Configure Outlook 2007 with Exchange Server 2007

Marc Grote

In this article, we will show you how to configure Outlook 2007 with Exchange Server 2007. We will also discuss how to work with the new Exchange 2007 Autodiscovery service with Outlook 2007 and some new features in Outlook 2007 as OOF - out of office features.

This article will cover different aspects of configuring Outlook 2007 with Exchange Server 2007:

1. Exchange 2007 / Outlook 2007 Autodiscovery
2. Configuration outside Office (OOF) for Outlook clients
3. Support scheduling of Outlook 2007

Exchange 2007 / Outlook 2007 Autodiscovery

The Autodiscovery service in Exchange Server 2007 uses the email address of the user or domain user account to automatically configure the user's Outlook 2007 profile. Autodiscovery service provides the following information for Outlook clients:

1. User's display name
2. Separation of connection settings for internal and external connections.
3. The location of Exchange Server 2007 users with the Mailbox server role installed.
4. Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for some Outlook 2007 features (Outlook services available) such as Outlook Free / busy or Offline address book information (OAB)
5. Configuration for Outlook Anywhere

Autodiscovery process

The following image shows the Outlook 2007 Autodiscovery process

The Outlook 2007 client looks for the SCP (Service connection point) object in Active Directory. You should see the SCP object when using tools like ADSIedit. You can find SCP at:

CN =, CN = AutoDiscover, CN = Protocols, CN =, CN = Servers, CN = Exchange Administrative Group, CN = AdministrativeGroup, CN =, CN = Services, [Configuration Naming Context]

SCP points to Exchange Server 2007 with the Client Access Server role. The Client Access Server returns the URL for the Autodiscover file (Autodiscover.xml). The Outlook client establishes a connection via HTTPS to the Client Access Server.

Note

You can disable the HTTPS authentication process for Autodiscover if you want. To disable HTTPS for Autodiscovery you change some of the following registry keys:

HKEY_Current_UserSoftwareMicrosoftOffice12.0OutlookAutoConfiguration - REG_DWORD - UseSSL - change the value to 0.

Client Access Server returns the addresses of available services of Exchange 2007 such as Free + Busy and OAB.

Configure Outlook 2007 with Exchange Server 2007 Picture 1
Figure 1: Autodiscovery's process

Select information about Autodiscovery function

The Autodiscovery feature is installed on Exchange Server 2007 with the Client Access Server role installed, you will get a lot of information about Autodiscovery's service if you implement Exchange Management Shell CMDLet as shown below:

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Figure 2: You can get a lot of information about the Autodiscovery process

Autodiscovery URL

The Exchange Server 2007 Client Access Server role uses the following URLs for automatic detection:

• https: //autodiscover.domain.tld/autodiscover.xml
• https: //autodiscover.domain.tld/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml

Outlook 2007 configuration for automatic profile creation

When the user launches Outlook for the first time, a request to create an Outlook profile is issued and the user is required to enter some information to create this profile. Users can optionally create a profile or use the Autodiscovery service from Exchange Server 2007.

The first question is do you like to configure Outlook to connect to the Internet E-mail, Microsoft Exchange or different E-mail servers.

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Figure 3: Configuring Outlook with mail-profile

If you want to configure Outlook 2007 for Autodiscovery in Exchange Server 2007, you must enter that email address if this email address is not detected automatically by Outlook 2007.

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Figure 4: Detecting the settings of Autodiscover

If you prefer to manually configure server settings or other server types, enable the option for manual configuration.

Now Outlook will automatically find the Autodiscover settings from the server with the Client Access Server role installed. After some processing, the Autodiscover feature will configure a new email profile for Outlook users.

Configure Outlook 2007 with Exchange Server 2007 Picture 5
Figure 5: Autodiscover process

Check the configuration automatically

You can check this autodiscover configuration service by right-clicking on the Outlook button while holding down the CTRL key. Now you can select the test e-mail auto-configuration button to test the Autodiscovery function as you can see below:

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Figure 6: E-Mail Auto-configuration Test

Guessmart

Guessmart is a new technology used to find POP / SMTP and IMAP Servers automatically by setting up a connection to the server in the form of: IMAP.SERVER.DOMAIN.TLD, POP.SERVER.DOMAIN.TLD SMTP .SERVER.DOMAIN.TLD and .

As you can see in the first part of the article, Exchange Server 2007 Autodiscovery is a completely understandable process in simple environments. If you are planning to use this feature for load balancing in your network or expanding clients, then you need to do a few more steps below:

Configuration outside the office

Outlook 2007 has some enhancements to the configuration outside the Office. Outlook 2007 now allows you to configure different out-of-office notifications for internal and external uses, as can be seen in the image below. You can also define a start and end date for responses, so you'll never forget to disable OOF while in the office.

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Figure 7: Out-of-office configuration

Out-of-office configuration in Exchange Server 2007

In Exchange Server 2007, it is possible to configure the out-of-office notification behavior.

You can define out-of-office announcements for extended use only. You can also define whether out-of-office notifications from other Outlook 2003 machines are allowed to separate Exchange 2007.

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Figure 8: OOF settings in Exchange Management Console (EMC)

Schedule for Outlook 2007

Outlook 2007 has a completely new rewritten scheduling engine. It contains all the requirements and scheduling needed so that users can use it more easily. New scheduling agents create a more friendly and easy-to-use feel when planning to meet with colleagues.

This new scheduling support can automatically find the best time for all attendees.

Configure Outlook 2007 with Exchange Server 2007 Picture 9
Figure 9: Scheduling meetings

Conclude

In this article, we showed you how to configure Outlook 2007 with Exchange Server 2007. We also explained some of the new features of Outlook 2007. This article is not intended to bring about You have an overview of all the features of Outlook 2007, but only one of them is to introduce the new Autodiscovery service in it. It is one of the new features that helps administrators.