DNS entry for internal use of OWA? 3

[glgcag]

I have recently installed a digital certificate on my exchange server and opened the ports so that I can have users log in externally to our Exchange server via OWA. They use the address

https://mail.ourdomain.com/exchange.

Logging into OWA internally in our office is a different address (

https://ourexchangeserver.ourdomain.com/exchange)

and is confusing for users. Can I just add an entry to DNS in our Active Directoy integrated domain so that if the user types in

https://mail.ourdomain.com/exchange

when inside our network, it translates it to our secure OWA server?

 

[58sniper]

You'll need to create a forward lookup zone for ourdomain.com, and then an A record for mail. It's a good idea to also create an A record for

http://www and

point it to your website. I usually create one for ourdomain.com (root of the domain), and point it to the website, too.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[glgcag]

58sniper,

In the forward lookup zone for my domain, I already have a host(A) record for "www" pointed to my external website (hosted remotely). Should I just create a host(A) record for "mail" pointed to the internal ip of my exchange server, or to the external ip of the exchange server?

Lastly, to understand this a bit better, let me see if I understand what I'm doing: in the forward lookup zone for ourdomain.com, I am adding a host(A) record entry for "mail" that will redirect users to our OWA/Exchange server (either using the internal ip or the external dependent on your answer to the above question), right? And should the fqdn for the host(A) record include the /exchange appended to the end? (ie: mail.ourdomain.com or mail.ourdomain.com/exchange?)

Thanks again for your help!

 

[58sniper]

Point "mail" at the internal IP address of your mail server.

The /exchange folder is not part of a DNS host name, so, no - it can't be part of an A record.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[goodfela26]

You'll want to create the A record for "mail" pointing to the internal address of your mail server.

You are correct in your understanding. When you create the A record, you'll enter mail in the name (the FQDN will autopopulate, e.g. mail.ourdomain.com) and type in the IP address of the exchange server. The user will type the /exchange as they would if they were accessing it externally, e.g.

https://mail.ourdomain.com/exchange.

---------------------------------------
Bob Beck
Systems Administrator

 

[glgcag]

Thanks 58sniper and goodfela26, it worked perfectly!