Create a URL for Outlook Web Access

Method 2: Allocate an IPAddress
Another way to assign one URL to your OWA server is to allocate an IP address specifically for OWA and assign this IP address to the IIS server. This approach is appropriate when the IIS server hosts Web pages in addition to OWA.

Configuring OWA with a specific IP address lets administrators move OWA to another server at any time. To move OWA, you need only unassign the IP address associated with the URL and reassign it to the new server. Follow these steps.

1. Assign a second IP address. If you assign a second IP address, the new Web site has a unique IP address and port. IIS Web sites must have a unique IP address/port combination. IIS automatically assigns the default Web site the IP address of the server's NIC.


Allocate a second IP address to your IIS server and assign it to the URL for your company OWA site. In my example, I have an IIS server with an IP address of 192.192.192.1, and I add 192.192.192.2 as a second IP address. To add an IP address in Windows 2000, select Start, Settings, Network and Dial-up Connections, Local Area Connection. Choose Properties, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then Properties. Click Advanced, then select Add. In NT 4.0, double-click the Control Panel Network applet. On the Protocols tab, double-click the TCP/IP Protocol. Click Properties, then select Advanced. Click Add to add the second IP address.


2. Create a new Web site. To create a new Web site, open the ISM, right-click on the IIS server in the left pane, and select New, New Web Site. When the New Web Site Creation Wizard appears, click Next.



3. Enter the description of your Web site. In the Web Site Creation Wizard screens that Figure 2 shows, enter an appropriate name for the Web site (e.g., webmail.xyz.com) in the left dialog box. Click Next, and in the right dialog box, assign the second IP address (e.g., 192.192.192.2) to this Web site. Click Next.



4. Assign the directory path. In the next two wizard screens, which Figure 3 shows, create an empty directory location for the new Web site in the left dialog box. This location can be a subdirectory of the default root directory for IIS (e.g., C:\inetpub\web mail). Click Next. In the right dialog box, set the site access permissions by selecting the Read, Run scripts (such as ASP), and Execute (such as ISAPI applications or CGI) check boxes.



5. Add the Internet Server API filter. The Internet Server API (ISAPI) filter for Exchange (exchfilt.dll) handles localization. The filter detects the preferred language settings on the originating browser and either adjusts OWA accordingly or sends a message that the language isn't available.


To add the ISAPI filter, right-click the new Web site and select Properties. On the ISAPI Filters tab, which Figure 4 shows, click Add. In the Filter Properties dialog box, enter the filter's name and path.


6. Create the Exchange virtual directory, enter the directory path, and set permissions. Now, recreate the Exchange virtual directory that OWA requires in the new Web site. Right-click your new Web site, and select New, Virtual Directory. At the prompt in the New Virtual Directory Creation Wizard, enter Exchange as the alias for the virtual directory. On the next wizard screen, enter the directory path to your exchsrvr\webdata directory (e.g., C:\exchsrvr\webdata).


On the next screen, set the access permissions by selecting the Read, Run scripts (such as ASP), and Execute (such as ISAPI applications or CGI) check boxes. You now have an Exchange virtual directory in IIS similar to that which Figure 5 shows.
7. Redirect the Web site root. Redirecting the Web site root lets users enter the OWA URL (i.e., webmail.xyz.com) on their browser's address line. IIS then redirects the URL to the Exchange virtual directory and applies SSL security, if your site uses it.


Right-click your new Web site, and select Properties to bring up the dialog box you see in Figure 6. Under When connecting to this resource, the content should come from on the Virtual Directory tab, select A redirection to a URL. In the Redirect to text box, enter the URL of your new Web site and add /exchange at the end of the URL. Under The client will be sent to, select the A directory below this one and A permanent redirection for this resource check boxes.


8. Set the directory security. In the ISM, right-click the Exchange virtual directory in the new Web site, and select Properties. On the Directory Security tab, ensure that you've set file access permissions to Anonymous access and Basic authentication.



9. Stop and restart the IIS Admin and Web services. To apply the changes, you need to stop and restart the IIS services. In Win2K, go to My Computer, Manage. In NT, go to the Control Panel Services applet. Stop and restart IIS Admin Service and World Wide Web Publishing Service.


After you restart the services, test your work by opening your Web browser and entering your URL (e.g., webmail.xzy.com) to access OWA. The configuration automatically redirects the URL to http://webmail.xyz.com/ exchange/logon.asp.

The Web-exclusive sidebar "Customize Your Logon and Logoff Screens" on the Exchange Administrator Web site (http://www.exchangeadmin.com/) explains how you can display attractive OWA screens for your company (as Web Figure 1 shows) and provides Active Server Pages (ASP) code (Web Listing 1 and Web Listing 2) for implementing logon and logoff screens in Exchange Server 5.5 OWA. As the sidebar "OWA in Exchange 2000" explains, Exchange 2000 doesn't use ASP-based banner pages. The sidebar outlines the downstream effect for Exchange 2000 of adopting the procedures in this article.

Simplify Your Deployment
Establishing a URL for OWA helps simplify your deployment of this service to your users. The methods I present here have minimal effect as systems architecture changes. Through one OWA namespace, users need to know only one URL, even if you add and remove servers and mailboxes.