With the release of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, users of
Macintosh computers can use the built-in Mail, iCal, and Address Book
client that provides a tightly integrated support for email access and
synchronization of email messages, address book information, and
calendar information.
Mac OS X Mail uses IMAP
as the standard communication method between Mac Mail and Exchange
Server. A Macintosh user can access Exchange Server content, transfer
the information to the Macintosh, or download the information and leave a
copy of the information on the Exchange server.
Note
Usually, users
download their information to their Mac Mail and leave a copy on the
Exchange server, so that if the user needs to access his email from the
Microsoft Exchange OWA client, or uses a different mail client on a
different system, all of the user’s information remains on the Exchange
server for subsequent download and access.
Understanding Mac Mail Support for Exchange Server
Mac
OS X Mail is simply an IMAP mail client for Exchange Server and
requires the Macintosh computer to have TCP/IP connectivity to the
Exchange server and Active Directory authentication to the Active
Directory network in which Exchange Server resides. This allows for the
support of Mac-to-Exchange integration while a Macintosh is on the local
area network (LAN) backbone or while the Macintosh user is mobile.
To access the Exchange
server on the LAN, a user needs to have TCP/IP access to the Exchange
server, whether that is directly on the network subnet as the Exchange
server, or with appropriate routes from where the user is connected to
the Exchange server.
While mobile, the
TCP/IP access of the Macintosh user is handled through the same network
connection address as OWA. OWA should be configured with Secure Sockets
Layer (SSL)–encrypted access for improved security. As long as users can
access their mailbox externally using OWA, they can configure their
Macintosh to access the OWA port to download and synchronize mail to the
Mac OS X Mail client.
Configuring Mac Mail Support on Exchange Server 2010
To configure support for
Mac Mail on the Exchange Server 2010 side, all the organization needs to
do is set up Exchange Server 2010 to support OWA and enable IMAP on
Exchange Server. OWA is configured by default in Exchange Server 2010,
and most organizations already have OWA operating in the environment.
With OWA already functional in an Exchange Server 2010 environment, all
that needs to be done is to configure and enable IMAP support on
Exchange Server.
Unlike the RTM release
of Exchange Server 2007 that did not provide IMAP configuration support
from the graphical user interface (GUI), Exchange Server 2007 SP1, SP2,
and Exchange Server 2010 provide direct GUI configuration settings
within the Exchange Management Console to enable IMAP support.
Configuration of a user client to support IMAP in Exchange Server 2010
using the Exchange Management Shell is as follows:
set-CASMailbox testmbx -ImapEnabled:$True
where testmbx is the name of the mailbox being enabled for IMAP support.
Configuring Mac Mail on a Mac OS X System
With IMAP support enabled
on Exchange Server 2010, the user just needs to configure the Mac Mail
client on OS X. To configure the Mac Mail client on Mac OS X, do the
following:
1. | Launch Mac Mail on an OS X system.
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2. | Click Mail, Preferences, and then click Accounts.
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3. | Click Add Account.
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4. | When
prompted to choose an account type, click up and down on the scroll
option and select Exchange, similar to what is shown in Figure 1.
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5. | On
the Accounts Information page, type the name of the Outlook Web App
server used by users to access Outlook Web App in the Incoming Mail
Server field (such as owa.companyabc.com).
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6. | Enter the user’s logon name and password to access Exchange Server.
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7. | In
the Outlook Web App Server field, type the name of the Outlook Web App
server, which will likely be the exact same name as referenced in step
5.
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8. | Click OK and then click OK again to save the settings.
|
After the Mac
Mail configuration settings have been set, the user can now synchronize
with the Exchange server to download Exchange Server content information
with the network.
Because of the
simplicity of the Mac Mail client, and also because it is included free
with the Mac OS X operating system and provides direct support right to
Exchange Server, most organizations use the Mac Mail client as a simple
and effective mail client for Exchange Server.
