Exchange 2007 CASserver will not redirect /exchange to /owa

If you wish to have Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 and wish to access mailboxes on Exchange 2003, you need to have a stand alone client access server (Ref: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb885041.aspx and the Note under scenario 4 for a better understanding).

Hi Simon,

My internal URL on the owa directory is set to https://CASServer.company.com/owa. No external URL set or needed in this case. Are there any others that I'm missing?
By twice, I mean it appears though one is encapsulated in the other somehow. I have attached an image for reference.

Satn,
Thanks. I do have a stand alone CAS server and the issue is that the /exchange virtual directory will not redirect back to /owa for mailboxes on the Exchange 2007 server (2003 mailboxes are not an issue here). Thanks for trying to help though.

Ok,
So it turns out that my Mailbox role server has two virtual directories left over in IIS - /exchange and /public. If I remove these directories, the (only) front end CASServer does NOT redirect /exchange requests to /owa. If I recreate them on the mailbox server, it works.

So I can fix the symptoms, but I don't know what the solution is. I thought these directories were for the Client Access Server role only and not the Mailbox role. How is this SUPPOSED to be set?

By the way, the mailbox server was also a CAS Server previously (and that role was removed). I guess I can build a mailbox server from scratch and check the default settings myself.

how /Owa works
--> Client --HTTPS->CAS-RPC->Mailbox (so user connects to CAS using https, and CAS uses RPC to retrieve mailbox info and provides it back to the client.

how /Exchange works

--> Client--Https->CAS--Https->Mailbox where user resides ( 2003 or 2007)

                                                 If user is on Exchange 2007, then refer user to the internal url of Owa
                                                 If user is on Exchange 2003, then provide mailbox info back to CAS over https  //this is how Exchange 2003 Front end and
                                                 Back end used to work.
                                                 /public is for public folder access within Owa


Hence for /exchange to work, you DO need these virtual directories installed on the Mailbox server role. This is better explained in the technet     ----------------------------->http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb885041.aspx.
Also i noticed that these are on windows 2008, so i'd suggest checking the pre-requisites for exchange -->http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354.aspx
In windows 2008, you'd need the right kind of authentication to be installed on iis to make this work.
 

Thanks Satn,

That's really helpful! I recreated the Exchange and Public directories and the error is gone! So just that I can close this issue, can you tell me then which Virtual Directories I should have on my Mailbox only server in IIS? I was unable to recreate the Exadmin, Exweb and OWA directories because the server "does not have the right Exchange version or role" (I'm assuming because CAS isn't installed). So to confirm, which of these directories are required on a Mailbox only server:

/exchange - we clarified this is a yes?
/public - we clarified this is a yes?
/owa - no because not a CAS?
/exadmin - no because not a CAS?
/exweb - no because not a CAS?
/Rpc - Only for Outlook Anywhere or for CAS to mailbox communications?
/RpcWithCert - Only for Outlook Anywhere or for CAS to mailbox communications?

Please confirm the above and I'll close this issue. Thanks for all the help!