Root access for OWA

Typing in an URL of https://exchange.company1.tld/exchange can be a bit tedious and you may prefer just to type https://exchange.company1.tld. You may have found that for the new virtual server you created, OWA is configured for the root of the Web site also. The steps needed to extend root access for OWA in the Default Web Site is very straight-forward.

The Default Web Site and the site we created in the second option above both pointed their root home directories to the c:\inetpub\wwwroot folder (assuming Windows was installed on drive C). If you don’t specify a file in the URL, IIS will try to return default.htm or default.asp or so on in that order: Therefore we need only create a redirection script in this location called default.asp and the job is done.

This is one way to create such a file:

1. Click Start and Run on the Exchange server. In the Run dialog box type cmd in the Open box and click OK.
2. At the command prompt enter the following commands (the ^Z character is entered by pressing the ‘Z’ key with the ‘Ctrl’ key held down):

c:
cd \inetpub\wwwroot
copy con default.asp
<%@ Language=VBScript %><% Response.Redirect "exchange" %>
^Z
exit