Shared Calendars in Exchange 2007 sp1

Let's say you used a group calendar in Meeting Maker or Oracle and wanted to migrated that into Exchange. The idea being that any user in a group could post and view calendar data (like vacations or help desk schedules, events, that kind of thing).

Prior to E2K7 sp1 your only option was to migrate it into a user calendar or resource calendar and then make share it.

In a minimally-documented feature you can actually migrate the calendar data to a Shared Mailbox.

But wait you say -- you've been through the Mailbox Wizard, and there ain't no "Shared Mailbox" in it:

That's because you can only create it in the Exchange Management Shell.

So to create a shared mailbox for the former Market Department Group calendar, you might use the following

[PS] c:\New-Mailbox -alias DeptCal -name "Marketing Department Calendar" -database "Mailbox Database" -org Users -shared -UserPrincipalName DeptCal@YOURDOMAIN.com

THEN it will show up in the Exchange Management Console!

What do you do with it now?
Well, not much.... yet.
This is a disabled account. We need to add user access to it, and this brings us into the dreaded world of Permissions.
First, create a security group (via Active Directory Users and Computers) in your domain called "Marketing Department Security Group" and add the users you want to access the calendar. And in our friend the Management Shell, grant that group full mailbox permissions:
[PS] c:\Add-MailboxPermission DeptCal -User:'Marketing Department Security Group' -AccessRights:FullAccess
We're not done yet. You will need to add "Send-As" permissions to the group as well. Those of you doing migrations are really used to this.
[PS] c:\Add-ADPermission "Marketing Department Calendar" -User:'Marketing Department Security Group' -ExtendedRights:Send-As -AccessRights:ReadProperty, WriteProperty -Properties:'Personal Information'
Users in the Group now have full rights to that shared calendar.
So in OWA just pass the DeptCal email address and use your own credentials to log in (please do not send me posts about my Certificate Error, it's a test server for gosh sakes).


SO in Meeting Maker if you have had a group calendar, map and migrate it into a USER calendar and then CHANGE it post-migration to a shared calendar using the "Type" command.
e.g.,
[PS] c:\Set-Mailbox DeptCal -Type:Shared
and set up your Security Groups.
Why not just create a Shared mailbox in Exchange and migrate into that? The account is Disabled -- we won't be able to re-create data in it with full fidelity. Create it as a User and then change it to Shared and you'll be happier with the results.

Need some Exchange Calendar applications or utilities developed for your enterprise-sized organization? Contact us.