I haveexchange 2007 server installed and last night I just installed SP1. What I am trying to accomplish here is rather simple but for some reason it has been kicking my butt. What I wan't to do is publish OWA externally. Internally it works great I can use https://servername.domain/owa and it pulls up great. I have setup their home website HTTP in IIS and this works great too.So how do I set this up so I can hit this externally? Can I take the OWA out of the default websites? I have created a certificate already, this is working as far as I know. I have tried creating a new virtual directory and pointing it with the same settings within OWA under default web site. This does not work it asks me if i'm sure I want to continue after I enter the external URL then the page that displays is "under construction" so I guess my question is how do I configure the internal default OWAwebsite to be hit externally from the web? Can I duplicate OWA out of the default directory into its own so it can be hit externally? In exchange managament under client and OWA I have set the external address as well. What exactly am I missing here? Do I have to setup a redirect if so how can I accomplish this? Any help is appreciated Thanks, Jake

WOW... doesnt look like we are going to get much help... i have the same issue. did you figure it out? Thanks

I did figure it out. If your Reverse DNS is setup to hit your mail server it works like this. Because it automatically puts OWA into the default website if you can hit your server from a URL or IP then you just have to add /owa on the end of it. For instance https://mail.domainname.com/owa So what I did is just setup a link on the corporate website to go to this URL and it works great. Also double check your permission settings if you have not messed with them DON'T! They are already configured correctly. Also I installed the certificate function on the server to send out its own cert. Good Luck, Jake

Great, thanks I will give this a try. Funny thing you mention the permission thing now, i should have read this 20 minutes ago. I now get a 440 Login timeout when i go to my https://domain.com/owa brutal, this Exchange thing seems pretty finicky! I will let you know how it goes. I have a Dyn DNS mail relay because my ISP blocks port 25 in. so it works great i can send and receive email to and from my domain but i still havent got the OWA EXTERNAL thing working. I think in all my efforts i made things worse. thanks

Hi, Did you use ISA server to push out OWA? i am not running ISA. I am not sure what i am doing wrong everything internally works.

Nope just runnning IIS 6.0 If it works internally just fine I would double check your website make sure that is working properly another thing that I did was onmy firewall change the SSL port to 444 instead of 443 if you are hitting the firewall HTTPS when you try it before you make the change. Because OWA uses the port 443 for the SSL connection. If it works internally I would try this if you have ran into it. If IIS is setup correctly and OWA is in the default website with no settings changed. You should be able to hit it internally (which you can) then double check your DNS settings. What happens when you type the IP address in the URL? Also have you tried it from another IP address? (An outside WAN IP like an air card etc) https://xx.xxx.xxx.xx/owa if that does not work OWA is not configured correctly in the default website list or the permissions are screwy. If you google search OWA permissions I would set them all back to default. Good Luck, Jake

Hey! Ok so thanks for the reply. I got an update. I disable SSL and i can Externally get to the http://webmail.domain.com/owa but when i have SSL enabled i get to the please use https:// page so i add https at the start /owa and it says page cannto be displayed. hmmm. I am using a Verisign Trial SSL for testing purposes and will purchase once i get working ok, but as for now i am really trying to get this thing up and running. I have googled so much and it seems i am set up right. I guess my question remians this: I am using EX 2007. I go to the CAS Role and right click and see my internal url. and perhaps i am not sure what my external URL should be there in where it says External. I got it as https://webmail.domain.com/owa which seems to be working ok because internally it works, although i do geta certificate error i click continue anywyas and boom! it works im at the OWA login page. However externally when i get to the site i click continue when i see the certificate error and it says page cant be displayed (i am using IE) any ideas? as my DNS is working cuz u can externally hit my site without SSL but when its on it asks for HTTPS then page cant be displayed. thanks

I was having that same problem with the HTTPS what is the exact page that displays what error is it? Because you are almost there all that is left is the proper security settings. Everything else sounds like its good to go. You are right the external URL under OWA in EX 07 is going to be your https://webmail.domain.com/owa just double check your cert and I can tell because I had the same problem that its just your security permissions if you arent hitting the OWA through HTPS. Good Luck, Jake

Permissions for IIS? as in the default website? hmm what are your permissions? I used all default, one might think that would work. So what exactly did you do to fix it? Im affraid if i keep messing around i will break it like last time i did something and for the life of me i couldnt get it back to normal OWA page said ERROR... so i had to uninstall IIS reinstall it and then uninstall and reinstall the CAS Role. So since this is going to be a production server i want to avoid doing that incase. You have been very helpful, thanks. I just need to get this SSL working, i even disabled the option "Require 128 bit encryption" and i still got the page cannot be displayed warning. but it does hit the server. same when i used the https://ip address/owa hmmm..... why isnt there something written about this anywhere. your question was the only one i found at the start of my search

Sorry I just replied a big old long response about my security and it asked me to resign into live and it got deleted. Under OWA with properties I just have basic auth then my domain. Default website will have Anonomys enabled. Good Luck, Jake

aww brutal! damn those timeouts! haha. So i checked and my OWA is Basic and my Default site is Anono as well. ... hmm where does this leave me i have went over so many options witha fine tooth comba nd still cant figure this out. I even rebooted the server just in case. this is crazy i really dont know whats going on. Microsoft just refered me to Technet.. and we all know how useful those are so yea... if you can think of anything else id appreciate it. not to bug you, as you have already been a greta help and thanks

Sounds like you are having the same amount of fun I was when it wasn't working I don't know what else to tell you if it works internally you should be good to go you just have to make sure your reverse dns is setup through your ISP as mail.domain.com etc. and your DNS if you can hit your server from the IP address it should be fine. Double check your firewall policy to allow HTTPS in or it won't work as well. Good Luck, Jake

DUUUUUUUDE! Your a god send! OMG! thanks a million. Ok, are you ready for this.. i hope your sitting down for a good laugh! You know how i mentioned it worked with SSL internally... well i didnt have my Router forwarding port 443 (SSL) to the server. OMG i was so mixed up with the Exchange configuration and doing it properly that i overlooked the simple fact that i didnt port forward. You are the man! Thanks a bunch it works like a charm now and i owe it to you! can i rate you as a contributor or something? A++ THANKS AGAIN! to anyone else having this issue. OLA with SSL NOT working.. read this thread its the best on the internet i swear!

LOL Don't you hate that when its something simple like that! HAHA glad you got it working... Of course that was the last thing I thought of was the port forwarding. Yeah give me some good kudos Thanks, Jake

Kudos it is! Consider it done! haha if you need anything dont hesitate to ask, i am usually pretty good with things. This time you helped me.. next time i hope i can. CHeers