Some of you probably wonder how you can simplify the Outlook Web App (OWA) URL on your Exchange 2010 Client Access servers?
With IIS 7.0 at our disposal, it’s much simpler than it was with Exchange 2007 installed on Windows Server 2003. Just like its the case with Exchange 2007 installed on Windows Server 2008, you no longer need to use an IIS redirect HTML file. Instead, you can use the “HTTP Redirect” feature in IIS 7.0.
You can find this by clicking on the Default Web Site in the IIS Manager as shown below.
Clicking on “HTTP Redirect” brings you to the below screen. Here you should check “Redirect requests to this destination” and enter the absolute path to OWA (e.g. https://mail.exchangelabs.dk/owa). Also make sure you check “Only redirect requests to content in this directory (not subdiretories) and make sure the selected status code is “Found (302)”. Then click “Apply”.
Because any redirection configured on the Default Web Site is propagated to the lower-level vdirs, you must remove the redirection setting on all existing vdirs. You do this by click on each vdir and opening the “HTTP Redirect” button. Now simply uncheck “Redirect requests to this destination” followed by clicking “Apply”.
There’s only one more step and that is to disable the SSL requirement on the Default Web Site. This is done by selecting the Default Web Site and clicking on the SSL button in the Features View as shown below.
On the SSL Settings page, uncheck “Require SSL”.
If you don’t uncheck the SSL requirement, you will get an HTTP 403 Forbidden: Access is denied error.
Now open the Exchange Management Shell or a Command Prompt window, and issue an “IISReset /noforce”
Finally let’s test whether automatic redirection works properly. To do so let’s launch our favorite browser supported by OWA Premium (Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox) and enter: mail.domain.com (in my example mail.exchangelabs.dk) and viola:
Note
If you’re transitioning from Exchange 2003, make sure you don’t remove the pre-configured redirect setting on the /Exchange, /ExchWeb, and /Public vdirs.
Cheers,
Henrik Walther
Technology Architect/Writer
MCM: Exchange 2007 | MVP: Exchange Architecture
MCITP: EMA + EA | MCSE: M + S | TechNet Influent
