Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Topic Last Modified: 2012-10-19

AutoDiscover redirection permits the tenant organizations to connect to the hosting organization by using a single instance of AutoDiscover. AutoDiscover redirection also permits all of the tenants to use the same SSL certificate.

In order to use AutoDiscover features with hosted e-mail domains, you must set up and configure a site that will function as a redirector to the main Exchange AutoDiscover Web site. For each hosted e-mail domain that you offer, an alias (CNAME) will be set up in DNS to refer AutoDiscover capabilities to this AutoDiscover Redirection Web site. This AutoDiscover Redirection Web site will redirect the users to the main Exchange AutoDiscover Web site which will then provide the correct information to Outlook clients.

To configure AutoDiscover redirection, you must complete the following steps:

Step 1   Set up the AutoDiscover redirect site

Step 2   Configure the Client Access servers to handle AutoDiscover requests

Step 3   Set up the DNS record for the tenant organization.

This topic documents the first two steps. To set up the DNS record for the tenant organization, see Configure DNS Host Records.

For more information about Autodiscover, see Understanding the Autodiscover Service.

Prerequisites

You must have a server running Internet Information Services (IIS) 7. For more information, see IIS 7 Installation and Deployment.

The Client Access Server and the Domain Controller can't be the same server.

Set up the AutoDiscover redirection site

  1. On the server that will be running IIS and the Autodiscover redirect, install the HTTP Redirection module. For more information, see Configure the Web Server to Redirect Requests to a Relative Destination (IIS 7).

  2. Create a virtual website for Autodiscover redirection.

    1. On the server that is running IIS Manager, start IIS Manager.

    2. In the console tree, expand the server.

    3. Right-click Sites, and then click Add Web Site.

    4. In the Site name field, type AutodiscoverRedirection.

    5. Select a Physical path to the virtual website. For example D:\Autodiscover Redirection.

    6. In the binding section, complete the following options

      Type: HTTP

      IP address: Type or select the explicit IP Address to the redirection server.

    7. Click OK.

  3. Create a virtual directory for Autodiscover redirection.

    1. In the console tree, right-click the AutodiscoverRedirection Web site, and then select Add Virtual Directory.

    2. In the Add Virtual Directory dialog box, specify the following options:

      Alias: Autodiscover

      Physical path: Select the physical path to the virtual directory. This should be a subfolder of the Autodiscover Redirection virtual website that you created in the previous step. For example D:\Autodiscover Redirection\Autodiscover.

    3. Click OK.

  4. Configure HTTP Redirection for Autodiscover.

    1. In the console tree, click the Autodiscover virtual directory. In the results pane, double-click HTTP Redirect.

    2. Select the Redirect requests to this destination checkbox.

    3. Type the autodiscover redirection address. For example, type https://mail.contoso.com/autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml. This address will match the ExternalURL that you will use to configure Client Access servers to handle the Autodiscover requests.

Configure the Client Access servers to handle AutoDiscover requests

  1. Enable Outlook Anywhere by using the Enable-OutlookAnywhere cmdlet. You must specify the following options:

    • DefaultAuthenticationMethod: Basic

    • ExternalHostName: The ExternalHostName specifies the host name that users outside of the organization will connect to Outlook Anywhere. For example, mail.contoso.com.

    • SSLOffloading: $false

    This example enables the server Server01 for Outlook Anywhere. The external host name is set to mail.contoso.com, Basic authentication is used, and SSL offloading is set to $false.

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    Enable-OutlookAnywhere -Server Server01 -ExternalHostname mail.contoso.com -DefaultAuthenticationMethod:Basic -SSLOffloading $False
  2. Configure the AutoDiscover Virtual Directory by using the Set-AutoDiscoverVirtualDirectory cmdlet. You must specify the following options:

    • BasicAuthenication: $true

    • InternalURL: The URL that is used to connect to the virtual directory from outside the organization. Use /autodiscover at the end of the URL to specify the autodiscover virtual directory.

    • ExternalURL: The URL that is used to connect to the virtual directory from inside the organization. Use /autodiscover at the end of the URL to specify the autodiscover virtual directory.

    This example sets the InternalURL and ExternalURL of the default autodiscover virtual directory to https://mail.contoso.com/autodiscover with basic authentication enabled.

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    Set-AutodiscoverVirtualDirectory -Identity 'autodiscover (default Web site)' -ExternalURL 'https://mail.contoso.com/autodiscover' -InternalURL 'https://mail.contoso.com/autodiscover' -BasicAuthentication $true
  3. Set the OAB Virtual Directory by using the Set-OABVirtualDirectory cmdlet. You must specify the following options:

    • RequireSSL: $true

    • InternalURL: The InternalURL specifies the URL that is used to connect to the virtual directory from inside of the organization. Use /OAB at the end of the URL to specify the OAB virtual directory.

    • ExternalURL: The ExternalURL specifies the URL that is used to connect to the virtual directory from outside of the organization. Use /OAB at the end of the URL to specify the OAB virtual directory.

    • BasicAuthentication: $true

    This example sets the default OAB virtual directory that resides on Server01 to require SSL, and sets the internal URL and external URL to https://www.contoso.com/OAB. It also sets the authentication method to basic authentication.

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    Set-OABVirtualDirectory -Identity "Server1\OAB (Default Web Site)" -ExternalUrl "https://www.contoso.com/OAB" -InternalURL -BasicAuthentication $true -RequireSSL $true
  4. Set the Web Services Virtual Directory by using the Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory cmdlet. You must specify the following settings:

    • ExternalURL: The ExternalURL specifies the URL that is used to connect to the virtual directory from outside of the organization. Use /EWS/Exchange.asmx at the end of the URL to specify the web services virtual directory.

    • InternalURL: The InternalURL specifies the URL that is used to connect to the virtual directory from inside of the organization. Use /EWS/Exchange.asmx at the end of the URL to specify the web services virtual directory.

    • BasicAuthentication: $true

    This example sets the authentication method to Basic authentication for the virtual directory EWS on the server SERVER01. This example also sets the external and internal URLs for this virtual directory to https://www.contoso.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx.

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    Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -Identity "SERVER01\EWS(default Web site)"-BasicAuthentication $true -ExternalUrl https://www.contoso.com/EWS/exchange.asmx -InternalUrl https://www.contoso.com/EWS/exchange.asmx