the purposes of this article, I will install this tool onto an Exchange 5.5 Server running on Windows 2000 Advanced Server. If you are running a newer version of Exchange, Microsoft offers a stand-alone version of the Global Address List Modify tool in the Exchange Server Resource Kit.
Getting started
You can begin by creating a new folder on your server's hard drive called GALMOD. After doing so, copy the contents of the BackOffice Resource Kit CD's I386EXCHANGEWEBGALMOD folder to the folder that you created.
Once you have copied all of the necessary files, you will have to configure IIS to host the Global Address List Modification Tool. There are a couple of different ways that you can do this. You can host the Global Address List Modification tool in its own separate Web site or you can host it on the same site that you are using to host OWA.
For security reasons, I recommend setting the tool up within its own individual site and configuring the site in such a way that it is only accessible from within your company's firewall. That way you won't have to worry about hackers from the outside world messing with your global address list.
The first step in creating such a Web site is assigning the server an IP address that it can use exclusively for this purpose. To do so, right click on My Network Places and then choose the properties command from the resulting shortcut menu. When you do, you will see icons representing your server's various network connections. Right click on your server's primary internal network connection and select the Properties command from the resulting shortcut menu to reveal the connection's properties sheet. Now, select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) option from the list of installed components and click the Properties button to reveal the machine's TCP/IP configuration.
Odds are that the server already has an IP address (or is configured to get an address from a DHCP server), but you will need to assign a secondary address to the server. To do so, click the Advanced button to reveal the Advanced TCP/IP Settings properties sheet. Click the Add button on the properties sheet's IP Settings tab and then enter the IP address that you wish to assign to the new Web site that you are creating.
Now, it's time to configure IIS to use the new IP address that you have created. Select the Internet Services Manager command from the server's Administrative Tools menu. When the Internet Information Service console opens, right click on the server container and select the New | Web Site commands from the shortcut menus. This will launch the Web site creation wizard.
Click Next to bypass the wizard's Welcome screen and you will be prompted to enter a description for the site. Enter GALMOD in the space provided and click Next. The next screen that you see has several different fields that can be filled in, but you only need to worry about one of them. The field on top asks for the IP address that should be assigned to the site. The default value is All Unassigned, but you need to change this value to reflect the IP address that you assigned to the server earlier. Leave the other fields set to their default values and click Next.
The next screen that you will see asks for the path to your home directory. This is where you will enter the path to the GALMOD folder that you created earlier. Don't worry about the Allow Anonymous Access check box because the utility will require authentication on its own. Click Next and you will see a screen asking what permissions should be available to those accessing the Web site. Accept the default permissions of Read and Run Scripts and click Next. Click Finish to complete the wizard.
Now it's time to test the utility. You can access it by opening a Web browser and entering the IP address that you assigned to the tool. Of course your users will probably never be able to remember the IP address. You can allow your users to access the tool through the following URL: http://servername/virtual_directory_name. In this case, the virtual directory name is GALMOD. Depending on your server's configuration, you may have to modify your server's GLOBAL.ASA file to reflect the name of your Exchange Server. If you have trouble getting the utility to work, you can get help at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];242223.
Brien M. Posey, MCSE, is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with Windows 2000 Server and IIS. Brien has served as the CIO for a nationwide chain of hospitals and was once in charge of IT security for Fort Knox. As a freelance technical writer he has written for Microsoft, CNET, ZDNet, Tech Target, MSD2D, Relevant Technologies, and numerous other technology companies. You can visit Brien's personal Web site at http://www.brienposey.com.
