Advantages to Deploying Outlook 2003 As a Client for Exchange Server 2003

The new release of Outlook comes at a very fortunate time for Microsoft and for users. The development cycle of the Office product and the development cycle of the Exchange Server product happened at almost the same time for Office 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 (formerly codenamed Titanium). This allowed the Exchange team and the Outlook team to work together and come up with some nice improvements on both the client side and server side of the Exchange/Outlook coin.

You'll see some of these improvements no matter how you use Microsoft Outlook. The new junk mail filtering, enhanced Reading Pane, and intelligent grouping and arrangements are features in all types of Outlook installations. However, some features are available only when using Outlook 2003 as a client for Exchange Server 2003. Those enhancements include

• Outlook cached mode and synchronization improvements You don't need Exchange Server 2003 to take advantage of cached Exchange mode. However, there are additional improvements in cached mode when run against an Exchange 2003 server. In particular, downloading of headers only, as well as what has been termed drizzle mode (headers followed by full items), are not supported in any configuration other than Outlook 2003 against Exchange Server 2003.

• Kerberos authentication Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 can use Kerberos to authenticate users on the domain.

• Outlook performance monitoring Exchange Server 2003 can monitor client-side performance of Outlook 2003.

• RPC over HTTP When used as a client for Exchange Server 2003, Outlook can use Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) over the Internet via HTTP to connect to the server. This can eliminate the need for a VPN connection into your corporate network.

• Outlook Web Access Yes, this is an Outlook book, not a book on Outlook Web Access (OWA). However, OWA in Exchange Server 2003 has the same look and feel as Outlook 2003. This can greatly simplify the hassles users sometimes experience when moving between different clients.

• Increased junk mail protection Outlook 2003 introduced a very reliable junk mail filter. But even the best junk mail filter lets some spam through. With Exchange Server 2003, you can manage spam on a corporate level with extended junk mail options.

This chapter covers some basic information about each of the previously mentioned benefits.

Outlook Cached Mode and Synchronization Improvements

Outlook 2003 supports cached Exchange mode against Exchange 5.5, Exchange 2000, and Exchange Server 2003. However, additional benefits can be realized when using Outlook 2003 as a client for Exchange Server 2003. When running against Exchange Server 2003, the number of RPCs between Outlook and the Exchange Server is reduced more than it would be against another version of Exchange Server.

Exchange Server 2003 performs additional data compression to reduce the amount of information synchronized between Outlook 2003 and the Exchange Server. The server will optimize the communication between client and server by reducing the total number of requests sent between the two.

The reduction in RPCs helps Outlook work smoothly. Users will see fewer delays while Outlook retrieves data from the Exchange Server. Outlook 2003 eliminates the annoying Requesting Data from the Microsoft Exchange Server Computer dialog box. But against a version of Exchange Server earlier than Exchange Server 2003, there are still slight delays while Outlook retrieves data. Although those delays don't cause Outlook to freeze as they did in previous versions, they're still visible to the user, especially when working from a slow connection. Exchange Server 2003 reduces those delays even further.

One complaint of remote users is that they never know how much data Outlook is downloading at any one time. When running Outlook 2003 against Exchange Server 2003, Outlook displays an unobtrusive message in the status bar to indicate the number and size of messages to be downloaded. This can help mobile users and users working over a slow connection to decide which messages to synchronize and which to leave for later.

Kerberos Authentication

Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 domain controllers now support Kerberos authentication. If all domain controllers are using Windows Server 2003, users can authenticate cross-forest to domain controllers in other trusted forests. This can allow Exchange Servers to exist in different forests than user accounts.

Exchange Server 2003 uses Kerberos delegation to send user credentials between an Exchange front-end server and an Exchange back-end server. Previous versions of Exchange were limited to basic authentication. This required the use of an additional security protocol, such as IPSec, to encrypt information between front-end and back-end servers. This advancement can actually simplify deployment of front-end/back-end server operations.

NOTE

For more information about Kerberos authentication, see http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/security/kerberos.asp and http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/.

Outlook Performance Monitoring

Although not strictly an Outlook feature, using Outlook 2003 against an Exchange Server 2003 machine can enable the network administrator to monitor certain data to determine where potential problems might lie. Exchange Server 2003 can collect certain information about RPC latencies and errors reported by Outlook 2003. Some of the information collected is

• Client RPCs attempted, succeeded, and failed

• Client RPCs failed for server unavailable

• Client RPCs failed for server too busy

• Client RPCs failed for all other reasons

This is just a small sample of the amount of data that Exchange Server 2003 can collect about Outlook 2003 client performance. By analyzing this data, as well as the event logs, system administrators can identify and resolve potential network problems.

RPC over HTTP

Using Outlook 2003 as a client for Exchange Server 2003 provides users with an additional authentication method: RPC over HTTP. This can eliminate the need for a VPN connection to access Exchange. Users can connect directly to their Exchange Server over the Internet. RPC over HTTP provides Outlook with the capability to connect securely across the Internet and execute the RPCs necessary to exchange Outlook data. Any client that can connect to the Internet can establish a connection to a server that supports RPC connectivity on a network running IIS, even if both the client and server are behind different firewalls on different networks.

To deploy RPC over HTTP, you configure your Exchange front-end server as an RPC Proxy server. This server then specifies which ports can be used to communicate with the domain controllers, global catalog servers, and Exchange Servers.

There are several deployment options for RPC over HTTP; the one you should use depends on where you want to locate your RPC proxy server. The recommended deployment scenario involves deploying Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server in a perimeter network and locating your Exchange Server within the corporate network. You can also place your Exchange Server 2003 machine in the perimeter network and install the RPC proxy server directly on the Exchange Server. For ultimate security, use ISA Server as your RPC proxy server.

There are several requirements you must meet before you can deploy RPC over HTTP:

• All Exchange Servers must be Exchange Server 2003.

• Domain controllers must be running Windows Server 2003.

• Global Catalog Servers must be running Windows Server 2003.

• Clients must be running Outlook 2003 and Windows XP SP1 plus hot fix: Q331320. (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=331320)

If your network meets these conditions, you can deploy RPC over HTTP.

Outlook Web Access

Sure, this is a book about Outlook, but if you're using Outlook as a client for Exchange, you've probably used Outlook Web Access at one time or another. You might even use OWA instead of taking a laptop home at night. Outlook Web Access in Exchange Server 2003 looks very similar to Outlook 2003, as shown in Figure 31.1.

Figure 31.1. Outlook Web Access in Exchange Server 2003 is very similar to Outlook 2003.

From the Reading Pane to Quick Flags, OWA 2003 very closely mirrors the full Outlook client. You can access rules, use spell check when composing message, right-click messages to display a functional context menu, and use a Navigation Pane and search folders.

Deploying Outlook Web Access 2003 along with Outlook 2003 enables users to have a unified mail experience no matter which client they're using.

Increased Junk Mail Protection

Outlook 2003 includes a new junk mail filter. The junk mail filter works on all messages that reach the Outlook client. Exchange Server 2003 also includes its own junk mail filter. This filter operates on messages before they ever reach the Outlook client. You can configure corporate trusted senders and blocked senders lists to further control the amount of junk mail that enters your organization. Because the filters operate on messages before they reach the client, you have fewer emails stored on the server or on the client in cached Exchange mode. This can reduce storage requirements on both server and client.