What feature in Edge Transport helps manage connections to the outside mail servers?

The feature that helps manage connections to outside mail servers in Edge Transport is smart host configuration. This feature allows an organization to specify a designated server (the smart host) that all outbound emails are routed through before they reach their final destination. This can provide several benefits, including centralized control of outbound mail, the ability to enforce security policies, and improved performance through efficient routing.

Using smart hosts allows organizations to ensure that all outbound emails are processed through a specific pathway, which can be essential for maintaining compliance and security standards. It also helps in managing various aspects of email delivery, such as load balancing and redundancy, since emails can be routed through alternate pathways if the primary smart host experiences issues.

While connection throttling, transport rules, and send connectors are all important features in Edge Transport, they serve different purposes. Connection throttling manages the rate of connections to control server load, transport rules define actions taken on messages as they flow through the transport pipeline, and send connectors are used to define how messages are routed to outside domains. None of these features specifically focus on the centralized management of outbound connections in the same way that smart host configuration does.