Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Topic Last Modified: 2012-07-23

Users in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 organizations can share calendar availability (free/busy) information with users in non-Exchange organizations and other individuals with Internet access. In versions of Exchange earlier than Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1), sharing calendar availability information required you to either:

These methods often resulted in limited sharing capabilities, required complex setup and ongoing maintenance, and were limited solely to sharing calendar availability information between Exchange organizations.

In Exchange 2010, Internet calendar publishing provides increased flexibility and increases the number of users who can share calendar availability information. Enabling Internet calendar publishing consists of three general steps:

  1. Configure the Web proxy URL for the Mailbox server.

  2. Enable the publishing virtual directory for the Client Access server.

  3. Create a sharing policy specifically for Internet calendar publishing. This policy allows users in your Exchange organization to invite other users who have Internet access to view limited calendar availability information by accessing a published URL.

To learn more about Internet calendar publishing and sharing policies, see Understanding Federated Delegation. Looking for other management tasks related to calendars? Check out Managing Calendars.

Prerequisites

  • An Exchange 2010 Client Access server exists in the Exchange organization that's sharing user's calendar information.

  • User mailboxes are on Exchange 2010 Mailbox servers in the Exchange organization that's sharing user's calendar information.

Step 1: Use the Shell to configure the Web proxy URL

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Sharing policies" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

Note:
You can't use the Exchange Management Console (EMC) to configure the Web proxy URL.

This example configures a Web proxy URL on Mailbox server MAIL01.

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Set-ExchangeServer -Identity "MAIL01" -InternetWebProxy "<Webproxy URL>"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-ExchangeServer.

Step 2: Use the Shell to enable the publishing virtual directory

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Sharing policies" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

Note:
You can't use the EMC to enable the publishing virtual directory.

This example enables the publishing virtual directory on Client Access server CAS01.

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Set-OwaVirtualDirectory -Identity "CAS01" -ExternalUrl "<URL for the CAS01>" -CalendarPublishingEnabled $true

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-OwaVirtualDirectory.

Step 3: Use the EMC or the Shell to create a sharing policy for Internet calendar publishing

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Sharing policies" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

Use the EMC

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Organization Configuration > Mailbox.

  2. In the action pane, click New Sharing Policy to start the New Sharing Policy wizard.

    Note:
    Although you can add the Anonymous domain used for Internet calendar publishing to the default or existing sharing policies, we recommend that you create a separate sharing policy for Internet calendar publishing.
  3. On the Introduction page, complete the following fields:

    • Name   In this box, type Internet for the sharing policy name.

    • Add   Click this button to open the Add Action to Sharing Policy Domain dialog box. Complete the following fields, and then click OK:

      Specify a domain of an external Exchange organization, or "*" for any domain   Type Anonymous as the domain for the Internet calendar publishing sharing policy.

      Specify the actions that apply to the federated domain   Use this list to select the level of sharing you want to enforce for this policy. For this example, select Calendar sharing with free/busy information, plus subject and location.

    • Enable sharing policy   Select this check box to enable the Anonymous domain.

  4. On the Mailboxes page, click Add to select the mailboxes to which you want to apply this sharing policy.

    Note:
    After creating the sharing policy, you can apply it to more mailboxes by using the Mailboxes tab in the sharing policy's property page or by using the Mailbox Settings tab in the mailbox's property page.
  5. On the New Sharing Policy page, review your configuration settings. Click New to create the sharing policy. Click Back to make configuration changes.

    Note:
    A warning will be displayed by the New Sharing Policy wizard upon completion as a reminder that you've allowed users to share their calendars, and to make sure that the Client Access server publishing the virtual directory is enabled so that published calendars will be accessible.
  6. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:

    • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.

    • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

Use the Shell

This example creates the Internet calendar publishing sharing policy Internet and configures the policy to share only availability information. The policy is enabled.

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New-SharingPolicy -Name "Internet" -Domains 'Anonymous: CalendarSharingFreeBusySimple' -Enabled $true

This example adds the sharing policy Internet to a user mailbox.

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Set-Mailbox -Identity <user name> -SharingPolicy "Internet"

This example adds the sharing policy Internet to an organizational unit (OU).

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Set-Mailbox -OrganizationalUnit <OU name> -SharingPolicy "Internet"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-SharingPolicy and Set-Mailbox.

Other Tasks

After you enable Internet calendar publishing, you may also want to configure publishing or sharing settings on a calendar folder of a specified mailbox. For detailed steps, see Set-MailboxCalendarFolder.