Remove "TargetAddress" in Exchange 2007

Forwarding meeting requests is a really bad practice.

See Outlook Meeting Requests: Essential Do's and Don'ts if you want the Microsoft dogma on it.

This is especially true in calendar migrations when you're creating more meeting invitations at once than you probably ever will again.

It is especially true when Exchange is forwarding automatically by defining TargetAddress (as could be done via an identity-management tool).

Such is the lead in to why you want to turn off TargetAddress before a migration.

To turn this attribute off where it is set, you simply need to follow this three step program:

1. ) EXPORT your directory data using LDIFDE

ldifde -s YOURSERVER -r "(targetaddress=*)" -l "dn" -f exportldf.ldf

This produces a file whose records look like this:

dn: CN=Adam Ant,OU=Client85,OU=Clients,DC=ex2007,DC=sumatra,DC=local
changetype: add
-

2. Edit the LDIFDE file "exportldf.ldf"
Replace "changetype: add" with "changetype: modify\ndelete: targetaddress\n\-\n\n"

i.e., the file should look like this:
dn: CN=Adam Ant,OU=Client85,OU=Clients,DC=ex2007,DC=sumatra,DC=local
changetype: modify
delete: targetaddress
-

Notes:

• If you want to restore the attribute after the migration, make a copy of the exportldf.ldf file before editing it!


• The editing works best if you have a text editor that supports regular expressions. We recommend TextPad.


• There must be a dash and a blank line between each command.

3. Re-run (import) your file
ldifde -s YOURSERVER -f exportldf.ldf –i

Why are we not doing this using either PowerShell or some of the other GUI-based management tools in Exchange 2007? Simply because we haven't yet figured out how to or if it's even possible.

Flashback: Those of you who have been through a migration into Exchange 2000/2003 will recognize the exact same worry with AltRecipient.