Automatically redirect to '/exchange' virtual directory when user accesses OWA without typing '/exchange'

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Automatically redirect to ‘/exchange’ virtual directory when user accesses OWA without typing ‘/exchange’

Shijaz Abdulla, MVP

http://www.shijaz.com/exchange

Overview

Quite often, end users have problems remembering the company OWA URL. Usually, for most companies, the URL looks something like https://mail.mycompany.com/exchange. Users find such URLs as too long or difficult to remember. Some system administrators consider shortening the URL by asking the users to visit mail.mycompany.com and have the server automatically redirect to mail.mycompany.com/exchange.

This article explains how to get this done by adding a file to the IIS on your OWA server. The steps are the same even if you are using ISA 2004/2006 Forms-based authentication. Changes need to be made only on the IIS of your front end/OWA server. If you do not have a front end/dedicated OWA server, the changes described in this article have to be made on your back-end exchange.

Step-by-Step:

1. On your Exchange server that hosts OWA services, open the IIS Manager console. (Start à Administrative Tools à Internet Information Services Manager)

2. Right click on Default Website and choose Properties.

3. Click on the Home Directory tab. Note the location of the home directory (usually C:\Inetpub\wwwroot).

4. Navigate to the home directory using Windows Explorer.

5. Rename the iisstart.htm file to iisstart.old. If a file exists by the name index.htm, rename it to index.old.

6. Create a new file by the name index.htm using Notepad. When you save the file using Notepad, make sure that the TXT file extension is not applied.

7. In the index.htm file you just created, paste the following lines of HTML code and save the file.

</noscript>

<!--

var sTargetURL = "exchange";

function doRedirect()

{

setTimeout( "timedRedirect()", 0 );

}

function timedRedirect()

{

window.location.href = sTargetURL;

}

//-->

</script>

<!--

function timedRedirect()

{

window.location.replace( sTargetURL );

}

//-->

</script>

</body>

</html>

8. Open your browser and type http://mailserverURL without the /exchange part. You should be automatically redirected to http://mailserverURL/exchange. This code works both internally from inside your network and also when you access your published OWA from the internet.

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Disclaimer

The steps mentioned in this are results of testing in a lab environment. The procedure might require additional testing before being deployed on a live environment. I assume no responsibility for damage(s) occurring due to following this procedure or any other procedure listed on this site. Use it at your own risk!