Using the Directory Management Service

The Directory Management Service in SharePoint 2010 uses a timer job within SharePoint to automate the creation of contact objects. These contacts are automatically created to allow inbound mail to document libraries or lists within SharePoint to be automatically enabled.

For example, when a document library called Companyabc-doclib is created and selected to be email-enabled, the SharePoint Directory Management Service automatically creates a contact object in Active Directory that has a primary SMTP address of [email protected], in this example. This contact then inherits a secondary SMTP address of [email protected] through Exchange recipient policies. These policies need to be set up if they are not already in place.

After the contact is automatically created, users can send email to this address and have it flow through the Exchange server, which then forwards it to the SharePoint server (the primary SMTP address). It is then accepted into the SMTP virtual server on the SharePoint server, and then imported into SharePoint via a timer job that runs on the server. In this way, all emails sent to that address appear in the companyabc-doclib document library.