Problem : In Exchange 2003, there was a feature called RPC over HTTP. Now that has
been reinvented as Outlook Anywhere. What do you need to do to enable
it on your CAS server? And how do you configure your users to use
Outlook Anywhere from their home systems?
Solution : To begin with, you have to remember that SSL is an important aspect of
Outlook Anywhere, so ensure that you have a valid SSL certificate from a
trusted CA in place.
There are two steps to the process of enabling
Outlook Anywhere. The first is to install the RPC over HTTP Windows
Networking Component. The second is to enable Outlook Anywhere on the
CAS server.
Depending on the version
of Windows Server (2003 or 2008), there are different steps to enable
RPC over HTTP. Let’s look at both, then look into enabling Outlook
Anywhere and finally, we consider the client side to the configuration
process.
Install RPC over HTTP on Windows Server 2003
To install RPC over HTTP on Windows Server 2003, perform the following:
1. | Select Start, Control Panel, and enter Add or Remove Programs.
| 2. | Select Add/Remove Windows Components.
| 3. | Select Networking Services and click Details.
| 4. | From
the Networking Services page, under Subcomponents of Networking
Services, click the checkbox for RPC over HTTP Proxy. Then click OK,
click Next, and finally, click Finish.
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Install RPC over HTTP on Windows Server 2008
To install RPC over HTTP on Windows Server 2008, perform the following:
1. | Select Start, Administrative Tools, Server Manager.
| 2. | In the Navigation pane, select Features. You will be able to see the features currently installed.
| 3. | Select the Add Features link.
| 4. | From the Add Features Wizard, locate the RPC over HTTP Proxy and select the checkbox.
| 5. | You
might be notified that your selection is part of role services that
must be installed for your Web Server (IIS). If this is the case, select
the button Add Required Role Services. Then click Next.
| 6. | You are shown a Web Server (IIS) introduction page. Click Next.
| 7. | Role Services will be shown. Click Next.
| 8. | You are shown the feature you are installing and the role services under the Confirmation screen. Click Install.
| 9. | After the Results screen shows the installation is successful, click the Close button.
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Enable Outlook Anywhere
To enable Outlook Anywhere on your CAS server, perform the following steps:
1. | Open the EMC.
| 2. | From the Navigation Tree, expand the Server Configuration work center and select Client Access.
| 3. | From the Actions pane, select Enable Outlook Anywhere to open the wizard, shown in Figure 1.
| 4. | Type
in the external host name, which is what users will type into their
Outlook client; it has to match the SSL certificate name.
| 5. | Next
you have to select a Client authentication method of either Basic or
NTLM. Basic sends credentials in clear text. NTLM encrypts the
credentials before sending them. NTLM also notes whether you are using a
domain system and uses those credentials, so you will not have to
continually put in the credentials (which is what you have to do if you
choose Basic).
| 6. | The
checkbox Allow Secure Channel (SSL) Offloading is necessary only if you
plan to use a separate server, such as an ISA 2006 server, to handle
the SSL encryption and decryption.
| 7. | After you configure your options, select Next.
| 8. | When complete, select Finish.
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Note
It
might take a while for the Outlook Anywhere services to become
available for your clients to connect to. Some have reported waits of up
to 15 minutes.
Configure Clients to Use Outlook Anywhere
With the process of
enabling Outlook Anywhere, all users with mailboxes can now use the
connection unless you change that within their settings.
Only Outlook 2003 and
Outlook 2007 clients can perform Outlook Anywhere connections. The
concept is the same, although the steps can be different. We are going
to walk through the steps for Outlook 2007.
To begin, you want to create a new profile. You can do this in Windows Vista by performing the following steps:
1. | Select Start, Control Panel, Mail.
| 2. | From the General tab, click Add.
| 3. | Provide a name for the profile (perhaps OutlookAnywhere).
| 4. | You
are taken to the Auto Account Setup. Click the checkbox at the bottom
that says Manually Configure Server Settings or Additional Server Types.
Then click Next.
| 5. | From the Choose Email Service tab, click Microsoft Exchange, and then click Next.
| 6. | From
the Microsoft Exchange Settings tab, you can input your Exchange server
name (FQDN or NetBIOS) and the username. You can check the name with
the Check Name button. Click More Settings.
| 7. | Select the Connection tab.
| 8. | At
the bottom, notice the heading Outlook Anywhere. Select the checkbox
Connect to Microsoft Exchange Using HTTP, and then select Exchange Proxy
Settings.
| 9. | Note from the Exchange Proxy Settings dialog (shown in Figure 2)
that you can configure the URL for the connection to the proxy server
for Exchange. You want to configure the use of SSL and the proxy servers
that have the principal name in their certificate. You have two
checkboxes regarding how to connect in a fast and slow network situation
(using HTTP first and then TCP/IP). Finally, you can select your
authentication settings to use Basic or NTLM, which depends on how you
configured your Outlook Anywhere settings earlier.
| 10. | Complete making configuration adjustments, and click Next.
| 11. | When you see the Congratulations screen, click Finish.
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From within the Mail
settings, you can choose to prompt for a profile to be used when you
open Outlook. Or, you can choose Always Use This Profile and select the
one you want.
Note
To confirm the connection
status, hold the Ctrl key down and right-click the Outlook icon in your
system tray. Select Connection Status. You should be able to see HTTPS
connections that are established and going through the CAS server we’ve
configured it to use for Mail.
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