Create Linked Connectors

Article
07/23/2014

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

You can use the Shell to create linked connectors on a computer running Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 that has the Hub Transport server role or Edge Transport server role installed. A linked connector is a Receive connector linked to a Send connector. For linked connectors, the regular routing logic based on the destination domain is overridden. All messages received by the Receive connector are forwarded to the Send connector to which the Receive connector is linked. This scenario is useful when you want to send messages to a third-party anti-spam and antivirus service for processing, and then return the messages to the Exchange 2010 organization for delivery.

Looking for other management tasks related to connectors? Check out Managing Connectors.

Prerequisites

Only one Receive connector can be linked to one Send connector.
The Receive connector must exist before it can be linked to a Send connector.
A linked Send connector must route messages to a smart host. You can use an IP address or the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the smart host to specify the smart host identity.

Linked Connector Scenario

This section describes a typical linked connector scenario on an Edge Transport server. The following table describes the Send connectors and Receive connectors in that scenario.

Send connectors and Receive connectors in a typical linked connector scenario on an Edge Transport server

Connector name	Linked status	Connector description
ReceiveConnectorA	Linked to SendConnectorC	This connector receives all messages from the Internet.
ReceiveConnectorB	Not linked	This connector receives messages only from the third-party anti-spam and antivirus service.
SendConnectorC	Contains linked ReceiveConnectorA	This connector sends all messages to the third-party anti-spam and antivirus service smart host.
SendConnectorD	Not linked	This connector sends all messages into the Exchange organization.

In this scenario, all messages destined for the Exchange 2010 organization arrive at the Edge Transport server through ReceiveConnectorA. Because ReceiveConnectorA is linked to SendConnectorC, the messages are immediately redirected to the third-party anti-spam and antivirus service through SendConnectorC. After the third-party anti-spam and antivirus service has finished processing the messages, the messages are delivered back to the Edge Transport server through ReceiveConnectorB.

ReceiveConnectorB is an unlinked Receive connector, which is important in this scenario. Without ReceiveConnectorB, the messages would return to the Edge Transport server through ReceiveConnectorA, and would then be forwarded back to the third-party anti-spam and antivirus service. This process would continue indefinitely. However, because ReceiveConnectorB isn't linked to a Send connector, the Edge Transport server is free to select the route into the Exchange organization. This will occur through SendConnectorD. The messages are then delivered to the original recipients in the Exchange organization through SendConnectorD.

Use the Shell to link a Receive connector to a new Send connector

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Send connectors" entry in the Transport Permissions topic.

Note

You can't use the EMC to link a Receive connector to a new Send connector.

Use the New-SendConnector cmdlet to create a Send connector that's linked to a specific Receive connector. This example links the Receive connector From Internet on server Edge01 to a new Send connector with the following configuration options:

Send connector name: "To Hygiene Service"
Linked Receive connector identity: "Edge01\From Internet"
Smart host identity: hygiene.contoso.com
Smart host authentication mechanism: ExternalAuthoritative
No message size limits imposed on the Send connector

New-SendConnector -Name "To Hygiene Service" -LinkedReceiveConnector "Edge01\From Internet" -SmartHosts hygiene.contoso.com -SmartHostAuthMechanism ExternalAuthoritative -DNSRoutingEnabled $False -MaxMessageSize unlimited

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-SendConnector.

Use the Shell to link a Receive connector to an existing Send connector

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Send connectors" entry in the Transport Permissions topic.

Note

You can't use the EMC to link a Receive connector to an existing Send connector.

Use the Set-SendConnector cmdlet to link an existing Send connector to a specific Receive connector. This example links the Receive connector From Internet on server Edge01 to the Send connector To Hygiene Service with the following configuration options:

Send connector identity: "To Hygiene Service"
Linked Receive connector identity: "Edge01\From Internet"
Smart host identity: hygiene.contoso.com
Smart host authentication mechanism: ExternalAuthoritative
No message size limits imposed on the Send connector

Set-SendConnector "To Hygiene Service" -LinkedReceiveConnector "Edge01\From Internet" -SmartHosts hygiene.contoso.com -SmartHostAuthMechanism ExternalAuthoritative AddressSpaces $Null -DNSRoutingEnabled $False -MaxMessageSize unlimited

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-SendConnector.

Use the Shell or the EMC to remove a linked connector

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Send connectors" and "Receive connectors" entries in the Transport Permissions topic.

After you link a Receive connector to a Send connector, you may want to break the link at some time. Here are options for breaking the link:

Remove the Send connector to which the Receive connector is linked You can remove the Send connector by using the EMC or by using the Remove-SendConnector cmdlet in the Shell. After you remove the Send connector, you don't have to modify the configuration of the Receive connector.
Remove the Receive connector linked to the Send connector You can remove the Receive connector by using the EMC or by using the Remove-ReceiveConnector cmdlet in the Shell. After you remove the Receive connector, you must modify the configuration of the Send connector. After the linked Receive connector is removed, the Send connector will have no address spaces configured. If you try to view or modify the Send connector, you receive an error message that states that the Send connector is corrupted. To configure an address space for the Send connector, you can use the EMC or the Set-SendConnector cmdlet in the Shell.

For step-by-step instructions for removing connectors, see the following topics:

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