Added IMF functionality with hotfix for Exchange 2003
It looks like this KB article has been out for a few weeks, but I was just informed of the functionality it provides today (er - late last night as it were). For those of you that use the Intelligent Message Filter (IMF), you can now add the feature of building custom exclude lists and custom include lists. The Exclude lists will allow you to create a list of addresses that IMF should not perform scanning on, while the include lists would seem to be a sort of blacklist where messages are filtered whitelist where messages that include those specific e-mail addresses are not filtered.

UPDATE: It seems I was a little off in how this works. The Exclude list is a list of addresses that IMF will exclude from scanning, but the way it works is that ALL recipients of a message must be in the exclude list in order to bypass being filtered (I think I mentioned that in part below, but it isn't detailed enough). If even *one* of the recipients is NOT on the list, then the message will be filtered. Regarding the Inclusion list, the way this works is that if ANY of the smtp addresses are on the RecipList, it will bypass filtering. Obviously, from a control standpoint, the Exclude list is far more restrictive.

A couple of limitations I noticed. With the exclude list, it will only exclude scanning if ALL of the recipients are on the exclude list, otherwise it will be scanned as normal (and potentially filtered/marked as junk). Also, all changes must currently be made in the registry - there is no GUI tool to manage this yet. It remains to be seen if some 3rd party tool will pick up on this, or if it might be added into the next service pack for Exchange 2003. The KB article currently does not indicate any prerequisites, but I've asked for clarification if this works with both IMF v1 and v2, so I'll update this once I know for sure.

UPDATE: This is a Post-SP2 Hotfix ONLY! It will not work with IMF v1.

Remember, as with all hotfixes, you MUST call in to PSS to get the hotfix. Thankfully, calling in for hotfixes has been made MUCH easier. I've called in many times, and have never been asked for a credit card for a hotfix. The automated phone attendant at Microsoft even has an option to specify you are calling for a hotifx. When you choose that option, you won't get to a PSS engineer, instead you will be routed to a Customer Support rep who will process the hotfix request (you simply provide the article number) and send you a link to the download.
- posted by Ben Winzenz @ 9:03 AM