Web acccess in Exchange 2003

[leco]

Could anyone explain in step by step idiot terms how to set up web access?

 

The school is inside YHGfL so I'm guessing that I need to be able to get through that? I have a URL to access my uni web mail, so I'm again guessing that I'll need one for school, but I've no idea what it would/should be. The articles that I have read on this subject don't actually give me enough information.

 

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

[Jamman960]

You'll basically need to get the LA to open up ports 80 & 443 on your external IP(usually a slow process from what I've heard) and sort out any nessesary port forwarding on your end then arrange for for a subdomain to be setup pointing towards your web server.

 

Ideally you'll also get an SSL cert for the domain.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Jamman960

[mb2k01]

Hi Leco,

 

Is OWA already working within the network (i.e. can you log on to a station and browse to http://servername/exchange and login?) and simply asking how to access outside?

 

Or, do you not use OWA inside either, and want to know how to set it up from scratch?

[leco]

You'll basically need to get the LA to open up ports 80 & 443 on your external IP

This bit I understand.

and sort out any nessesary port forwarding on your end

This bit I can find out about.

then arrange for a subdomain to be setup pointing towards your web server.

Now you've lost me completely - is this separate from or part of the Exchange Server?

[mb2k01]

This bit I understand. This bit I can find out about. Now you've lost me completely - is this separate from or part of the Exchange Server?

 

Who ownes your school domain name?

If it's your broadband provider (YGFL did you say?) then you'd get in touch with them and ask them to create a subdomain (mail.domainname.com). They would also need to give you a public IP address linked to the domain which then links to the private IP address of your Exchange server

[leco]

Who ownes your school domain name?

If it's your broadband provider (YGFL did you say?) then you'd get in touch with them and ask them to create a subdomain (mail.domainname.com). They would also need to give you a public IP address linked to the domain which then links to the private IP address of your Exchange server

 

I think the school owns the domain name, at least it is registered to the school. So does that mean I could set up my own subdomain? I'd still need to link it to the public IP though, that's the one that everything gets sent to, right?

[mb2k01]

I think the school owns the domain name, at least it is registered to the school. So does that mean I could set up my own subdomain? I'd still need to link it to the public IP though, that's the one that everything gets sent to, right?

 

If you go to Whois.net and type in your domain name it will tell you who owns it.

If it is schoolname.localauthority.sch.uk then it will most likely be the local authority provider that registered it for you and the people who need to register a sub domain and sort out the public IP addressing for you.

[leco]

If you go to Whois.net and type in your domain name it will tell you who owns it.

If it is schoolname.localauthority.sch.uk then it will most likely be the local authority provider that registered it for you and the people who need to register a sub domain and sort out the public IP addressing for you.

 

It is a .sch.uk address so the LEA is the first port of call. Thanks for this, I'll contact the ICT help desk on Monday, when I'm back in school.

Edited April 15, 2009 by leco
spelling

[steve]

I've done this with YHGfL and it works great once its all in place.

 

First check you can see your email server via the web interface internally.

 

http://exchange_server/exchange

 

For external access you'll need a subdomain. We use webmail.school.LA.sch.uk

 

Decide what you want it to be and find out who can change it for you.

 

If you manage your schools domain name then you can do this yourself - typically you'll need to contact the company that manages it on your behalf - the ISP / webhost you use.

 

You can use Nominet UK to find who manages your domain (the registrar).

 

Before you setup the subdomain you'll need to know the ip address it will point to.

 

At this point you need to contact YHGfL and ask the to setup a reverse proxy to the IP address of your email server where you can access the exhange web interface. Ask them to set it up on port 443 (https). Also find out from YHGfL what IP address you need to point your subdomain to and find out what format they want your certificate sending in.

 

Pass the reverse proxy IP address from YHGfL on to your domain registrar.

 

Now you need to secure your exchange web interface with a certificate.

 

I use Cheap SSL Certificate, 256 Bit SSL Encryption, Buy Secure United Kingdom you can use someone else and just use the instructions on their site. They also offer a free 30 day trial too if you just want to see if it works.

 

Once you have a certificate, as well as applying it to your server, you'll need to send a copy of it to YHGfL for their reverse proxy. They may ask for it in a funny format so make sure when generating your cert you keep bear this in mind.

[leco]

That's brilliant, thanks Steve. The domain name is registered to the school and the registrar is YHGfL so that should make it a little easier. When I've fully digested your post, I'm a slow thinker, I'll make a plan for when I'm back in school. Very many thanks.

[Oops_my_bad]

A few things I have done to make peoples life easier, redirect http://webmail.domain.com (so that's all they have to type in) to https://webmail.domain.com/exchange (a guide for that here)

 

Then you can enable forms based authentication

 

You can get SSL certificates from ipsca They provide free certs to educational institutions which last 2 years. You can renew for free as well. Ignore the .edu requirement, we got them no problem (I think they visit your website to verify your status).

[FragglePete]

Who ownes your school domain name?

If it's your broadband provider (YGFL did you say?) then you'd get in touch with them and ask them to create a subdomain (mail.domainname.com). They would also need to give you a public IP address linked to the domain which then links to the private IP address of your Exchange server

 

Don't use mail.domainname.com but use something like email.domainname.com which I have found out to my cost. ....

 

Set this subdomain up for our own OWA access but for some reason SWGfL couldn't setup an e-mail forwarder for me on this domain as they use 'mail' subdomain purely for e-mail flow. Had to get the dns changed to 'email'.

 

Also, do you need port 80 open for OWA on Exchange 2003? I've setup OWA access purely on port 443 only and it works well, but I'm using Exchange 2007.

 

HTH

 

Pete

[meastaugh1]

Also, do you need port 80 open for OWA on Exchange 2003? I've setup OWA access purely on port 443 only and it works well, but I'm using Exchange 2007.

 

No it's the same, 443 by itself is just fine for 2003 too.

[leco]

Thanks guys, your help is much appreciated, I hadn't realised there would be so many aspects to consider! Still very little worthwhile is over-easy.

In no particular order:

• internal web interface
  
• sub-domain
  
• SSL certificate
  
• port opening
  
• forwarding
  
• public IP
  
• reverse proxy
  
• form authentication
  
• redirection
  

Anything else I've not listed?

[apeo]

Heres some info on how to setup FBA and you can find answers to some of your other questions too.

 

Configuring Forms-Based Authentication in OWA and Exchange 2003