Microsoft® Exchange Server is a complete messaging and workgroup software solution that is appropriate in organizations ranging in size from several users at a single location, to large corporate enterprises distributed over a wide geographic area.
The Microsoft Exchange Server system is composed of three distinct elements—the user's workstation, the computer running Microsoft® Windows NT® Server, and the computer running Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange Server runs on Windows NT Server, which allows users of Microsoft Exchange Client applications access to several key services. These services include addressing and object information, information and forms storage, as well as message and information routing, object information exchange between systems, and information transfers to other systems.
The set of protocols and procedures central to the messaging architecture of the Microsoft Exchange Server system is the messaging application programming interface (MAPI). MAPI is a set of API functions and OLE interfaces that allows messaging clients, such as Microsoft Exchange Client, to interact with various message service providers, such as Microsoft Mail and Microsoft Fax. MAPI helps Microsoft Exchange Clients manage stored messages and define the purpose and content of messages.
The Microsoft Exchange Client can communicate with any electronic mail system or messaging application that has a MAPI service provider, which is similar to a personal gateway. It specifies all the connection and addressing settings needed to communicate with a mail server on one end and with the Microsoft Exchange Client on the other end. The Microsoft Exchange Client includes an OLE-compatible rich-text editor used for reading and composing messages; it supports the use of bullets, multiple font sizes and colors, and text alignments in messages.
The Microsoft Exchange Server Software Development Kit (SDK) provides a rich collection of tools for designing and developing high-performance, custom information-sharing and messaging-service applications.
Using the Microsoft Exchange Server SDK, you can:
The following topics present an overview of the Microsoft Exchange Server SDK and its documentation, and highlight important development issues in creating effective Microsoft Exchange Server applications.