Friday, 30th May 2008Configuring Outlook over the Internet ( Exchange RPC over HTTP )

How to setup Outlook to check corporate based email without the need for a VPN connection

If your company has Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or beyond, you may well be able to access your email using Outlook just as if you were in the office but without the need for VPN. If you normally start a VPN connection just to access your email with Outlook then this will be invaluable for you, especially if you are behind a firewall or router that doesn't properly support VPN access.

This system was developed by Microsoft for users who don't have control over the settings for the internet connection they are using ( for example mobile users ) and so all the information is encapsulted in packets of data that can be sent using ports ( holes in the firewall ) that are normally used internet browsing.

The only change you should notice is that you will be prompted for your SLAC windows account and password as Outlook is starting if you login to a local account on your Windows computer.

System / Information Prerequisites

• Windows XP SP1 or later ( XP SP2 recommended )
  
• Outlook 2003 SP1 ( Office 2003 SP2 recommended )
• A domain name pointing to your office server ( for example office.myDomain.com )
• This tutorial assumes you already have an email account setup for normal use / VPN use in Outlook

Outlook Instructions

In Outlook go to Tools > Email Accounts

You will be presented with a number of options, select View or change existing e-mail accounts.

Highlight the correct account and click Change, you should be presented with a the following box:

Click More Settings, in the box that appears, click the Connection tab, you should see a box like this:

Tick the Connect to my Exchange mailbox using HTTP and then click Exchange Proxy Settings you will be presented with the final window in the series:

Enter the URL that points to your Exchange server in both of the boxes, making sure to put msstd: before the URL in the Principal name for proxy server box.

Click OK on all of the open dialog boxes to get back to the main Outlook window.

You will have to close and re-open Outlook.

Clicking Send and Recieve should prompt you for your username and password - remember, this is the username and password used to access your Exchange email account.

If you are having problems, make sure that the domain in front of the username is correct, for example it should be:

Username: COMPANYNAME/jon.smith
Password: myPassWurd

And NOT:

Username: MYCOMPUTERNAME/jon.smith
Password: myPassWurd

Good luck!