Unless specified otherwise, the procedures in this section
work with desktop computers running Windows 7 or later as well as
server operating systems running Windows Server 2008 R2 or later.
Additionally, unless noted otherwise, the procedures work with Outlook
2007, Outlook 2010, and Outlook 2013.
Understanding address lists, offline address books, and autodiscover
Address lists are collections of recipients in an Exchange
organization. Offline address books (OABs) are copies of address lists
that are downloaded and cached on a computer so an Outlook user can
access the address book while disconnected from the Exchange
organization.
Every Exchange organization has a global address list and a default
OAB. In the Exchange organization, address lists reside in Active
Directory. If mobile users are disconnected from the Internet, they are
unable to access the address lists stored on Exchange Online. If mobile
users are disconnected from the corporate network, they are unable to
access the address lists stored on Exchange 2013. To allow users to
continue working when disconnected from the network, Exchange 2013 and
Exchange Online generate offline address books and make them accessible
to Outlook clients so that they can be downloaded and cached for use
while working offline.
Although Exchange 2013 and Exchange Online continue to support
public folders, public folders are not required for access to the
global address list or the OAB. Exchange 2013 and Exchange Online
provide these features through a web-based distribution point. Outlook
clients use the web-based distribution point to obtain the global
address list and the OAB automatically.
Exchange Online largely
manages the default address lists and OABs automatically. On-premises
Exchange, however, includes many configuration options, as discussed in
the remainder of this section.
A designated Mailbox server, referred to as the generation server,
is responsible for creating and updating the OABs. OAB data is produced
by the Microsoft Exchange OABGen Service and stored in a special
arbitration mailbox with the persisted capability
“OrganizationCapabilityOABGen.” When a client initiates an OAB
distribution request, the request is directed through a Client Access
server that routes the request to the Mailbox server hosting the OAB
data. The OAB data is then distributed directly from the Mailbox server
to the client.
Outlook 2007 and later as well as some mobile devices use the
Autodiscover service to automatically configure themselves for access
to Exchange. Outlook relies on DNS lookups to locate a host service
(SRV) resource record for the Autodiscover service, then uses the
user’s credentials to authenticate to Active Directory and search for
the Autodiscover connection points. After retrieving the connection
points, the client connects to the first Client Access server in the
list and obtains the profile information. The connection point uses the
globally unique identifier (GUID) for the user’s mailbox plus the at
symbol (@) and the domain portion of the user’s primary SMTP address.
The profile information includes the user’s display name, the location
of the user’s mailbox server, connection settings for internal and
external connectivity, Outlook Anywhere settings, and the URLs for
Outlook features including those for free-busy data, the OAB, and
Unified Messaging.
When you install a Client Access server, an Autodiscover virtual
directory is created on the default website in Internet Information
Services (IIS), and an internal URL is set up for automatic discovery
and other features, such as the OAB (which can be automatically
discovered as well). Typically, the Autodiscover URL is either https://domain/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml or https://autodiscover.domain/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml, where domain is your organization’s primary SMTP domain address, such as https://autodiscover.pocket-consultant.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml.
When you deploy multiple Client Access servers, a connection point is
created for each. This connection point stores the server’s fully
qualified domain name (FQDN) in the form https://servername/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml, where servername is the FQDN of the Client Access server, such as https://server18.pocket-consultant.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml.
The OAB virtual directory is the web-based distribution point for
the OAB. By default, when you install a Client Access server, this
directory is created on the default website in IIS and configured for
internal access. You can specify an external URL as well. Typically,
the internal URL is set as https://servername/OAB, where servername is the FQDN of the Client Access server, such as https://server18.pocket-consultant.com/OAB.
For Outlook Anywhere to be automatically configured by using the
Autodiscover service, external users running Outlook 2007 or later
clients must have a valid Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate on the
Internet-facing Client Access server that includes both the common
name, such as mail.pocket-consultant.com, and a Subject Alternative
name for the Autodiscover service, such as
autodiscover.pocket-consultant.com. Also, the external URLs for the
offline address book, Exchange Web Services, and Outlook Anywhere must
be configured.
To
configure the external URL for the OAB, you can use the -ExternalUrl
parameter of the Set-OABVirtualDirectory cmdlet. In the following
example, you set the OAB external URL and configure it for use with SSL:
Set-OABVirtualDirectory -identity "CASServer01\OAB (Default Web Site)"
-externalurl https://mail.pocket-consultant.com/OAB -RequireSSL $true
To configure the external URL for Exchange Web Services, you can use
the -ExternalUrl parameter of the Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory
cmdlet. The following example sets the Exchange Web Services external
URL and configures it for use with basic authentication:
Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -identity "CASServer01\EWS (Default Web
Site)" -externalurl https://mail.pocket-consultant.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx
-BasicAuthentication $True
To configure the external host name for Outlook Anywhere, you can
use the -ExternalHostname parameter of Set-OutlookAnywhere. The
following example sets the external host name and configures
authentication:
Set-OutlookAnywhere -Server CASServer01 -ExternalHostname
"mail.pocket-consultant.com" -ExternalClientAuthenticationMethod Negotiate
-InternalClientAuthenticationMethod NTLM
-IISAuthenticationMethods Basic, NTLM, Negotiate
-SSLOffloading $False
Once you’ve configured Autodiscover, OAB, and EWS, you can test
these services by using Test-OutlookWebServices. Here is an example:
Test-OutlookWebServices -ClientAccessServer "CASServer01"
