This is the second, and last, part to the article ‘How to Implement Outlook Web Access for Exchange Server 2007′. The first part can be read here.

OWA in Exchange Server 2007 is available in two versions:

• Outlook Web Access Premium client: Provides a complete and enhanced functionality of OWA. It requires Internet Explorer 6 or a later version.
• Outlook Web Access Light client: Provides fewer features but fast connectivity. Fit to use on a slow Internet connection and requires strict browser settings. Allows you to use any browser.

Implementing Outlook Web Access

Once the Client Access role is installed on your Exchange Server, the OWA is available to your remote users who want to access their mailboxes using their web browsers. Although none of the settings are mandatory for the implementation of OWA, it requires you to configure various features and settings in Exchange Server 2007 for customization and efficiency. You can use various tools to configure OWA. These tools are:

• Exchange Management Console: A GUI used to manage the most common settings of OWA including Organization Configuration.
• Exchange Management Shell: A command-line interface that allows you to manage futures that cannot be managed using Exchange Management Console. It also allows you to automate administrative tasks and manage the associated command-line plug-ins.
• IIS Manager: A MMC that allows you to manage virtual directories.
• Web.config: A configuration file that must be modified using notepad. It allows you to modify OWA settings that are specific to ASP.NET.
• Registry editor: A sensitive tool that can be used to directly configure OWA settings such as the PublicClientTimeout, SSLOffloaded, and TrustedClientTimeout 

 To configure OWA in your Exchange server you can perform the following configurations:

• Configure OWA Virtual Directories: When the Client Access role is installed on your exchange server the following default OWA virtual directories are created under the Default Web Site in IIS on the Exchange server to allow access to Exchange content, as shown in Figure 5:

/owa: Used to allow access to mailboxes on Exchange Server 2007
/Public: Used to allow access to public folders using OWA
/Exchweb: Used to allow access to mailboxes on Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange Server 2000
/Exchange: Used to allow access to mailboxes on Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2003, or Exchange Server 2000
/Exadmin: Used to allow access to administrative settings and properties to administrators.

Figure 5

You can manage the default virtual directories or create new virtual directories by using IIS Manager, Exchange Management Console, or Exchange Management Shell.

• Simplify the Outlook Web Access URL: You can simplify the URL that users use to access their mailboxes from their browsers by using the http redirect feature of IIS Manager.
• Modify Attachment Handling Settings: OWA allows you to configure file attachment viewing options using Exchange Management Console. You can configure OWA to view common file types such as Word, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint without having those file types installed on your computer. You can also configure OWA to allow or block access to the attached files.
• Configure Authentication Methods: OWA allows you to configure authentication methods such as Standard Authentication, Forms based authentication, ISA Server forms-based authentication, Smart card and certificate authentication, and RSASecureID authentication.
• Modify Language and Character Handling Settings: You can configure the language settings for OWA by using Exchange Management Shell.
• Configure Gzip Compression Settings: OWA allows you to use Gzip for data compression, which is very useful if the end users are using a slow Internet connection to access their mailboxes.
• Disable Web Beacons: OWA allows you to use Exchange Management Shell to disable Web beacons and HTML forms, which may contain malicious code.
• Configure Segmentation Settings: OWA allows you to enable and disable settings and features on per user basis, as per the need of your organization. You can use Exchange Management Shell or Exchange Management Console for these configurations.
• Configure Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Windows File Share Integration: OWA allows you to give your end users the read-only access to documents on centralized or personal Windows SharePoint Services document libraries or Windows file shares.

This article introduced the OWA in Exchange Server 2007 and discussed its implementation in Exchange Server 2007. It also discussed various features and settings that can be configured for its better implementation.