Exchange Server Pro » ActiveSync

Publishing Different Geographic ActiveSync URLs using AutoDiscover

Paul Cunningham — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:03:37 +0000

In a comment on the Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync article Carol asks:

What would be your suggestion to have APAC ActiveSync users to go to APAC Exchange Servers and US ActiveSync users to go to the NA Exchange Servers?

Good question Carol.

First of all, there is nothing stopping you from simply making publishing two different DNS names for ActiveSync, one resolving to the server in each region, and having mobile users manually configure the appropriate name in their mobile device settings.

Of course that is not necessarily the best solution. If you’re looking for something that will be less confusion for end users, less of a support issue, and generally more elegant, then fortunately we can also use Autodiscover to publish the different geographic URLs.

Let’s take a closer look at this example scenario, where a head office exists in North America and a branch office exists in Australia.

To demonstrate this solution I’m going to use the Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer and perform the Exchange ActiveSync Autodiscover test.

When you run this test you’ll be prompted to enter an email address, username, password, and answer a CAPTCHA. If you enter the correct details, and assuming Autodiscover is configured properly in your environment and published externally as well, then you’ll get a successful Autodiscover test result.

For a mailbox user in the Head Office site Autodiscover returns a mobilesync URL as follows:

This URL is the same as the external URL configured on the ActiveSync virtual directory for the internet-facing Client Access server in that region.

So, now that we know that Autodiscover will publish this external URL to mobile devices, how do we use that information to solve the geographic URL problem?

The answer to that is in how Client Access servers handle client traffic. The internet-facing Client Access server is configured with an external URL, and will proxy traffic to Client Access servers in other internal sites as required, where those Client Access servers have no external URL configured on their ActiveSync virtual directory.

So at the moment Autodiscover will publish just one external URL for all mobile device users to connect to, and CAS-CAS proxying will handle the connection to the correct site where the mailbox is located.

Technically this can work fine, but perhaps is not the most efficient way for users in that region to access their mailboxes.

In order to have mailbox users in the branch office region connect directly to an internet-facing Client Access server in their own region, we simply configure an external URL on the ActiveSync virtual directory for that server.

When this external URL is defined, the same Exchange ActiveSync Autodiscover test performed above but this time for a branch office users will return a different mobilesync URL.

With this solution in place the mobile device will be configured via Autodiscover to use the server name in that region, which is likely to be the more efficient connection method.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

How to Run Virtual Android Devices for Exchange ActiveSync Training

Paul Cunningham — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:54:29 +0000

If you want to learn more about Exchange ActiveSync one of the problems you may run into is access to mobile devices to do your testing with.

Of course many of us own ActiveSync-capable smart phones or tablets these days, but if you really want to test the full range of Exchange ActiveSync features a separate test device is ideal.

By the way if you’re still not convinced of this, consider what it will mean to your personal smart phone if you decide to test ActiveSync’s remote device wipe capabilities with it

Fortunately there are options available for running virtualized mobile device operating systems. The on that I’ve found to be the simplest and least expensive to run is Google’s Android operating system.

Google makes available for free an Android SDK that includes emulation tools for running simulated Android devices.

Installing the Android SDK

First I will just point out that I run my Android emulator within a virtualized Windows 7 computer. The only reason I do this is because I don’t want to install the required Java components on my laptop. This does result in a slight performance penalty when running the emulator, but I’m willing to put up with that to keep my laptop clean.

These instructions demonstrate how to set up the Android SDK on a Windows 7 32-bit computer. If you are running 64-bit Windows 7 you will need to download the 64-bit versions of the system requirements.

Download the following files to your computer:

Install the JDK first, then run the Android SDK installer. The Android SDK installer will let you know whether the correct Java pre-requisites are already installed.

When setup is complete launch the SDK Manager.

After the Android SDK Manager has launched you will need to download some updates. Click the Packages menu and choose Reload so that the full list of available packages is shown.

I recommend installing the Android SDK Tools, Android SDK Platform-tools, and all of the packages for the version of Android you wish to emulate (4.0.3 in this example).

