Sanity is Strange

OK most of you know that I started my new job last week. That has been great for the most part. The thing that has been troubling me for the last week is my beloved iPhone. At my previous job we ran Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in a single server organization. My new employer is running Exchange 2003 with a single front-end server and a clustered back-end server. We are also using OWA with forms based authentication.

First things first. Always read all available information prior to banging your head against a wall, it will save you some pain. Second, getting ActiveSync to run in an environment mentioned above is no piece of cake.

I will attempt to break it down for you and try not to omit anything.

1. Ensure you are running Exchange 2003 SP 2 - this step is critical, ActiveSync will not function correctly without it
2. Ensure that RPC over HTTP Proxy service is installed on front-end and back-end servers
3. In ESM right click on each Exchange server and select properties and configure the RPC over HTTP tab for the corrisponding role held by that server (i.e. front-end or back-end) note: ensure to set the back-end servers up first.
4. Ensure proper permissions on Exchange Virtual server directories (Great link with this info as well as some items I may forget)
5. If you are planning on using a self signed certificate, visit your server and export your certificate using Internet Explorer then email it to your iPhone (instructions can be found here)
6. Now configure your iPhone for an Exchange account and keep your fingers crossed.