Lesson 4: Advanced User Configurations

In a typical Exchange 2000 environment, many different kinds of Outlook users cooperate and share information. Typical users work with only one (personal) workstation that is directly connected to the organization's computer network. Remote users, on the other hand, may work primarily offline using a modem or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) card to establish connections for sending and downloading messages. There may exist another category of users in your environment—roving users—who work with multiple computers and multiple messaging clients.

This lesson explains the features that allow you to support roving and remote users using Outlook 2000. It discusses the creation of centralized profiles and the configuration of remote mail features.


At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Support roving user configurations for Outlook 2000 clients.
  • Describe the support of remote users by means of the Exchange transport service.
  • Identify important configuration issues and dependencies for remote users.

Estimated time to complete this lesson: 60 minutes


Roving User Support

To simplify the task of creating messaging profiles for roving users, you can implement server-based profiles that will be copied to every workstation a roving user logs on to, automatically providing the same messaging environment to the user. Because messaging profile information is stored differently on different client operating systems, you must consider the requirements of each client platform. For example, if a roving user works on machines with Windows 98 and Windows 2000 Professional, you must create one profile for each platform separately. Fortunately, no significant differences exist between Windows 98 and Windows 2000 clients.

Roaming Profiles

Windows 95/98, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 provide built-in support for roving users because MAPI-based clients store their messaging profiles within the user's context in the workstation's Registry. Of course, the user profile can be stored as a server-based profile. A server-based Windows profile can be assigned to each account using the Active Directory Users and Computers management tool. Once the account of the roving user has been associated with a server-based profile, its settings are copied to the local configuration each time the roving user logs on to the domain. The same settings, including the messaging profile, are thus available on every computer running Windows 95/98, Windows NT, or Windows 2000. You can find more information regarding the configuration of roaming profiles in the Windows 2000 Server Distributed Systems Guide of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit.

Personal Folder Store Considerations

Roving users typically want access to all their messages from within any messaging client they are using. If they have stored some of their messages in one or more personal folder stores, precautions must be taken to make sure the associated .pst files are all available over the network. Therefore, .pst files should be placed on a file server that can be accessed by every client machine. If a common file server is not available, a roving user should refrain from using personal folder stores. Instead, roving users should use only the server-based mailbox as a repository for messages.

Outlook Web Access or Terminal Services

The HTTP-based access to server-based mailboxes is an alternative to all other roving user options. By using a regular Web browser that supports JavaScript and frames (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0), users can gain access to their mailbox through Outlook Web Access (OWA). However, roving users should be aware of security risks when using browser applications. Browser programs view the messaging items in HTML pages, which might be cached temporarily on the workstation. If a roving user does not delete those cached pages after a session, other users can simply open them later to read personal information. More information about OWA is provided in Chapter 22, "Microsoft Outlook Web Access."

Terminal Services allows you to run Outlook 2000 on a server over the network or a dial-up connection from any workstation that is running the Terminal Services client software. Because only display information is sent to the terminal, users may find this approach attractive. From Outlook's point of view, users running Terminal Services client software are not considered roaming users because they are using the same environment on the terminal server every time they connect. It is more like they would work with a single virtual workstation but multiple keyboards and monitors.

Remote User Support

Users who work via modem or ISDN lines usually don't work online continuously. They compose new messages and read downloaded messages while disconnected from the server. In other words, they connect to the server only to send and download new messages, which helps to reduce the amount of time spent dialed in and communications costs. For this reason, downloaded messages are maintained in a local repository, which can be created by means of a personal folder store (see Figure 9.10).

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Figure 9.10 Remote client connections

Remote Mail Versus Offline Folders

You cannot use the remote mail features of Outlook 2000 if an offline message store has been configured. In this situation you must disable the offline message store before using remote mail. However, because Outlook 2000 offers far- reaching configuration and filter capabilities for synchronizing server-based folders and because the offline folder approach is usually less complex to handle than the remote mail features, you should consider using offline folders instead of remote mail.

Remote Mail Configurations

Outlook 2000 allows you to configure remote mail connections through the property sheets of the Exchange transport service, which in turn relies completely on the dial-up networking capabilities of the operating system.

Specifying the Dial-Up Connection

The Dial-Up Networking property sheet of the Exchange transport service gives you the option to select a dial-up connection to be used to establish the connection to the server via a Remote Access Service (RAS) server (see Figure 9.10). The account information used to establish a connection with the RAS server can be specified under User Name, Password, and Domain. This account does not necessarily need to be the same account that you use to connect to your server-based mailbox.

Remote Mail Connections

A connection to your Exchange 2000 server is established when you click Connect under the Remote Mail option on the Tools menu. While this connection is up and running, the headers of messages in your server-based mailbox are downloaded, and the messages composed offline are uploaded. Header information is displayed in Outlook's regular Inbox as an envelope icon with a small telephone. You can then disconnect manually from the server using the Disconnect command, or automatically by using the Disconnect After Connection Is Finished check box, found on the Remote Mail property sheet of the Exchange transport service.

