Exchange Server - OWA, Exchange 2007, Shared Calendar

Asked By Jim Robertson

18-Mar-10 09:10 PM

I am struggling to create a collaboration environment for my medical office.
We need HIPAA compliant messaging, a common calendar on which we can
maintain our call schedule, vacations, and meetings, etc.

I have set up a Windows Server 2008 SBS server on our small LAN, set up our
Exchange Server with a smart sendmail server at our ISP, created users,
added the computers to AD-DS, and now I am trying to make the whole thing do
some useful work for us.

The product brochures for Windows Server 2008 SBS strongly suggested that
all this could be done without much formal IT support, but now I am
encountering obstacles. For example, one of our hopes was that, given our
small budget, and given that SBS 2008 does not come with Office Outlook
licenses as part of user CALs, that we could use Outlook Web Access to view
this shared calendar.

I THINK I have stumbled on the realization that OWA does not really support
viewing a shared calendar on the web. I have read that one enter the calendar
name as part of the URL, but when one navigates to OWA as part of Remote Web
Workplace, the URLs seem to be "locked." In any event, I think it is unlikely
that several of our users will be able to manage that.

Could someone here either confirm my understandings or correct my
misunderstandings or point me to a place where someone can help me?

Specific questions:
1. Is it the case that in the SBS Remote Web Workplace websites it is not
possible to access a shared calendar?
2. If not, is it possible to publish the shared calendar to Microsoft Office
Online and have it viewed THERE from any internet-connected computer?
3. What will happen with the release of Exchange 2010/Offic 2010? I have read
that viewing Outlook calendars via web browsers in MS Office Online will not be
supported any more. Does that mean we are back to only being able to view
online calendars if we have Office Outlook clients (if we all could afford
that, we'd actually have little need for OWA.

This is my first post here. I was referred by one of the Office Mac MS MVPs,
Diane Ross, who is been very helpful to me in the past.

Thanks so much,
Jim Robertson

19-Mar-10 04:19 AM

You do not need much formal support once things are running, but setting
them up can be a challenge as you have discovered. We have to pass
pretty challenging tests to be qualified to support the SBS environment.
Further, Exchange administration is a specialty field.

I have not played with Exchange 2010 yet. I know that you can easily see
shared public folders in Exchange 2007 both through OWA and through Outlook.

We do not use Office Online for this feature. It sounds like you are
trying to use an individual calendar instead of a public folder and
running into limitations of OWA when using that approach.

You are safe with public folders until 2020.
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/03/31/448537.aspx - this is a
policy statement referring to Exchange 2010.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Try Exchange Online http://bit.ly/free-exchange-trial
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you :)

19-Mar-10 06:43 AM

S. Knyshov // SBS Expert"


You're absolutely correct. There is an aphorism "when the only tool in your
toolbox is a hammer, every project looks like a nail."

Where is a good place to begin reading about public folders and how they
interface with SBS for users using either full Office Outlook clients or OWA
via Remote Web Workplace?

Thanks again,
Jim Robertson

19-Mar-10 08:21 AM

Well, if you truly wish to learn Exchange from scratch... *evil smile*

You would start here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124558(EXCHG.80).aspx
Actually, I would start with Exchange 2003 as some information does not
get repeated in later versions of the documentation.

Yep, we pass MCP tests based on all that data.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124411(EXCHG.80).aspx -
this talks about public folders

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb936726(EXCHG.80).aspx -
this talks about how to open a user's shared calendar through OWA
without using public folders. I still recommend public folders as a
solution in your case.

The less painful way is to watch the webcasts and to complete some
virtual labs. http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/tnexchangeserver.aspx

The 24 hours of Exchange 2007 is a good series, in particular.

To be honest, public folders are a real piece of cake in SBS 2008
environment. You basically create a calendar public folder, then you add
that folder to a user's favorite folders in desktop Outlook. That's
pretty much it. You can give them a direct URL to a public folder URL in
OWA.

