Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 With BPOS Goodness
So you are setup with a FREE trial of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite and are enjoying all the online apps but something is missing, you don’t want to use web apps, you want to use all the features of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or 2010 that you have already paid for and know your way around.
Well it is possible to have your cake and eat it too! *IF* you signed up for the BPOS Standard trial instead of the “Deskless Worker” trial, then you can configure your Outlook to view the same Exchange data you see with Outlook Web Access. You will see the same emails, the same contacts, the same tasks, folders, public folders, calendars etc!
Wait, you didn’t get the Standard version of the BPOS demo? That’s okay, you can log back into the portal and activate the Standard version, then deactivate the Deskless Worker product and not even lose your configuration. YOU MAY lose your emails though and have to start over, but hey, it’s just a demo, you didn’t have that much anyway!
Okay, so back to task at hand, getting Outlook configured. It’s EASY, relatively speaking to accomplish this. First you log into your online mail app (OWA) at http://mail.microsoft.com and once in there, click on OPTIONS at the upper right hand corner, then, select ABOUT from the left hand menu. You will see something that looks like this:
Data to gather from OWA to setup Outlook
The important information for you to gather will be the “Outlook Web Access host name”, and the “Mailbox server name”.
Now, close out Outlook on your desktop and go to START/Control Panel and select Mail (If using Win 7 64 bit, once you open Control Panel, type “mail” in the Search Control Panel input at the top right hand side and select “Mail (32-Bit)”).
Select “Show Profiles” and add a new one… Let’s call it “BPOS”. Next, select the checkbox for “Manually configure server settings or additional server types” then hit “Next >”. Select “Microsoft Exchange or compatible service” and hit “Next >”.
In the “Server:” field, put the information you gathered from Outlook Web Access for the Mailbox Server Name… (Ex: A3DIAXVS251.RED001.local). For “User Name:” enter your email address, then select “More Settings”. Don’t bother hitting “Check Name” as it will not function (yet)…
Select the “Connection” tab, at the bottom, select “Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP” and then hit the button “Exchange Proxy Settings…”, for “Use this URL to connect to my proxy server for Exchange:”, you need to enter the Outlook Web Access hostname from OWA (Ex: red001.mail.microsoftonline.com) and do not include the “https://” or the “/owa” here, just the hostname.
You can select to “Only connect to proxy servers that have this principal name in their certificate” if you wish, but not necessary.
DO select both of the checkboxes at the bottom for “On xxxx networks, connect using HTTP first, then connect using TCP/IP”, and set the proxy authentication settings to “NTLM Authentication”.
Click OKAY and apply those settings and now try to open Outlook… You should be prompted with a login.
Sounds complicated? Kinda-sorta, but it works well, and you only have to do it once. You can also use the Microsoft single signon client if you wish, which will remember your login and password and allow you to open Outlook without any issue, but some company policies may not allow you to install additional software, or automatic login applications so the above should work for you.
If you get stuck, please reply here or shoot me an email at info@homelandsecureit.com and I will try to give you a hand.
Microsoft BPOS
Are you tired of dealing with POP3 or IMAP mail from your ISP? Tired of SLOW email? Do you want to share calendars between coworkers? Do you want to see the same contacts, calendar entries and emails on your phone as you do in your Outlook on your desktop and also via a web interface? Do you want your mobile workforce to have access to the same resources you do, including public / shared calendars & contacts? Want support for your Mac, Apple iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry?
Then Microsoft Exchange is the way to go, however, there are costs associated with hosting your own Exchange server that are unattractive to many smaller businesses.
Fortunately there are Hosted / In-The-Cloud alternatives, such as Microsoft’s Own BPOS, the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite which features a Hosted Exchange server, SharePoint, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online. Using BPOS can eliminate the need to purchase, deploy, maintain, backup and eventually upgrade a Microsoft Windows Server with Microsoft Exchange Server. The services are hosted “in the cloud”, in a data center, where all maintenance and upgrades are maintained FOR you. No need to worry with backups either.
This solution isn’t right for everybody, but it could be the answer to your problems if you have a smaller office, a large mobile workforce, a small budget or possibly no central location to place a server at. Would you like more information? Please call us at 864-990-4748 ext 201 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to arrange for a free, no obligation consultation.
Free 30 Day BPOS Trial
Optionally, you can sign up for a FREE 30 day trial of BPOS - Business Productivity Online Standard Suite - This trial includes 20 user licenses for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting, and Office Communications Online.
Homeland Secure IT offers Hosted Microsoft Online Services including the full BPOS / Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting & Office Communications Online) as well as the Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite (Exchange Online & SharePoint Online), and each service individually.
If you are in the Upstate / Greenville SC area, we can assist you with configuring your Outlook to work with the Hosted Exchange Online service at your location or ours.
We also offer full remote support and phone support to clients anywhere in the United States.
Deploying a Microsoft Server 2008 R2 with Microsoft Exchange 2010 into an existing MS Server 2003 / Exchange 2003 environment has some challenges, but when you add in a Blackberry it takes a little foresight.
When a client has an old version of BES or is using Blackberry Professional Server, they should know in advance that it will NOT work with Exchange 2010 – unless they keep the BES account on the legacy (2003) server and the mailboxes of each of the users who will be using a BB.
BIS is also sketchy with Exchange 2010 and OWA. Be well aware that you can’t decide to just dump the BES or Blackberry Professional Server and use BIS & the OWA on your Exchange 2010 server, as it probably won’t work.
What WILL work?
As mentioned, keeping the mailboxes of BB users and the BES mailbox itself on the legacy server…
Upgrading to the latest version of Blackberry Enterprise Server.
Optionally you could just sit back and wait until the recently announced Blackberry Enterprise Server Express is released before moving to Exchange 2010
Other things to consider might be your Anti-Virus / Exchange Anti-Virus/Spam solutions. In our case, Trend Micro Worry Free Security Advanced 5.0 had to be upgraded to WF 6.0, then patched with the service pack. And the messaging protection would not work either, so Trend gives you a free version of their ScanMail to use until WF 7.0 is released. That will be a phone call to Trend to obtain.
Backup Exec 12.5 and below does not fully support Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010. So you will need another solution for this.
Other than those few issues, we are very pleased with the Microsoft Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010 combination. This is our first experience with a production environment and we are looking forward to the next one!
