Providing Setup Programs

You may need to provide a setup program for your server application (mailbox agent or gateway) or client application that includes a server component. This setup program will allow users to install, configure, and remove your application within the Microsoft Exchange Server environment.

One function of the setup program is to copy all necessary files from floppy disks or CD to the server's hard disk. Depending on the application's level of interaction with Microsoft Exchange Server system components, the setup program must also ensure that the application is recognized by the components and can communicate with them.

The amount of interaction between the server application and Microsoft Exchange Server depends on the application's design. Server applications can be developed that depend very little on Microsoft Exchange Server. However, this independence from Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Windows NT Server has its drawbacks. For example, if you design your application to use the Windows NT registry, you can use the utility functions provided with the Microsoft Exchange Server SDK to more easily manage the application's configuration information—including both standard data and extension data.

Important tasks your setup program may need to perform include:

• Querying and collecting system installation requirements from the administrator.
• Installing the application as a service of Windows NT Server by writing its configuration information to the Windows NT registry.
• Installing an Administrator extension object for the correct Administrator extension DLL (if one is required).
• Copying the required files for Administrator extensions or address types.
• Creating the application object in the Microsoft Exchange Server directory.
• Setting up performance monitoring for your application.

The Microsoft Exchange Server SDK provides the sample setup programs GWSETUP for installing a gateway and MBSETUP for installing a mailbox agent. For more information about setup programs for Microsoft Exchange Server, see the Microsoft Exchange Server documentation in the "Database and Messaging Services" section of the Microsoft Platform SDK.