DNS / OWA Question

[Troy Sherven]

Forgive me if I post this to the wrong group, I don't know if this is a DNS,
Exchange, or IIS question, but I thought I would start here...

I'm trying to implement OWA (Exchange 2003) to access over the internet, and
have domain name questions. First, my OWA server name is MCD5.MCD.NET
(MCD.NET is my internal domain name). I can access OWA internally by
typing in http://mcd5/exchange. My internet domain name is MADCUTDIE.COM.
I'm think of creating an A record for MCD5.MADCUTDIE.COM (my ISP hosts DNS),
and have it point to one of my internet IP addresses. At this point, I
would run NAT on my firewall, and point that address to the internal address
of my OWA server. Does this make sense? If I follow these steps, and a
client went to http://MCD5.MADCUTDIE.COM/EXCHANGE. What about the
/EXCHANGE? I don't think that really matters in DNS, but I could be
wrong...

Am I missing anything?

Thanks,

Troy

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht Sr. [MVP]]

In

Forgive me if I post this to the wrong group, I don't
know if this is a DNS, Exchange, or IIS question, but I
thought I would start here...

I'm trying to implement OWA (Exchange 2003) to access
over the internet, and have domain name questions.
First, my OWA server name is MCD5.MCD.NET (MCD.NET is my
internal domain name). I can access OWA internally by
typing in http://mcd5/exchange. My internet domain name
is MADCUTDIE.COM. I'm think of creating an A record for
MCD5.MADCUTDIE.COM (my ISP hosts DNS), and have it point
to one of my internet IP addresses. At this point, I
would run NAT on my firewall, and point that address to
the internal address of my OWA server. Does this make
sense? If I follow these steps, and a client went to
http://MCD5.MADCUTDIE.COM/EXCHANGE. What about the
/EXCHANGE? I don't think that really matters in DNS, but
I could be wrong...

You're not wrong, DNS has nothing to do with virtual directories. If you
don't use host headers on the default web site you can access the Exchange
web site by any name that resolves to the IP of the web site. You could even
add a record named "mail.madcutdie.com" and access by that name. Also if
there is no other web site other than Exchange in the virtual server, you
can right click on the default page (usually default.htm) in IIS manager On
the file tab select "Redirection to a URL" at type in
http://mail.madcutdie.com/exchange then all users would have to do is type
in mail.madcutdie.com to get OWA.
If you are using host headers add a host header for mail.madcutdie.com or
what ever name you wish, it is not required that you access OWA by the
machine name.