XADM: Exporting and Importing Permissions on Objects

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5

SUMMARY

Administrators may want to import and export information from the Permissions page of Exchange mailboxes, distribution lists, and custom recipients.

This can be accomplished by constructing an export/import .CSV header file that contains the Obj-Admins, Obj-Perm-Admins, and Obj-Users fields.

NOTE: The information in this article also applies to manipulating permissions for Custom Recipients and Distribution Lists.

MORE INFORMATION

Each Exchange mailbox has a "Primary Windows NT Account" entry that gives a Windows NT user permission to access the mailbox. You can configure additional Windows NT permissions on a mailbox and thus allow multiple Windows NT accounts to have access to a single Exchange object.

NOTE: You can also allow multiple Windows NT account access by assigning a Windows NT group as the "Primary Windows NT Account".

Additional Windows NT account permissions may be configured on the Permissions property page for an object.

By default, the Permissions page is not displayed in Exchange Administrator for most objects. To display it for all objects, from the Tools menu, select Options. Click the Permissions tab, and then select "Show Permissions page for all objects".

Obj-Admins, Obj-Perm-Admins and Obj-Users are "pseudo-attributes" created for the purpose of bulk import and export of additional Permissions.

Obj-Admins corresponds to the Windows NT accounts that have Administrator access to the object. Obj-Perm-Admins corresponds to Permissions Admin, and Obj-User to User permissions.

The following is an example of a default export CSV header with the Permissions pseudo-attribute fields added to it:

   Obj-Class,First Name,Last name,Display Name,Alias Name,Directory
   Name,Primary Windows NT Account,Home-Server,E-mail address,E-mail
   Addresses,Members,Obj-Container,Hide from AB,Obj-Admins,Obj-Perm-
   Admins,Obj-Users 

1. Open Notepad or another plain text editor and paste the header into it. The header should be the first and only line in the file and is intended to be a single long line terminated with a carriage return.



2. Save the file as <filename>.CSV and exit Notepad.



3. In Exchange Administrator, select Tools.Directory Export, and export to the file you just created.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Windows NT account information should be entered in the .CSV file in this format:

  domain-name\user-name%domain-name>\user-name2 . . .

  (A percentage sign separates multiple Windows NT accounts granted the same permissions.)



• You can delete all the Windows NT Accounts assigned Permissions Admin, Admin, or User rights on the object by inserting ~DEL into the appropriate field of an import file. This does not delete the permissions of the Primary Windows NT Account for a mailbox or the permissions of the Owner for a distribution list.



• If you enter an invalid Windows NT account in an import file, it is ignored. You cannot add permissions for Windows NT accounts that do not exist or that cannot be currently validated by a Windows NT domain controller.



• Custom and Send As permissions cannot be exported, imported, or deleted through bulk import. They are invisible to the export/import process. If you inadvertently import the same Windows NT account under two or more permissions headings, the permissions granted to the account will be additive and will cause the account to show Custom permissions. For example, if you import the same account in both the Obj-Admins and Obj- Users fields, the account will have both administrative and mailbox read/send permissions. After this happens, you can no longer affect the account through import/export but must manage the account through the Exchange Administrator interface.

Keywords : XADM
Version : WINDOWS:5.5
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbhowto