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forward a subdomain

how to forward a dns name like http://mail.mydomain.com to a subdirectory on iis such as http://mydomain.com/exchange.  does the http://mail.mydomain.com forward to the http://mydomain.com. and then if so what settings can be made on the host server to forward to the directory http://mydomain.com/exchange.
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Fred Goodwin
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ASKER

hello so lost.

can you give me more details here.  like where in dns to point.  why create another web site this is how to get to outlook web access http://mydomain.com/exchange.  there must already be a web site here set up by exchange automatically when activating outlook web access.
ok here is the deal.  You have http://domain.com if you are adding something infront of the domain name like http://sub1.domain.com then I would create another site.  If you are adding something to the end of the domain, like http://domain.com/vdir then add a virtual directory in IIS.  Either way the DNS needs to point to the mail server.  if you are adding something infront of the domain name like http://sub1.domain.com, you will require some DNS changes.  If you are adding something to the end of the domain, like http://domain.com/vdir then everything is done in IIS and no DNS changes are done.

Let me know which of these you are trying to do and I can help you from there.
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ASKER

hello imsolost,

thanks for the informaion.  i have access to outlook web access installed by default as http://mydomain.com/exchange.  when a web surfer types the url http://mydomain.com/exchange they get outlook web access on my exchange server.  i would like to change the way a web surfer gets to my outlook web access to http://mail.mydomain.com.

i am trying to avoid creating another public dns.  when you mention dns do you mean public (on the isp) or private (on my server).  i presume that anything the has nnnnn.mydomain.com will go to mydomain.com so i do not have to change anything at the public isp.
that has to go through your public DNS record.  You just need to have them point it at your server with exchange running.  Then create a new website and when it asks for the directory point it to the exchange dir.  When you make the dir you need to click the advanced tap on the 1st tab of the properties and add the domain name http://sub.domain.com.  if you dont add that then all incomming requests will go to the default website.  Adding a website is not a big deal at all.  Its more for how IIS wants to manage them
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ASKER

how should i set up the public dns  a zone like mail.mydomain.com or do i need to register a compete new domain like mail.mydomain.com.

i can set up a web site on exchange but i do not have a directory showing for mydomain.com/exchange. where is this on file manager or in IIS admin.
you do not need to purchase a new domain.  You need to add a new host(A) record to the current domain.  Are you doing your own DNS?  If so what DNS platform are you using?  if you are using Microsoft then you can open the domain and right click and add a new host.
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ASKER

hello imsolost,

thanks for the continued support.  

i created a new cname record on my public name server godabby.com it shows as

   zone record name       type      zone record value
   
           mail                    cname        @  (means converts to domain ip)

next i went into iis admin and used the new web wizzart to create a web site called webmail with hoast header of mail.mydomain.com then set the path to c:\inetpub\mailroot (i am not sure of this because it does not show in file manager. i presumed that outlook web access created this on installation but i cannot identify what is the mydomain.com/exchange ie where is it on file manager.  finally wait for 24 hours for the new cname to populate.

the cname should work fine for getting the person to your server.  

What version of exchange are you running?  On 2003 it is located here
C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\exchweb
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ASKER

running exchange 03.  what does the url http://mydomain.com/exchange (outlook web access) convert to in  the directory structure in file manager.  or to put it another way what directory path to use in the new web to get to outlook web access and where to make the setting.  i can make the change in iis manager web site properties but what path to use exactly.
mine is located here

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\exchweb


Another thought.  By doing this you are going to run into security issues.  By default OWA (outlook web access) installs on a virtual directory.  If you set it up like this you may run into the problem of security.  You might think about just redirecting this new website to the virtual dir that it set up.  For example.

I am using small business server.  the login page that I need my users to login to is located at
https://domain/Remote/logon.aspx

so when you add http://mail.domain.com just make the site redirect to the above page.  that will allow the user to use the mail.domain.com domain name but still have to use the built in security
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ASKER

now getttng a "not authorized to view this page using the directory as per C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\exchweb  also got tyhe same message with the path c:\inetpub\mailroot.  It appears that the names server new cname is working but how to get past the securty message and get the logon screen to show up.

Do we have other options for redirecting the cname besides setting up a web sitd what about setting up a dns server or forward lookups or reverse lookups.  if so what method would be best pros and cons.
Either of those will work.  I dont think either of them is really better than the other.  Thats what I was talking about with the security in my last post.  I had not thought about that.  I see 3 ways you can do this.

1) DNS like you were talking, although is sounds like godaddy has your dns so that may not be the best option.

2) forward the name in IIS, its simple to do and it works

3) copy the security settings to the new website from the virtual directory that OWA created when you installed it.
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ASKER

Hello imsolost,

here is the response i got back from microsoft. it works but very complex and still when the url converts back to /exchange in teh browser address.  i am still  looking for a simpler solution but this is the level of detail needed to get the whole process working:

SSUE:

Customer wants to type in browser mail.mydomain.com and get OWA.

Public DNS is already in place for a common IP address for mydomain.com and mail.mydomain.com

First, we created a new Exchange Virtual Directory.

1. Start Exchange System Manager.

2. Expand "Servers", expand <ServerName>, expand "Protocols".

3. Right-click "HTTP", click "New", and then click "Virtual Server".

4. Type the name of the new virtual server. This name will appear in IIS as a new site.

5. Click on the "Advanced" button, select the (All Unassigned) IP Address, click Modify

6. Enter the name of the URL that you want users to access OWA. For example if you want users to type in the URL http://mail.domain.com then enter "mail.domain.com" (without quotes) in the Host name field.

7. Click on the Access tab. Click the Authentication... button. Ensure that you are using Anonymous and remove "Basic" and "Integrated Windows Authentication" if they are selected. Click OK. Click OK.

8. Right click the new exchange virtual server that you just created, click "New", and then click "Virtual Directory".

9. Enter the name of the new virtual directory. In this case "Exchange". Ensure that "Exchange Path" has the "Mailboxes for SMTP domain" option selected.

10. Click on the Access tab. Click the Authentication... button. Ensure that you are using "Basic" and a "\" or the default domain name is specified for "Default domain: remove "Integrated Windows Authentication" if selected. Click OK. Click OK.

11. Right click the new exchange virtual server again and , click "New", and then click "Virtual Directory".

12. Enter the name of the new virtual directory. In this case "Public". Ensure that "Exchange Path" has the "Public Folder" option selected.

13. Click on the Access tab. Click the Authentication... button. Ensure that you are using "Basic" and a "\" or the default domain name is specified for "Default domain: remove "Integrated Windows Authentication" if selected. Click OK. Click OK.

Second, we need to setup the redirect in IIS and disable DS2MB for the new virtual server folder only.

1. Start Internet Information Services Manager (IIS)

2, Expand <ServerName>, expand "Web Sites".

3. Right click the new website created name the same as the new virtual server created in Exchange System Manager in the steps above (#4), click Properties.

4. On the "Web Site" tab click the "Advanced..." button and ensure that the "Host Header value" is the url that you entered in the above steps (#6). If it is not then the creation of the new virtual server in Exchange System Manager was not done correctly. If it is correct then proceed to the next step.

5. Click on the "Home Directory" tab, In the section "The content for this resource should come from", click the option "A redirection to a URL" in and enter "/exchange" (without quotes) in the "Redirect to" box.

6. In the section "The client will be sent to" click to check the box, "A directory below URL entered". Click Apply. In the dialog popup "Inheritance Overrides" click Cancel. Click OK

Finally, Disable DS2MB from overwriting the redirect back to default.

1. Start the ADSI Edit tool. To do this, click "Start", click "Run", type "adsiedit.msc" (without the quotation marks) in the "Open" box, and then click "OK".

Note ADSI Edit is included with the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Support Tools and with the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Support Tools. To install the Windows 2000 Support Tools, double-click Setup.exe in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows 2000 CD. To install the Windows Server 2003 Support Tools, double-click Suptools.msi in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows Server 2003 CD.

2. Connect to a domain controller if you are not already connected.

3. Expand "Configuration Container [<computername>.<example>.<com>]",  expand "CN=Configuration,DC=<example>,DC=<com>", expand "CN=Services",
   expand "CN=Microsoft Exchange", expand "CN=<OrganizationName>", expand "CN=Administrative Groups", expand "CN=<AdministrativeGroupName>",
   expand "CN=Servers", expand "CN=<ExchangeServerName>", expand "CN=Protocols", and then expand "CN=HTTP".

4. Under HTTP will be "CN=1", this is the Default Web Site in IIS. If this is the first virtual site that you have created it will be "CN=100". Right click the new virtual site and click on Properties.

5. On the Attribute Editor tab click to place a check mark in "Show only attributes that have values"

6. Scoll in the resulting list and locate "msExchDS2MBOptions", select it and then click on the "Edit" button.

7. Change the Value from zero to 1. Click OK. Click OK

8. Exit ADSIEDIT

Test the new virtual site by opening a browser and typing in

http://mail.domain.com (or what ever name was specified as the URL in Exchange step #6)
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newgentechnologies

Wow, this seemed like a basic answer, but the end result is so complex.

I'm assuming I want to do the same thing, but I have no need to use any subdomains.

Exchange 2007 makes it so by default, and the way we have it setup, is that you check your OWA by going to mail.domain.com/OWA. Is there any way that if users go to just mail.domain.com, that IIS forward the user to the /OWA folder instead?