Configuring IMAP Calendar URLs

Exchange Server 2003’s IMAP virtual server has a new tab: Calendaring. When a meeting request is transferred to an IMAP client, the virtual server appends an Outlook Web Access (OWA) URL to the message, which lets the recipient use OWA to access and respond to the meeting request. By default, the virtual server sends a URL that references the recipient’s server. For example, the URL might be http://srv3/exchange/inbox.… As you can see, the server name is not fully qualified; that is, it references only the host name and doesn’t include any domain information.

Unless your handheld device connects directly to the wireless network in your enterprise and has access to a WINS server, Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) won’t be able to locate the server by using only the host name. This limitation makes the OWA URL almost useless. To make the URL more usable, you can modify the IMAP virtual server’s configuration so that the virtual server provides a fully qualified host name.

To access the Calendaring tab, which Web Figure A shows, you right-click the IMAP virtual server and select Properties. Select the Use front-end server option, even if you’re not running in a front-end/back-end configuration. In the Front-end server name field, enter your server’s Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN—e.g., srv3.neulan.net). Don’t add the http:// or https:// prefix because the virtual server will add it for you. If your OWA server uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), select the Use SSL connections check box. (If you aren’t using a VPN connection to secure the communications between client and server, I highly recommend that you obtain a certificate and use SSL to secure both your OWA and IMAP connections.) The resulting OWA URL will appear at the bottom of the dialog box, as Web Figure A shows.