How to Automatically Populate Distribution Lists Based on Criteria you SpecifyRBDL (Rules Based Distribution Lists) is an Exchange Distribution List utility that utilizes ADSI, LDAP, and MDAC. I have successfully, set this utility to automatically populate distribution lists with recipients on a per server basis. There are other criteria options available as well. It was a little tricky to set up, but worked very well, once the criteria strings were actually copied and pasted from the documentation, rather than retyping from scratch. RBDL.exe is run from the Exchange server. When run, it will attempt to locate all distribution lists, with a certain criteria string in the administrative notes attribute of the DL properties page. It can be automated in a several way. A pause interval may be specified at the command line, and it will run itself at each interval. It can also be AT scheduled to run as well, since it requires no user input. A few additional notes are that while this program is great at populating lists, it is not so great at removing members that no longer pass the specified criteria, so to fully automate this, you may have to look into an automated way of deleting and recreating the list prior to an RBDL pass. The second point is that the criteria strings are very syntax orientated. I was not able to get any results at all, until I copied and pasted a criteria string from the documentation, and then modified it to suit my Exchange Organization. You may find yourself, making a large initial time investment in order to get it running the way you want. One last thing is that you will need to install ADSI version 2 build 58, or higher, on your server and have MDAC at 1.5c or higher. LDAP must be enabled on the server that is specified in the query statements for LDAP lookup. The RBDL package can be downloaded at http://www.exchangecode.com Download from there, to ensure you get the latest version, or download from here if you need it quick. |