- How this Article is Organized
- Obtaining the Scripts and Tools for this Article
- Integration – A Historical Perspective
- Pre-Cooking and General Preparation
- Outlook Fat Client a la Carte Recipe
- Outlook Express Messaging Soup Recipe
- OWA Over a Netlet With a DNS Twist Recipe
- OWA Luau with Rewriter Fire Dancing: the 3 o'clock Show
- OWA Luau with Rewriter Hula Dancing: the 6 o'clock Show
- Glossary
- About the Author
- Acknowledgements
- Bibliography
- Ordering Sun Documents
- Accessing Sun Documentation Online
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Outlook Express Messaging Soup Recipe
Ingredients
Client
Outlook Express 5x
Internet Explorer 5.5SP2 with December 2002 security update
Three Netlet rules required for IMAP, SMTP, and, if needed, POP3
Advantages
Allows end users familiar with Outlook Express to continue using their native application for email access.
Provides reliable messaging without the overhead of having to download the user interface components repeatedly.
Disadvantages
Minor usability problems with Outlook email accounts which are not accessible when the Netlet connection is not active.
Outlook Express will report connectivity problems.
A client other than a web browser is required to access mail.
Messaging Express is not a fully featured Exchange client.
Sun ONE Portal Server 3.0 software does not currently support modern browsers for the NetApps.
Netlet traffic may be denied by some proxying firewalls or proxies which perform SSL packet-level investigation.
What
Configure Messaging Netlet rules.
Configure accounts on the client machine.
How
To Configure Netlet Rules Required For Exchange Messaging:
Log in to the Portal Administration Console.
Select Manage Domains.
From the list, select the portal domain name for which the Exchange users are mapped.
Expand the Applications key.
Select Netlet.
Add IMAP|null|false|143|exchange-server|143 in the form field under the Netlet Rules attribute (where exchange-server is the fully qualified address of the Exchange server).
Select Add.
Add SMTP|null|false|25|exchange-server|25 in the form field under the Netlet Rules attribute.
Select Add.
Add POP3|null|false|110|exchange-server|110 in the form field under the Netlet Rules Attribute.
Select Add.
Add NNTP|null|false|119|exchange-server|119 in the form field under the Netlet Rules attribute.
Select Add.
Uncheck Warning for Popup windows.
Scroll to the bottom of the page check Apply changes to all subRoles.
Select Submit.
Log out of the Portal Administration Console.
Log in as a user to the Portal Gateway.
Verify that the static Netlet rule is configured by looking at the output of the browser's Java console and making sure there is an entry for each of the ports which the Netlet should be listening on.
NOTE
POP3 is not recommended as a secure solution because sensitive mail (message headers as well as bodies) may be downloaded and saved on the client machine. You might consider only supporting IMAP and SMTP.
To Configure Accounts on the Client Machine
Launch Outlook Express.
Select Tools Accounts.
Select Add Mail.
Enter your internal work address.
Select Next.
Enter your work email address next to the E-mail address field.
Select IMAP from the drop-down menu bar.
Enter localhost in both the Incoming and Outgoing mail fields.
Select Next.
Enter the user name and password.
Select Remember password if the client machine is not a shared resource and if your own security requirements permit it.
Select Next.
Verify connectivity by logging in to the Portal Gateway.
Launch Messaging Express and select localhost (or whatever you may have chosen as the account name).
Select OK to download the folder list and select which folders to view.
Select account name again.
Select a few of the folders to make sure the contents are present.
Send a test message to a known email account.
View the Java console to verify that connections are being made to the Netlet. The output might look something like what you see in the following code box: Netlet got connection on port: 143 from port:1657 to ateway:s1-gateway.sun.com on port:443 Netlet got connection on port: 143 from port:1661 to gateway:s1-gateway.sun.com on port:443 Netlet got connection on port: 143 from port:1664 to gateway:s1-gateway.sun.com on port:443
NOTE
If a test message fails due to the inability to relay, you might have to modify the SMTP relay restrictions. If the test machine is isolated from the outside network completely, the restrictions can be removed completely. Otherwise, a great deal of care should be taken to be sure that the appropriate filtering is done to avoid creating a wide open relay.
To Remove the Exchange SMTP Relaying Restrictions in an Isolated Test Environment
Launch the Exchange System Manager.
Expand Servers.
Expand server instance.
Expand Protocols.
Expand SMTP.
Right click over Default SMTP Virtual Server and select Properties.
Select the Access tab from the properties window.
Select the Relay button.
Check All except the list below and choose OK.
Why
Many companies use Exchange solely as a messaging solution. By creating Netlet tunnels for messaging protocols like IMAP, SMTP, and NNTP, any standards-compliant client, such as Netscape_ Messenger, can be used to send and receive email securely once configured to use the local loopback address as the email server without having to move Exchange into the DMZ where it is more vulnerable. This only works if the port is not already bound by another service. Because it is unlikely that members of the mobile workforce are running messaging servers from their clients, this is generally not a problem. With both a remote account and a local account created, when Messaging Express is launched, one or the other will be able to successfully synchronize with the Exchange Server and a warning will be displayed regarding the other account.
To reduce the amount of traffic, Messaging Express also allows specific synchronization options such as synchronizing only new messages. This is a good solution for companies that have more proficient end users who are able to make configuration changes to their email clients and who do not require access to anything other than internal email and news. If Exchange calendaring and other services are required, another recipe should be used instead.