Summary
I had a hard time discovering this solution and wanted to post in hopes to help someone else. At my first attempt at finding a solution, all I could find was people saying it was impossible with just writing to Active Directory. So for awhile I was heading down the path of creating the contact using DirectoryServices then using remote powershell commands against the exchange server to mail enable the contacts and distribution lists. I eventually abandoned that approach and went back to finding a way with only using DirectoryServices.If you don’t care about the code and just want attributes, here are the email attributes that were set when everything started working.
- targetAddress
- proxyAddresses
- legacyExchangeDN
- mailNickName
- reportToOriginator = TRUE (for distribution lists) Add this, it is not in the code blocks.
Environment
Exchange 2010Server 2008 R2 (Active Directory)
Visual Studio 2012
.NET 4.0
Code
Imports System.DirectoryServices / using System.DirectoryServices;Create Contact in VB
Private Sub CreateContact()
' Create a conntaction to Active Directory
Dim ad As DirectoryEntry
Dim contacts As DirectoryEntry
Dim entry As DirectoryEntry
ad = New DirectoryEntry("LDAP://MACHINENAME/DC=DOMAIN,DC=COM", "username", "password")
' Find the OU to create the contact in
contacts = ad.Children.Find("OU=Contacts")
' Create AD object
entry = contacts.Children.Add("CN=LastName\, FirstName", "contact")
' Fill out basic attributes
entry.Properties("displayName").value = "FirstName LastName"
entry.Properties("givenName").value = "FirstName"
entry.Properties("sn").Value = "LastName"
entry.Properties("mail").value = "EmailAddress@Something.com"
' The follow attributes I believe to be the ones required for mail enabling
' (though I have not testing thoroughly to pinpoint exactly what is required)
' SMPT MUST be capitalized
entry.Properties("targetAddress").value = "SMTP:EmailAddress@Something.com"
entry.Properties("proxyAddresses").Value = New Object() {"SMTP:EmailAddress@Something.com"}
' To find the legacyExchangeDN, copy value from an existing contact
entry.Properties("legacyExchangeDN").Value = ""
' mailNickName can not have spaces
entry.Properties("mailNickName").Value = New String("FirstNameLastName").Replace(" ", "")
' Commit Changes to Active Directory
entry.CommitChanges()
' Close connections to Active Directory
entry.Close()
ad.Close()
End Sub
Create Contact in C# (I can not verify this code, I just used a converter)
private void CreateDistributionList()
{
DirectoryEntry ad = default(DirectoryEntry);
DirectoryEntry contacts = default(DirectoryEntry);
DirectoryEntry entry = default(DirectoryEntry);
// Create a conntaction to Active Directory
ad = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://MACHINENAME/DC=DOMAIN,DC=COM", "username", "password");
// Find the OU to create the contact in
contacts = ad.Children.Find("OU=Distrubtion Lists");
// Create AD object
entry = contacts.Children.Add("CN=LastName\\, FirstName", "group");
// Fill out basic attributes
entry.Properties("groupType").Value = 8;
// 8 = Universal Group
entry.Properties("displayName").Value = "Name";
entry.Properties("sAMAccountName").Value = "Name";
// I don't know if this is required
entry.Properties("mail").Value = "EmailAddress@Something.com";
entry.Properties("telephoneNumber").Value = "555-555-5555";
entry.Properties("description").Value = "description";
// The follow attributes I believe to be the ones required for mail enabling
// (though I have not testing thoroughly to pinpoint exactly what is required)
// SMPT MUST be capitalized
entry.Properties("targetAddress").Value = "SMTP:EmailAddress@Something.com";
entry.Properties("proxyAddresses").Value = new object[] { "SMTP:EmailAddress@Something.com" };
// To find the legacyExchangeDN, copy value from an existing contact
entry.Properties("legacyExchangeDN").Value = "";
