Configuring Incoming Faxes

Exchange 2010 UM no longer supports inbound fax transcripts as it was available in the core product with Exchange 2007, but the UM server role retains fax configuration properties and forwards fax calls to a partner fax solution. This happens in the following way:

• If a fax tone is detected, UM looks at the FaxServerURI configuration property on the UM mailbox policy objects to determine if a partner fax solution is installed (and if so, where).
• If a value is found for the property, UM will attempt to hand off the call in progress to the partner fax solution. The partner fax solution will establish a fax media session with the sender, create a fax message, and send it to the UM-enabled user's mailbox.

Messages created by partner fax solutions will look essentially the same as those created by Exchange 2007 UM, and will appear as a fax when the user is UM-enabled.

To have faxes forwarded to your partner fax solution correctly, you need to make sure that the partner fax server is configured and you need to configure UM to make your fax partner solution available to UM. When you configure the Exchange UM, make sure the following areas are configured correctly:

• Verify that UM dial plan is configured to allow users to receive faxes. You can do this using the Set-UMDialPlan -FaxEnabled $true cmdlet.
• Configure the UM mailbox policy to forward faxes to the fax partner's server. You can do this using the Set-UMMailboxPolicy -AllowFax $true -Fax-ServerURI "sip::5060;transport=tcp" cmdlet.
• Make sure your UM-enabled mailbox can receive faxes.
• To enable fax messages to be sent to a UM server from the partner fax server, you also need to create a Send connector that is configured with the respective authentication that the partner fax solution supports.

To find a suitable fax partner solution that meets your requirements, you can get an overview of available fax solutions by reading the Fax Advisor for Exchange 2010 available athttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee364747.aspx.