Share via

Configure external URLs

  • Article

 

Estimated time to complete: 10 to 15 minutes

There are several settings that you need to configure on the Exchange 2016 virtual directories, which include Outlook Anywhere, Exchange ActiveSync, Exchange Web Services, Offline Address Book (OAB), Outlook on the web, the Exchange admin center, and the availability service.

Learn more at: Virtual directory management

How do I do this?

  1. Open the EAC by browsing to the URL of your Exchange 2016 Mailbox server. For example, https://Ex2016/ECP.

  2. Enter your user name and password in Domain\user name and Password, and then click Sign in.

  3. Go to Servers > Servers, select the name of the Internet-facing Exchange 2016 Mailbox server and then click Edit Edit icon.

  4. Click Outlook Anywhere.

  5. In the Specify the external hostname field, specify the externally accessible FQDN of the Mailbox server. For example, mail.contoso.com.

  6. While you’re here, let’s also set the internally accessible FQDN of the Mailbox server. In the Specify the internal hostname field, insert the FQDN you used in the previous step. For example, mail.contoso.com.

  7. Click Save.

  8. Go to Servers > Virtual directories.

  9. In the Select server field, select the Internet-facing Exchange 2016 Mailbox server.

  10. Select the virtual directory you want to change, and then click Edit Edit icon.

  11. In External URL, replace the host name between https:// and the first forward slash (/ ) with the new FQDN you want to use. For example, if you want to change the EWS virtual directory FQDN from Ex2016.corp.contoso.com to mail.contoso.com, change the external URL from https://Ex2016.corp.contoso.com/ews/exchange.asmx to https://mail.contoso.com/ews/exchange.asmx.

    Note

    You can’t set an external URL on the Autodiscover virtual directory.
    Some organizations make the Outlook on the web FQDN unique to protect users against changes to underlying server FQDN changes. Many organizations use owa.contoso.com for their Outlook on the web FQDN instead of mail.contoso.com. If you want to configure a unique Outlook on the web FQDN, do the following. This checklist assumes you have configured a unique Outlook on the web FQDN.
    The ECP and OWA virtual directory external URLs must be the same.

    1. In Select server, choose your Exchange 2016 Mailbox server.

    2. Select owa (Default Web Site) and click Edit Edit icon.

    3. In External URL, type https://, then the unique Outlook on the web FQDN you want to use, and then append /owa. For example, https://owa.contoso.com/owa.

    4. Click Save.

    5. Select ecp (Default Web Site), and then click Edit Edit icon.

    6. In External URL, type https://, then the same Outlook on the web FQDN that you specified in the previous step, and then append /ecp. For example, https://owa.contoso.com/ecp.

    7. Click Save.

  12. Click Save.

  13. Repeat steps 10, 11, and 12 for each virtual directory you want to change.

After you've configured the external URL on the Mailbox server virtual directories, you need to configure your public DNS records for Autodiscover, Outlook on the web, and mail flow. The public DNS records should point to the external IP address or FQDN of your Internet-facing Mailbox server and use the externally accessible FQDNs that you've configured on your Mailbox server. The following are examples of recommended DNS records that you should create to enable mail flow and external client connectivity.

FQDN DNS record type Value

Contoso.com

MX

Mail.contoso.com

Mail.contoso.com

A

172.16.10.11

Owa.contoso.com

CNAME

Mail.contoso.com

Autodiscover.contoso.com

CNAME

Mail.contoso.com

How do I know this worked?

To verify that you have successfully configured the external URL on the Internet-facing Exchange 2016 Mailbox server virtual directories, do the following:

  1. In the EAC, go to Servers > Virtual directories.

  2. In the Select server field, select the Internet-facing Exchange 2016 Mailbox server.

  3. Select a virtual directory and then, in the virtual directory details pane, verify that the External URL field is populated with the correct FQDN and service as shown below:

    Virtual directory External URL value

    Autodiscover

    No external URL displayed

    ECP

    https://owa.contoso.com/ecp

    EWS

    https://mail.contoso.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx

    Mapi

    https://mail.contoso.com/mapi

    Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync

    https://mail.contoso.com/Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync

    OAB

    https://mail.contoso.com/OAB

    OWA

    https://owa.contoso.com/owa

    PowerShell

    http://mail.contoso.com/PowerShell

To verify that you have successfully configured your public DNS records, do the following:

  1. Open a command prompt and run nslookup.exe.

  2. Change to a DNS server that can query your public DNS zone.

  3. In nslookup, look up the record of each FQDN you created. Verify that the value that's returned for each FQDN is correct.

  4. In nslookup, type set type=mx and then look up the accepted domain you added in Step 1. Verify that the value returned matches the FQDN of the Client Access server.

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection.