Re: [Evolution] Evolution and Exchange 2007 (aka 5.5) on Fedora - port 135

["Valent Turkovic" <valent turkovic gmail com>]

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 3:03 PM, Paul Smith <paul mad-scientist us> wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-09-10 at 08:23 +0200, Valent Turkovic wrote:
> > > > The Evolution Exchange connector uses the Exchange Open Web Access (OWA)
> > > > interface, which is essentially the Exchange webmail interface, to
> > > > contact Exchange.  Thus, to use the connector you need to have the Web
> > > > ports open (80 and 443, for HTTP and HTTPS respectively).
> > > >
> > > > However, the new mapi-provider backend talks to the server using
> > > > Microsoft MAPI protocol, which is the same protocol that Outlook uses to
> > > > talk to Exchange.  This protocol uses different ports, of course, since
> > > > it's a different protocol.
> >
> > Before my company switched to new Exchange 2007 I could read email
> > from wherever I was (over public facing owa through Evolution Exchange
> > Connector), and if I understand you now this is not possible now
> > because ports that are needed to do the communication are usually
> > blocked by corporate firewall.
> >
> > Ok, I can use my email via Evolution now when I'm inside the company's
> > LAN but before I had been spoiled by accessing my email from home or
> > from anywhere else. Is there some solution to this?
>
> The right answer is that your company should be providing a VPN for
> remote access.  Having the Exchange server HTTP interface (or MAPI
> interface) directly available through their firewalls to the internet
> is... well, it's just not a good idea and we'll leave it at that.
>
> The question is, can Windows users use Outlook when they are remote?  If
> so, then you can use Evolution.  If Windows users have to use a browser
> to read mail when they're remote then you will have to do the same.
>
> The only solution that would allow you to continue to use Evolution with
> only a Web interface is for someone to rework the Evolution Connector
> backend so that it can parse the new HTTP format that Exchange 2007 is
> using.  The problem with the model used by Evo Connector is that it
> relies on the HTTP interface provided by Exchange.  However, Microsoft
> can (and does) feel free to modify that interface at any time: there is
> no backward-compatibility etc. issue, because the code is all on the
> server and clients only have a browser to connect with.  They can
> rewrite the entire interface with every release if they like.  And,
> creating software to "bridge" between the HTTP provided by Exchange and
> the functionality required by Evolution is not a simple task, at all.
> It's a constant effort to stay current.  That's why developers are
> moving to MAPI, which is a (more) stable protocol and much easier to
> manage.


Thank you for really great answer, I admit I didn't use VPN because I
didn't need to, now that I need it I'll configure it (it is a pain to
configure it).

Cheers,
Valent
.

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