Exchange Distribution Groups

When creating Distribution Groups on SBS 2008, there’s (of course) a wizard for it. It steps you through the creation, including adding users, and right near the very end of the wizard there’s an option available, shown here.

Of course, this is usually a no-brainer – we know right away whether the group should be available externally or not. Job done, no hassle.

But…

What if you need to create a distribution group manually for some reason? Or worse yet, on vanilla Exchange 2007 or 2010 servers where we don’t have wizards to baby sit us? If you create a distribution group manually, it MIGHT not accept email from the outside world. Where do you go when you have this problem?

This link has the answer. The checkbox referred to at the article below is the option controlled by the SBS Wizard shown in the above screenshot. http://www.ebsfaq.com/Exchange2007/HubCASMailboxUM/Distributiongroupdoesnotreceiveexternalemail/tabid/2105/Default.aspx

So, watch out for this!