Now let’s turn to the new clients for Exchange Server 5.0, starting with the POP3/SMTP server capability.
How It Works
A computer running Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 can act as a POP3/SMTP server, allowing you to use virtually any Internet mail program to get your messages.
Under version 5.0, the Microsoft Exchange server can act as a POP3/SMTP mail server, so that it operates just like a mail server at an Internet service provider. The advantage to your whole organization is that this capability allows any computer to access an Exchange mailbox using whatever Internet mail software is appropriate for a particular computer, depending on its operating system and resources.
Setting Up POP3/SMTP
Just as with any Internet mail service, you need to know your e-mail account, password, and mail server addresses (see “How to Get an Account,” in Chapter 8). The syntax for the mailbox account can take three different formats, depending on how both the Windows NT user and Exchange user accounts are set up. Table 25.2 lists the variations you’re likely to see. Your Exchange administrator can tell you which is appropriate for your use.
Using just the Exchange mailbox name as the POP3/SMTP account name isn’t practical if your organization has a large number of domains and users, because the domains must be searched to locate the one that contains the indicated user account.
The POP3 server for incoming mail is the computer name of the Microsoft Exchange server where the mailbox account resides. The SMTP server for outgoing mail is the computer name of the system running the Internet Mail Connector that will deliver mail to the Internet. Often, it’s the same as the POP3 server, but your Exchange administrator can tell you for sure. With POP3/SMTP, the password is always the Windows NT password for the primary NT account for the mailbox.
If you want to try connecting to Exchange Server as a POP3/SMTP mail client, you can create an Exchange profile using the Internet Mail service. Just follow the instructions in Chapter 8, “Setting Up Internet Mail,” using the e-mail account, password, and mail server addresses described above.
Limitations
The POP3/SMTP capability of Exchange Server 5.0 isn’t intended to be a full-time substitute for the more robust capabilities of the regular Exchange Server client. You can’t synchronize your private folders with it, send or receive encrypted or digitally signed messages, or access public folders. You can send unencrypted messages and retrieve any new messages sent to you, but that’s about it.
CONNECTING TO EXCHANGE SERVER FROM THE WEB
The Exchange Web Service provides access to your mailbox and turns Exchange into an Internet publication platform.
The other new Exchange client that we’ll cover in this chapter is the Web browser client. As with the POP3/SMTP client, this expands the reach of Exchange Server to any computer with a compatible browser. But it goes way beyond the POP3/SMTP client to offer access not only to incoming e-mail messages, but also to any private folders you’ve created, to public folders, and to the list of other Exchange users in your organization. In addition, it provides anonymous access to public folders, turning Exchange into an Internet publication platform.
Setting Up Web Browser Access
The principle requirement for Web browser access is a browser that supports both frames and Java and has Java and JavaScript enabled. Microsoft has tested Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and Netscape Navigator 3.0.
You’ll also need the address for the Exchange Web Service and your mailbox, user ID, and password. No special setup is required. You’ll simply enter the information when prompted to do so on the Web pages.
How It Works
To connect to Exchange Server with your Web browser, point your browser to the address that the Exchange administrator provides, such as http://exchserver. mycompany.com. You’ll see a page like that in Figure 25.11. For access to your mailbox and folders, enter your mailbox alias in the box provided, then click on the text “Click Here.” Your browser will pop up a dialog box where you’ll enter your user ID and password, as you might at any other secure Web site.
Once you’re logged in, you’ll be able to access your mailbox and public folders and search the address list. The first thing you see is your Inbox (Figure 25.12). A frame on the left provides navigation links to switch you between your mailbox, public folders, a Find Names utility, and an Options page. Also use this area to leave the Exchange Web site by clicking Log Off.
Use the icons and underlined hotlinks just as you would on any other Web page; for example,
To access the other folders in your mailbox, click on Folders near the top of the Mailbox page.
To read a message (Figure 25.13), click on the underlined name of the sender in the From column.
To send a new message, click on Send New Message. A page like that depicted in Figure 25.14 appears.
Don’t forget that you can use your browser’s Back and Forward buttons to move back and forth between the Web pages you’ve accessed.
To locate address details for another Exchange Server user, click the Find Names graphic in the frame shown on the left in Figure 25.12. Fill in one or more boxes on the Find Names page (Figure 25.15) with the information you want to search for, then click on Find. A list of matching names (Figure 25.16) will be displayed. You can then click any name to get details for that person, as shown in Figure 25.17.
If you used your Exchange Server mailbox to log on, you can get to public folders by clicking the Public Folders graphic on the left side of your browser window. To view only public folders without logging on, at the initial Microsoft Exchange Web Service page (Figure 25.11), under Public Access, click on Click Here.
Click any public folder to see its contents (Figure 25.18). To open an item, click the highlighted name of the person who posted it.
WORKING WITH NEWSGROUPS IN EXCHANGE
Newsgroups in the Internet News folder under All Public Folders look and act just like any other public folders.
POP3/SMTP support and Web browser support are two of the ways in which Exchange Server 5.0 is bound closer to the Internet. Another is support for newsgroups. Exchange Server 5.0 can be set up to capture any of the thousands of newsgroups used as discussion forums on the Internet.
When this feature is added to the Microsoft Exchange server for your organization, a new folder named Internet News is created under All Public Folders. Under Internet News, you’ll see a folder for each newsgroup to which the Microsoft Exchange server is subscribed. In many cases, the folders are nested in a hierarchy going several layers deep (see Figure 25.19).
Because newsgroup folders act just like any other public folders, no special techniques are needed. However, we do offer a few notes on newsgroups under Exchange:
When you post an item to a newsgroup, users in your organization see the posting immediately because it’s added to the public folder. However, it may take minutes, hours, or even days for the posting to reach all the other news servers around the world and generate responses from other people.
Adding a newsgroup folder to Favorites is equivalent to subscribing to a newsgroup in a standard newsreader: Doing so allows Exchange to track read and unread messages for you.
The default view on newsgroup public folders is to show conversation threads. The threads with the most recent messages are at the top of the list, so you can easily find the newest messages and the hottest topics.
One more thought on newsgroups: Any public folder can be set up to be published as a newsgroup that can be accessed with an newsgroup reader application. This is just one more example of how Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 can be used to present information on the Internet or on an intranet within your organization.
SUMMARY
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 offers new ways to access your mailbox and public folders and ties Exchange closer to the Internet. You’ll also find enhancements for working with messages, folders, rules, and security.
Key Points
Exchange Server 5.0 adds three new ways to access your Exchange mailbox.
You now have the option of specifying a Reply To address to redirect replies to a different address.
You can exchange security keys with Exchange Server 5.0 users in other organizations, so you can send encrypted and digitally signed mail to each other.
Enhancements to rules let you specify the last rule to be applied to a message, preserve a message when it’s forwarded, and associate rules with multiple profiles.
You can rename folders in your Favorites list without affecting the original public folder names.
The user needs to do nothing special to use the cc:Mail connector, because the Microsoft Exchange server does all the work.
A computer running Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 can act as a POP3 server, allowing you to use virtually any Internet mail program to get your messages.
The Exchange Web Service provides access to your mailbox and turns Exchange into an Internet publication platform.
Newsgroups in the Internet News folder under All Public Folders look and act just like any other public folders.
For More Information
Your best bet for learning more about version 5.0 is to visit some of the resources on the Internet described in Appendix B, “Exchange Resources.” Also, the final chapter in this book, coming up next, introduces you to Microsoft Outlook, a vastly enhanced Exchange client that’s included with Exchange Server 5.0.
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