The hierarchical address book (HAB) allows users to look for recipients in their address book using organizational hierarchy. Typically, users only see the default global address list (GAL) whose structure doesn’t help understand who reports to whom or to identify one John Doe from another. Being able to customize a HAB, which maps to your organization’s unique business structure, provides your users with an efficient method for locating internal recipients.
In a Hierarchical Address Book (HAB), your root organization (e.g., {product-family}) is the top-level tier. Under this top-level tier, you can add several child tiers to create a customized HAB that is segmented by division, department, or any other organizational level you want to specify. The following figure illustrates a HAB for {product-family} with the following structure:
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The top-level tier represents the root organization — {product-family}.
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The second-level child tiers represent the business divisions within {product-family} — Corporate Office, Engineering, Product Support, and Sales & Marketing.
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The third-level child tiers represent departments within the Corporate Office division — Human Resources, Accounts, and Administration.
Seniority Index provides an additional level in the hierarchy. When creating a HAB, use this parameter to rank individuals or organizational groups by seniority within these organizational tiers. This ranking specifies the order in which HAB displays recipients or groups. A higher seniority index ensures that a user or group appears above another with a lower seniority index.
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100for Vice President -
50for Administration Operations Manager -
25for Business Administrator
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Note
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If the Seniority Index parameter isn’t set or is equal for two or more users, the HAB sorting order lists the users and groups in ascending alphabetical order. |
You have to create a group and assign an email address for each department.
In this series of commands, we create 8 HAB groups — as per the Example Hierarchy.
zmprov createHABGroup Zimbra ZimbraOU [email protected]
zmprov createHABGroup CorporateOffice ZimbraOU [email protected]
zmprov createHABGroup Engineering ZimbraOU [email protected]
zmprov createHABGroup ProdSupport ZimbraOU [email protected]
zmprov createHABGroup SalesAndMarketing ZimbraOU [email protected]
zmprov createHABGroup HumanResources ZimbraOU [email protected]
zmprov createHABGroup Accounts ZimbraOU [email protected]
zmprov createHABGroup Administration ZimbraOU [email protected]
Each of these groups (except Zimbra) needs to be assigned a parent group to create a hierarchy.
zmprov addHABGroupMember ParentGroupEmailAddress ChildGroupEmailAddress
In this series of commands, we designate 7 HAB groups — except Zimbra because it is root — as per the hierarchy in the figure Example Hierarchy.
For this, we add Human Resources, Accounts, and Administration to Corporate Office; and add Corporate Office, Engineering, Product Support, and Sales & Marketing to Zimbra.
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
zimbraId is a unique identifier associated with an email address. It is used to assign users to groups and to specify a group as root.
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Important
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For this example, and everywhere else we have used a placeholder (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx) for zimbraId.
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zmprov gdl [email protected] zimbraId
# distributionList [email protected] memberCount=4 zimbraId: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
[email protected] is the email address of the group which is to become root.
This example adds the users Jane Doe and John Smith to the group named CorporateOffice without affecting other existing members.
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
zmprov addHABGroupMember [email protected] [email protected]
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Important
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Before adding users, make sure that they are are already created. |
Configure the sort order for groups in the HAB. Groups with higher seniority index appear above groups with lower seniority index.
To have Engineering appear above CorporateOffice — irrespective of their names and alphabetical order, get Zimbra ID, decide on a number in place of SeniorityIndexNumber, and run the below command.
Assign CorporateOffice a seniority index of 90
zmprov modifyHABGroupSeniority xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx 90
Assign Engineering a seniority index of 100
zmprov modifyHABGroupSeniority xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx 100
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Important
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Commands used to set seniority index for groups also set Seniority Index for users. |
A group needs to be specified as root so that other groups can be added as child groups to comply with the organizational hierarchy. Run below command to make [email protected] as root.
zmprov md <domain name> zimbraHierarchicalAddressBookRoot <ZimbraID of the group to be made root>
zmprov md 'example.com' zimbraHierarchicalAddressBookRoot xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
# distributionList [email protected] memberCount=4 zimbraId: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Log in to Zimbra client.
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Click New Message.
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In the Compose window, click the To field.
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On Select Addresses window, locate the Show Names from: drop-down on the top right corner.
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Choose Organizational Address Book.
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The address book in a hierarchical format appears in the left pane.
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Click any group to view and select users of that group.
There can be multiple organizational units in a domain. This command lists all the OUs in a specified domain.
This command renames the specified OU in a domain.