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How can I
configure Outlook 2003 to use RPC over
HTTP/S?
RPC over HTTP/S is a cool
method for connecting your Outlook 2003
client to the corporate Exchange Server
2003 from the Internet or WAN, without
the need to establish a VPN session to
the corporate LAN and/or needing to open
many ports on your corporate firewall.
The only ports you'll need to open on
your firewall are TCP 80 and, if using
SSL, TCP 443.
The process of setting up
the RPC over HTTP/S connection is
outlined in the Setting up RPC over
HTTP/S on a Single Server article.
After configuring RPC
over HTTP/S you'll need to configure
your Outlook 2003 client to use the RPC
over HTTP/S connection method instead of
the regular TCP/IP method.
To set up a new Outlook
profile that uses RPC over HTTP/S:
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Open Control Panel
and run the Mail applet.
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In the Mail applet
click on Show Profiles.
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In the Mail
window click on Add.
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In the New Profile
window type a descriptive name and
click Ok.
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In the E-Mail
Accounts window select Add a
new e-mail account and click
Next.
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In the E-Mail
Accounts window, select
Microsoft Exchange Server and
click Next.
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In the E-Mail
Accounts window, under the
Microsoft Exchange Server box,
type the NetBIOS name (see
table) of the Exchange server. Next,
in the User Name box type the logon
name of the test user account, the
one you'll be connecting with.
Although pressing the Check Name
button will probably work in the LAN
environment, it will NOT work on the
WAN, so basically there is no point
in pressing it. Next click More
Settings.
Note: In this
test scenario I recommend NOT to use
Cached Mode. We're working on the
LAN, our network connection is
steady and fast, and this is only a
test account. However, in WAN
scenarios where a user needs to
connect to his or her mailbox from
their portable computer - you should
use Cached Mode.
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In the Microsoft
Exchange Server window, go to
the Connection tab. Notice
that you should have a section
called "Exchange over the Internet"
at the bottom of the tab. If this
section does not appear, it means
that you might not have met the
requirements for setting up an RPC
over HTTP/S connection. See the
"Client Requirements" section on the
Configure RPC over HTTP/S on a
Single Server page.
In the Exchange
over the Internet section click
to select the Connect to my
Exchange mailbox using HTTP, and
then click on the Exchange Proxy
Settings button.
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In the Exchange
Proxy Settings tab in the
Connection Settings box, type the
FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain
Name) of the Exchange server.
Note: For LAN
testing you can type the internal
FQDN of the server. For WAN
connections you MUST type the
external FQDN of the server. See
Testing RPC over HTTP/S Connection
for more on this issue. The external
FQDN of the server is the fully
qualified domain name that is used
by the Outlook clients to connect to
the server from outside the LAN, and
must be resolved to the IP address
of the server, or in most cases,
resolved to the IP address of your
Firewall (or NAT device) that is
configured to transfer the requests
to the internal IP address of the
Exchange 2003 server.
Note for scenarios
where the Exchange 2003 server is
NOT the RPC Proxy: In cases
where the RPC Proxy is installed on
a different server, the FQDN typed
in this box should be of the RPC
Proxy server, and NOT of the
Exchange server!
If you want, click to
select the checkbox near "On fast
networks...", and keep the
selected checkbox near the "On
slow networks..." settings.
In most scenarios
you'll need to select the Basic
Authentication setting in the
Proxy Authentication settings
drop-down list. If you do, notice
that you MUST use an SSL-based
connection, and you will have to
configure a Digital Certificate for
your Default Website. Read Configure
SSL on Your Website with IIS for
more on this issue.
Very important
note regarding SSL: When using
SSL (and I recommend you do), you
must issue a Digital Certificate to
your Exchange server. A Digital
Certificate needs to be obtained
from a CA (Certification Authority).
Windows 2000/2003 has a built-in CA
that can be installed and used,
however, when issuing a Digital
Certificate from your internal CA
you MUST be 100% sure that the
client computers that are going to
connect to the server are properly
configured to trust this CA. Most
operating systems are pre-configured
to trust known 3rd-party CAs such as
Verisign, Thawte and others. However
unless these computers are made
members of the Active Directory
domain where you've installed your
CA, they will NOT automatically
trust your CA, and thus your
connection will fail! In such
scenarios you must import the ROOT
CA Digital Certificate into the
client computers in order to make
them trust your CA. When using
3rd-party trusted CAs in most cases
you won't be required to import
anything to the client computers,
however you will be required to pay
a few hundred dollars for such a
Digital Certificate.
When done, click
Ok.
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Back in the
Microsoft Exchange Server window
click Ok.
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Back in the E-Mail
Accounts window click Next.
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Back in the Mail
window, click to select Prompt
for a profile to be used (unless
you only have one profile, duh...),
then click Ok.
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