Select those checkboxes and click Install Packages.

When the packages have installed you can create a virtual device.

Creating an Android Virtual Device

In the Android SDK Manager click the Tools menu and choose Manage AVDs.

Click the New button to create a new virtual device.

Give the device a name and choose a target for the Android version you want to run (4.0.3 in this example). You can also specify an SD Card size and change the resolution if you wish to. Click on Create AVD when you’re ready.

Highlight the newly created virtual device and click Start to launch it. The Android emulator will launch showing a simulated touch screen that you can interact with using mouse and keyboard, as well as simulated hardware buttons (eg Home, Back) and keyboard to the side.

If you already have Exchange 2010 running with ActiveSync configured you can now go ahead and add a new email account to the Android device.

If your server is properly configured then you should see a successful initial sync (though it may take a little while to finish).

If you’re wondering about the random-looking email that is shown above it is from the test lab email generation script I’ve written. You can find the script here if you’re interested in using it in your own test lab.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync

Paul Cunningham — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:29:49 +0000

Exchange ActiveSync is Microsoft’s solution for enabling mobile devices such as smart phones to securely access their email, calendar, contacts and tasks from remote networks.

Exchange ActiveSync is a feature of Exchange Server 2010 that is installed by default when you install the Client Access server role.

This is one of the greatest strengths of Exchange ActiveSync; that it is a built-in feature of Exchange that does not require additional licenses, servers, or software products to be installed in your network or on the end user devices.

This is very attractive for smaller organizations who want the convenience of mobile email access for their staff without having to incur significant additional costs.

With Exchange ActiveSync businesses get the benefits of:

Secure mobile access to email, calendar, contacts and tasks
Support for a wide range of consumer smart phones and devices, keeping costs down by allowing users to utilize their own personal mobile devices
Policy-based control over devices and data, including features such as remote wipe

Here are some more details about the features of ActiveSync in Exchange Server 2010.

Direct Push

Direct Push is an attractive feature for mobile users because it allows a device to be updated instantly when new content is ready to be synchronized.

Although the name “Direct Push” suggests that the server initiates a connection when new content is available, it is the mobile device itself that makes the initial HTTPS request but with a long timeout period of 15 minutes.

Exchange 2010 ActiveSync Direct Push

If the mailbox receives a new item the server responds to the HTTPS request. If the 15 minute timeout lapses the device simply opens a new HTTPS request and the process repeats.

AutoDiscover

Similar to the way AutoDiscover allows an Outlook profile to be automatically configured for a new mailbox user, it also simplifies the configuration of a new mobile device for connectivity to a user’s mailbox.

This helps reduce administrative effort and costs by allowing a user to set up their mobile device to receive email simply by entering their email address and password.

ActiveSync Mailbox Policies

Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policies allow administrators to configure the same features and security settings to apply to each group of users.

Exchange 2010 ActiveSync Policies

This includes settings such as whether email attachments can be downloaded to devices, whether devices require a password to unlock them, and how many days’ worth of mailbox content to keep synchronized on the device.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Windows 8 Mail Client and Exchange ActiveSync Policies

Paul Cunningham — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:58:33 +0000

With the release of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview many tech enthusiasts are installing and exploring the latest operating system from Microsoft today.

In his testing of the Windows 8 Mail client fellow Australian and PowerShell expert Chris Brown has discovered that it appears to use ActiveSync for mailbox connectivity, and support Exchange ActiveSync policies in the process.

: Windows 8 Mail client and Exchange ActiveSync policies

The first thing I did was hook up my personal Office365 account, this was completely seamless. I simply entered my username and password, then within 20 seconds I had an inbox full of email! This, of course, is due to the wonders of the AutoDiscover service built in to Exchange 2010. But this isn’t the most exciting bit. When I decided to connect my corporate Exchange account, I was shown this little message…

To me, this looks a lot like the native Mail client will support Exchange ActiveSync policies!

Check out the full post at Chris’ blog here.