// mailNickName can not have spaces
entry.Properties("mailNickName").Value = new string("FirstNameLastName").Replace(" ", "");
// Commit Changes to Active Directory
entry.CommitChanges();
// Close connections to Active Directory
entry.Close();
ad.Close();
}
Create Distribution List in VB
Private Sub CreateDistributionList()
Dim ad As DirectoryEntry
Dim contacts As DirectoryEntry
Dim entry As DirectoryEntry
' Create a conntaction to Active Directory
ad = New DirectoryEntry("LDAP://MACHINENAME/DC=DOMAIN,DC=COM", "username", "password")
' Find the OU to create the contact in
contacts = ad.Children.Find("OU=Distrubtion Lists")
' Create AD object
entry = contacts.Children.Add("CN=LastName\, FirstName", "group")
' Fill out basic attributes
entry.Properties("groupType").Value = 8 ' 8 = Universal Group
entry.Properties("displayName").Value = "Name"
entry.Properties("sAMAccountName").Value = "Name" ' I don't know if this is required
entry.Properties("mail").Value = "EmailAddress@Something.com"
entry.Properties("telephoneNumber").Value = "555-555-5555"
entry.Properties("description").Value = "description"
' The follow attributes I believe to be the ones required for mail enabling
' (though I have not testing thoroughly to pinpoint exactly what is required)
' SMPT MUST be capitalized
entry.Properties("targetAddress").Value = "SMTP:EmailAddress@Something.com"
entry.Properties("proxyAddresses").Value = New Object() {"SMTP:EmailAddress@Something.com"}
' To find the legacyExchangeDN, copy value from an existing contact
entry.Properties("legacyExchangeDN").Value = ""
' mailNickName can not have spaces
entry.Properties("mailNickName").Value = New String("FirstNameLastName").Replace(" ", "")
' Commit Changes to Active Directory
entry.CommitChanges()
' Close connections to Active Directory
entry.Close()
ad.Close()
End Sub
Create Distribution List in C# (I can not verify this code, I just used a converter)
private void CreateDistributionList()
{
DirectoryEntry ad = default(DirectoryEntry);
DirectoryEntry contacts = default(DirectoryEntry);
DirectoryEntry entry = default(DirectoryEntry);
// Create a conntaction to Active Directory
ad = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://MACHINENAME/DC=DOMAIN,DC=COM", "username", "password");
// Find the OU to create the contact in
contacts = ad.Children.Find("OU=Distrubtion Lists");
// Create AD object
entry = contacts.Children.Add("CN=LastName\\, FirstName", "group");
// Fill out basic attributes
entry.Properties("groupType").Value = 8;
// 8 = Universal Group
entry.Properties("displayName").Value = "Name";
entry.Properties("sAMAccountName").Value = "Name";
// I don't know if this is required
entry.Properties("mail").Value = "EmailAddress@Something.com";
entry.Properties("telephoneNumber").Value = "555-555-5555";
entry.Properties("description").Value = "description";
// The follow attributes I believe to be the ones required for mail enabling
// (though I have not testing thoroughly to pinpoint exactly what is required)
// SMPT MUST be capitalized
entry.Properties("targetAddress").Value = "SMTP:EmailAddress@Something.com";
entry.Properties("proxyAddresses").Value = new object[] { "SMTP:EmailAddress@Something.com" };
// To find the legacyExchangeDN, copy value from an existing contact
entry.Properties("legacyExchangeDN").Value = "";
// mailNickName can not have spaces
entry.Properties("mailNickName").Value = new string("FirstNameLastName").Replace(" ", "");
// Commit Changes to Active Directory
entry.CommitChanges();
// Close connections to Active Directory
entry.Close();
ad.Close();
}
One last bit of info
After you create a contact or distribution list it will not show up on the Global Address List until the scheduled update, probably over night. If you want to force an update you must run the following powershell command on the Exchange server.
Get-GlobalAddressList | Update-GlobalAddressList