Based on the retrieved header information, you can select which messages to mark for retrieval. This will move the messages to your local store the next time you connect. You can retrieve a copy, which also moves the message to your local store but leaves a copy on the server, or you can mark a message for deletion, which will delete the message from the server without first downloading it the next time you work online. Because you can select each message individually, remote mail is well-suited for downloading only the messages you want over slow dial-up connections.

Scheduled Connections

If you want to automate the processes of establishing a connection and processing marked items, you can configure scheduled connections through the Remote Mail property sheet of the Exchange transport service. During automatically established connections, the client behaves the same way as during manually started remote mail connections. To automate the retrieval of messages, you can configure download filters. So long as no filter criterion has been defined, all messages will be retrieved. Filters can be specified for manual connections under the Remote Mail Connection category and for scheduled connections under Scheduled Connections. The Filter button becomes available if you activate the corresponding Retrieve Items That Meet The Following Conditions option.

Exercise 3: Configuring Remote Mail Support

In this exercise you will configure Outlook 2000 for remote mail support. You will then configure the client to start offline to use Outlook's built-in remote mail features.

To view a multimedia demonstration that displays how to perform this procedure, run the EX3CH9*.AVI files from the \Exercise_Information\Chapter9 folder on the Supplemental Course Materials CD.

Prerequisites

  • Complete Exercise 2, earlier in this chapter.
  • Log on as Administrator to BLUESKY-WKSTA.

To configure remote mail support

  1. Right-click on the Microsoft Outlook icon on the desktop, and then select Properties.
  2. Make sure Microsoft Exchange Server is selected, and then click Properties.
  3. On the General tab, activate the Manually Control Connection State option, and then select the Choose The Connection Type When Starting check box.
  4. Click on the Dial-Up Networking tab, and activate the Do Not Dial, Use Existing Connection option.
  5. In the Microsoft Exchange Server dialog box, click OK.
  6. Click on the Delivery tab (if a Microsoft Exchange Server dialog box appears, click Connect).
  7. Under Deliver New Mail To The Following Location, select Personal Folders.
  8. Click OK.

    At this point, you have specified the personal folder store created during Exercise 1 as the primary location for incoming messages (see Figure 9.11).

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    Figure 9.11 Configuring the options for remote mail

  9. Start Outlook 2000, and, in the Microsoft Exchange Server dialog box, click Connect.
  10. If a Microsoft Outlook dialog box appears informing you that the location messages are delivered to has changed, click Yes to recreate all shortcuts.
  11. Your e-mail messages are now downloaded automatically into the Inbox of your .pst file.
  12. Close Outlook 2000.
  13. Start Outlook 2000 again, and in the Microsoft Exchange Server dialog box, click Work Offline.
  14. Compose a new message and, in the Untitled - Message (Rich Text) window, in the To line, type Administrator@BlueSky-inc-10.com.
  15. In the Subject line, type A Remote Mail Message.
  16. Type some message text, and then click Send.
  17. Open the Tools menu, point to Remote Mail, and then click Connect.
  18. On the Remote Connection Wizard screen, make sure Microsoft Exchange Server is selected, and then click Next.
  19. On the second Remote Connection Wizard screen, accept the defaults, and click Finish.

    At this point, Outlook 2000 is connecting to the Exchange 2000 Server; it then sends the prepared message and downloads the header information from the server (see Figure 9.12).

    click to view at full size

    Figure 9.12 Using the remote mail features of Outlook 2000

  20. The remote mail message will be displayed in your Inbox with an icon showing an envelope with a small telephone. Select this message, open the Tools menu, point to Remote Mail, and then select Mark To Retrieve.
  21. Open the Tools menu again, point to Remote Mail, and then click Connect (or click Connect in the Remote Mail toolbar).
  22. On the Remote Connection Wizard screen, make sure Microsoft Exchange Server is selected, and then click Next.
  23. On the second Remote Connection Wizard screen, accept the defaults, and click Finish.
  24. Outlook 2000 will download the specified message and change the icon correspondingly. The message was downloaded into your .pst file.

Exercise Summary

You can establish remote mail connections through the Remote Mail option on the client's Tools menu, which displays a submenu and allows you to launch the Remote Connection Wizard through the Connect command. You can also select Remote Tools to display an additional toolbar labeled Remote, which gives you convenient access to all remote mail options. It is a good idea to keep address information available while working offline. If you have not downloaded the offline address book from the server, you have to specify recipient information manually or via the Outlook address book when composing new messages. This is not an issue, however, when you reply to existing e-mails. Any messages that you compose can be uploaded when establishing the next dial-up connection. Header information about received messages can be downloaded as well. Through header information, you can specify, in detail, which messages to download, copy, or delete without actually downloading them.



MCSE Training Kit Exam 70-224(c) Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Implementation and Administration
MCSE Training Kit Exam 70-224(c) Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Implementation and Administration
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2001
Pages: 186

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