Update: Dave Stork has dug a little deeper into the ActiveSync capabilities in Windows 8.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Coming Soon: The Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync Guide

Paul Cunningham — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:47:01 +0000

Its time to reveal to you what my next project is. Since late 2011 I’ve been slowly acquiring a few devices and mapping out ideas for the next ebook that I’ve been planning to write.

The working title is the Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync Guide, and it will be an ebook on the topic of deploying mobile email access for small to mid-sized businesses using Exchange 2010.

We’re moving more and more towards a “bring your own device” world, especially when it comes to business staff who want access to their email when they are away from the office.

With so many people carrying smartphones around these days it makes a lot of sense to just let them use their own device to check their email.

The hard part is doing it efficiently, securely, and knowing what to do when things go bad.

Sure, there are third party solutions out there that solve some of the issues around device provisioning, data encryption, and administrative control. But they come at a price. And a lot of IT departments these days are running on extremely tight budgets already.

This is Where You Come In

I need your help. I could go ahead and write a guide to all the technical bits and pieces of Exchange 2010 ActiveSync. But I also want to solve your real world problems.

So if you have a few minutes to spare, I would appreciate it if you could answer this very brief survey.

>> Click Here to take the Survey <<

Thanks in advance. And I look forward to writing this guide and making it available to all of you.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

How to Test ActiveSync without a Mobile Phone

Paul Cunningham — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:56:45 +0000

Here is a quick tip for one of the most under-utilized testing tools for Exchange Server 2010. If you ever find yourself needing to test ActiveSync for an Exchange 2010 environment, and you either don’t have an ActiveSync-capable smart phone handy or you’re trying to determine whether the phone you do have might be the problem, you can use the Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer instead.

The Remove Connectivity Analyzer is a web page that lets you test multiple different connectivity types as though you were sitting outside of the network.

There are two tests you can perform:

Exchange ActiveSync – simulates all of the steps that a mobile device would use to connect to Exchange and sync mailbox items. You can perform this test using both Autodiscover and using manually configured server settings.
Exchange ActiveSync Autodiscover – tests just the Autodiscover process for automatically determining the server configuration settings.

Performing each test is as simple as filling out a web form.

The real value in this tool is how it reports on the results of the test. There is a lot that can go wrong with an ActiveSync deployment, such as DNS problems, incorrect firewall rules, misconfigured Exchange 2010 SSL certificates, and more. The Remote Connectivity Analyzer outputs a test report that breaks down each of the steps that it performed and gives you success/error details for each one, letting you know where you need to start any troubleshooting.

This tool has definitely saved me a lot of time and headaches in the past. So next time you’re troubleshooting an ActiveSync problem give the Remote Connectivity Analyzer a go.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Will the EAS Logo Program Impact Your Smartphone Policies?

Paul Cunningham — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:30:43 +0000

When Microsoft announced the Exchange ActiveSync Logo program a few things immediately came to my mind.

If you missed the announcement the EAS Logo program “specifies features and management policies an OEM must include in its Exchange ActiveSync client to ensure an enterprise-ready experience for end users. These functional requirements can also help address the concerns of the IT professional, who must deal with an increasing number of consumer-purchased devices connecting to Exchange.”

The program stipulates the following features and management policies must be implemented to qualify.

Direct Push email, contacts & calendar
Accept, Decline & Tentatively Accept meetings
Rich formatted email (HTML)
Reply/Forward state on email
GAL Lookup
Autodiscover
ABQ strings (device type and device model) provided
Remote Wipe
Password Required
Minimum Password Length
Timeout without User Input
Number of Failed Attempts

One thing you might notice (as I did) is that the Android mobile operating system is missing from the list of devices qualified so far.

I imagine it is up to the handset OEMs to proactively seek qualification for their devices, but these are essentially the same companies that make the Windows Phone 7 devices so this program surely hasn’t come as a surprise to them. There may be some finer detail I’m missing but I can’t spot any differences between Windows Phone 7 and Android 2.2/2.3 in this comparison table as far as features required for EAS Logo go anyway.

It may simply be that since EAS Logo qualification isn’t a requirement of being an ActiveSync licensee (though arguably it should be) that they just aren’t in a rush to seek qualification.