Don't be concerned that you have SBS or about RWW. As long as users hit
the /owa or /exchange directory, they are talking to Exchange, not RWW.
Most of us do not login to RWW first, but go directly to /owa or
/exchange on the server and login using Exchange credentials. You have a
full Exchange server for all intents and purposes.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Try Exchange Online http://bit.ly/free-exchange-trial
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you :)

19-Mar-10 09:16 AM

The implication there, perhaps, is that all users have full MS Office
Outlook. Unfortunately, that is not the case in our shop.

I will look at SOME of your suggestions (I am not trying to become an IT
Professional). However, the MS marketing materials were pretty persuasive
that what seemed relatively simple tasks could be accomplished by people
like me :-)

Thanks so much,
Jim Robertson

19-Mar-10 10:45 AM

Sorry to come back so soon with more questions. The first place I looked to
begin reading about Public Folders in Outlook was in the MS Press book
makes me feel like Han Solo in the original "Star Wars," as he is about to be
crushed by the garbage compacter: "I do not have a good feeling about this."

Here is the quote: "In an Exchange Server 2007 environment, the use of public
folders has been superseded by the functionality provided in Microsoft
Office SharePoint 2007."

(I am just trying to avoid wandering TOO far down the wrong path :-)

Thanks again,
Jim Robertson

19-Mar-10 06:34 PM

Just wanted you to know you have been extraordinarily helpful. I have figured
out how to create a calendar in a Public Folder and share it with my office
associates. A few curiosities I discovered. One is that, even though most of
my teammates have been granted only "review" access, the interface is not
entirely clean in OWA. For example, it is possible for someone with "review"
privileges to go through all the steps of creating an appointment except
saving it.

One disappointment is that the calendar cannot be viewed in full Office
Outlook adjacent to or overlaying an individual's personal calendar. Is that
by design.

By the way, I much appreciated your link to the tech note stating that
support for Public Folders will not be deprecated until 2020. I will be retired
by then and we will all have instant visual twitter in glowing 3D characters
by then anyway.

Next step: how to make sure I handle categories correctly for items in the
public folder.

19-Mar-10 10:35 PM

Yes it can be, quite easily.

Hit Ctrl-6 so all folders are visible.
Right-click on the public folder containing your calendar and add it to
favorite folders.
Hit Ctrl-2 to access the calendar tab.
You should now see the public folder calendar among your available
calendars.
Click its checkbox to open it alongside the mailbox calendar.
Click the arrow to the left of calendar's name to overlap it with the
mailbox calendar.
I offer reasonably priced annual support agreements, by the way.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Try Exchange Online http://bit.ly/free-exchange-trial
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you :)

20-Mar-10 12:22 AM

I'd be happy to vote, but I do not know where to do so. I looked at your
company's website and at MS Office Online and did not see any place to do so
in either instance.

Thanks for the Favorites tip. It will make my users happy.

Jim Robertson

20-Mar-10 01:08 AM

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.exchange.clients&cat=en_US_835521f5-7ad5-4853-8b0c-dcd3b2773335&lang=en&cr=US is the location of this thread in Microsoft's online system.

You are accessing it through NNTP as am I, so that is why it did not make
sense. :)
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you :)

20-Mar-10 05:59 AM

On 3/19/10 10:08 PM, in article
FD895090-7BED-43AF-A25A-019B0D11B825@microsoft.com, "Leonid S. Knyshov //


Right you are. I went to the web interface and clicked the "thumbs up"
button for each of your spot-on replies.

Jim Robertson

20-Mar-10 06:14 AM

Thanks Jim, I appreciate that.

Good luck with your adventure known as SBS. As long as you use wizards,
you will be fine. If you try to do things outside the wizards, things can
break.

Have a nice weekend. :)
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Try Exchange Online http://bit.ly/free-exchange-trial
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you :)