[JDMils]

I've just noticed that a Distribution Group which contains mailbox users, other DG groups and AD groups, will only deliver emails to:

* Mailbox-enabled users
* Mailbox-enabled DG groups

At work, management decided to place all users in AD groups, and calling the groups "job-title" groups. These groups are then used in NTFS filesystems to allow network access to shares. For example, I, Julian, am a member of the AD group "jt_Senior_System_Engineer". This group is then used in the NTFS filesystem to give me access to folders.

Management have asked that I now replace all users in Exchange DGs with their "job-title" groups so that as users leave and are replaced, their replacements will "inherit" the same NTFS rights and Exchange properties as those they are replacing.

From my testing, a DG will only on-forward emails to AD groups which are mail-enabled. If an AD group is not mail-enabled, eventhough it contains a user which *is* mail-enabled, the emails to that DG will not go to the end-user of the non-mail-enabled group. Thus, replacing all users in all DGs with their AD job-title group will not work!

Can someone verify this? Thanks.

[Ossian]

AFAIK this is normal practice
You can, of course, mail enable the job-title security groups and then hide them from address lists, which will provide the result you want
I seem to remember a post by Sembee where he says he never creates distribution (only) groups for this very reason

[Sembee]

As already stated, I don't create distribution groups, only security groups. I can then use them for both security and email.
With Exchange 2003 you could use distribution groups for permissions, because the group was changed in the background to a security group type. It is more strict with the 2007 generation of Exchange, so just create mail enabled security groups.

With regards to the behaviour, what you are seeing is correct as well.
The email still has to be sent to the group. If the group is not mail enabled then Exchange doesn't recognise it. The whole path has to be mail enabled for it to be used for email.

Simon.