Android is being predicted to own half of the smartphone market by 2012. And with ActiveSync a strong preference among Exchange administrators for mobile access, and the continuing trend towards user-owned smartphones for corporate email access rather than company-owned handsets, IT departments may be under pressure to support devices regardless of the EAS Logo program.

What about you, will the EAS Logo program impact how your company deals with smartphones? Let us know in the comments below.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Poll: Which Exchange mobile access platform do you use?

Paul Cunningham — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:25:46 +0000

Businesses have a lot of choice these days for deploying mobile access for Exchange Server. Each is good in their own way, but I’m interested to know which ones you’re running in your network today. Please vote in the poll below and if you have a particular reason for your choice of platform why not leave a comment as well.

If you’re running or managing more than one you can choose more than one option.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

If you’re reading this in your RSS reader you may need to click through to the post to see the poll.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer Updated

Paul Cunningham — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:08:29 +0000

Microsoft has released an update to the useful Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer. Announced by the MS Exchange Server Team today, the update includes:

New CAPTCHA interface
New tests for Exchange Web Services (useful for testing Entourage for Mac clients) and Outbound SMTP
Updates for Exchange 2010 Outlook Web Access
Password confirmation to reduce test failures from password typos
Removal of the “Beta” label

The tool also has a slick new interface. Check out the differences between the old site and the new site.

Old Exchange Remote Connectivity Test Interface

New Exchange Remote Connectivity Test Interface

Check out the Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer Tool.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Configuring the Exchange Server 2007 Client Access Server

Paul Cunningham — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:04:16 +0000

Last week we looked at how to plan for an Exchange Server 2007 transition, how to prepare and install a new server to host Exchange Server 2007, and how to install the first Exchange Server 2007 server in the organization. This week we continue with configuring the new Exchange server roles, starting with the Client Access Server.

Open the Exchange Management Console and navigate to Server Configuration/Client Access.

Configure Outlook Web Access

Before Outlook Web Access is published to the internet you must enter the external URL. Open the properties of the owa (Default Web Site) and enter the external URL in the field shown here.

If you are publishing via ISA Server select the Authentication tab and choose Use one or more standard authentication methods, setting it to Integrated Authentication and Basic Authentication.

Click OK when complete. A warning will appear that the changes will not take effect until IIS is restarted.

Click OK but don’t worry about restarting IIS yet, we’ll be restarting it soon.

Configure ActiveSync

Similar to Outlook Web Access the ActiveSync external URL must be configured if it is being published to the internet. Choose the Exchange ActiveSync tab and then open the properties of Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync.

Enter the external URL in the field shown here.

Click OK when complete.

Configure Outlook Anywhere

In the Actions pane to the right of the Exchange Management Console click on Enable Outlook Anywhere.

Enter the external host name in the field shown here.

If you are publishing via an ISA Server on the same external IP address as Outlook Web Access then choose Basic Authentication. If you can dedicate an external IP address for publishing Outlook Anywhere then choose NTLM Authentication.

Click Enable when complete. You will receive a warning that Outlook Anywhere will not be available for up to 15 minutes. Click Finish to clear that warning.

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Exchange Server Pro » ActiveSync

Publishing Different Geographic ActiveSync URLs using AutoDiscover

Related posts:

How to Run Virtual Android Devices for Exchange ActiveSync Training

Installing the Android SDK

Creating an Android Virtual Device

Related posts:

Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync

Direct Push

AutoDiscover

ActiveSync Mailbox Policies

Related posts:

Windows 8 Mail Client and Exchange ActiveSync Policies

Related posts:

Coming Soon: The Exchange Server 2010 ActiveSync Guide

This is Where You Come In

Related posts:

How to Test ActiveSync without a Mobile Phone

Related posts:

Will the EAS Logo Program Impact Your Smartphone Policies?

Related posts:

Poll: Which Exchange mobile access platform do you use?

Related posts:

Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer Updated

Related posts:

Configuring the Exchange Server 2007 Client Access Server

Configure Outlook Web Access

Configure ActiveSync

Configure Outlook Anywhere

Related posts: