HiWe are running running AD/Exchange 2003 SP2 in a multi-domain forest. Domains are usa.company.com, uk.company.com and japan.company.comThere are a group of users in the US who are managing a project, however the people reporting on the project are in the UK.Every week or so, project reports need to be emailed to the US users by these UK based reporting users. So we figured we would create a DL named "#Project Managers". However, we're not sure where to locate it...Should the DL be located in the US domain, since it contains only US usersorShould the DL be located in the UK domain, since it will be emailed by UK users?Or does it not make a difference? I was thinking in terms of what would be most efficient replication wise etc. Also, do we need to consider where the email would get expanded from projectmanagers@company.com to the individual recipients - would this happen at the first Exchange server or the last?

This would depend on how you have your email addresses and email servers deployed.However, since the email is going to a group in the US it would be eaiser to deploy the distribution group in the US. For more info on groups see:Understanding Groupshttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc776995(WS.10).aspxSF - MCITP:EMA, MCTS: MOSS 2007, OCS 2007, Exchange 2007

Hello ScottLet's say the UK users are on UKExch1, the US Users are on USExch1 and there are two bridgehead servers in between. So, the mail flow is:UKExch1 > UKBH1 > USBH1 > USExch1Let's also say the DL (projectmanagers@company.com) has 200 recipients. Preferably, the expansion of the DL would take place at USExch1, that way only one email would be sent until it reaches USExch1. How does Exchange 2003work in relation to expansion of DL's? If the DL is based in the UK, would expansion happen there (and likewise for US), or is the DL location irrelevant?I notice there is a setting on the DL for 'expansion server'- is this the only way that the expansion setting can be configured?I know in Exchange 2007, fan out is used, so that the email is kept as one packet until the last possible moment, however I'm not sure about 2003.Thanks!

What type of group is it? Universal or Global? Best bet would be to see where the expansion server is for the group. How to Determine the Expansion Server for a Distribution Grouphttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997033(EXCHG.65).aspxI would still create the group in the US server.....It really comes down to how you have your exchange org laid out, if you're using universal groups, and if you have a designated expansion server or not.You coudl designate a server to be the expansion server but then you could end up with a single point of failure.SF - MCITP:EMA, MCTS: MOSS 2007, OCS 2007, Exchange 2007

Hi ScottThe group is Universal, and the expansion server setting on the DL is: Any server in the organisation.So, I assume the default expansion server is the mailbox server that the sending user's mailbox resides on (i.e. the Exchange server the message hits)? Even if it means sending 200 email messages to the US?

yes, that is the conclusion I would come to. Local exchange server will query AD GC for group membership and then expand the message. You could designate a server for group expansion but typically it would involve a seperate server with nothing on it. the power behind your GC servers also comes into play.SF - MCITP:EMA, MCTS: MOSS 2007, OCS 2007, Exchange 2007