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| Part 03#36
Throughout the current article series, the term Autodiscover client\s will be
mentioned dozens or even hundreds of times.
The obvious question could be who or what are these Autodiscover clients?
One way that we can use to classify the different type of Autodiscover clients is by
using the client to server or, server to a server classification.
1. Client to server
An example of a standard Exchange Autodiscover client could be:
Outlook client.
Outlook clients use the Autodiscover services for:
Locating the Exchange CAS server who will enable them to access their mailbox, for
creating a new Outlook mail profile, for getting information about different
Exchange services such as Offline address Book, Free\Busy time and more.
2. Server to Server model
Fewer know the perspective of the Autodiscover services, is a relationship that
could be described as: Server to Server.
In this scenario, the client is not a standard client such as Outlook but instead, the
client is an Exchange server who needs information from another Exchange server.
The ability of the client (the source Exchange server) to find or locate the
destination Exchange server that can provide him the required information, is
based on using the Autodiscover service.
An example for the Autodiscover Server to Server model could be
Mail migration in Office 365 environment | Exchange server as
Autodiscover client
In the Office 365 environment, migration such as Cutover migration, Stage
migration or Hybrid migration, is implemented by relying on the Exchange OnPremise Autodiscover service.
The migration batch that we create from the Office 365 admin center will use the
domain name suffix in the username credentials that we provide for locating the
Exchange on-Premises server.
Note later we will review in more details this Autodiscover mechanism in which
the client use the part of the domain name suffix for locating Autodiscover
Endpoint.
Office 365 Hybrid environment | Exchange server as Autodiscover client
The term Hybrid environment, is a term that describes a relationship between two
different Exchange organization (Exchange Online and Exchange on-Premises
server) that can operate as one entity and share between them different types of
information and services.
The ability to share information between the cloud infrastructure (Exchange Online)
and the Exchange On-Premise infrastructure such as Availability service
(Free/Busy time), is based on the Autodiscover infrastructure of each of the
environments (cloud and On-Premise).
When a user from the cloud needs to view Free/Busy time of On-Premise user, the
Exchange Online server will use the Autodiscover process for locating the Exchange
On-Premise server.
Another term that will be used very often throughout the current article series is
the term Exchange client.
Exchange environment can serve many types of the different mail client.
The main charterer that difference one mail client from another is the protocol that
the client use.
Although all the mail protocol has the same purpose of enable a user to see the
content of his mailbox, each of the mail protocols to behaves differently, speaks
other language and interacts differently with Exchange infrastructure.
Besides of the different protocol this of this mail client use, there are more
categories that we can use for this mail client.
In the following diagram, we can see that the Exchange CAS server, provide his
services for a variety of mail clients, using a variety of mail protocols such as
Outlook mail client that uses RPC protocol, or RPC/HTTPS (Outlook Anywhere)
protocol, mobile devices that use the ActiveSync protocol and web-based mail
client such as OWA.
The Exchange CAS server know how to adapt himself to each of these different
protocols, that has different charters, communication methods, etc.
The Exchange Autodiscover infrastructure serves for additional purposes such as:
providing the required information needed for creating a new mail profile (relevant,
mainly for Outlook mail client), information about available Exchange web services,
and information about the supported authentication protocol from the Exchange
CAS server and so on.
For the sake of full disclosure, I must admit that I know for sure the Exchange
Autodiscover is mandatory for Outlook client, but for the rest of the Exchange
clients mobile (ActiveSync) client and OWA (web client) its not so clear how does
this client interaction with the Exchange Autodiscover services.
For example, part of the Autodiscover information that is provided by the Exchange
server includes a specific section of authentication protocol requirements for the
Exchange web client (OWA mail client) but its not so clear how and if the OWA client
uses this information.
The dependency of the different Exchange client in the Exchange Autodiscover
services table
In the following table, we can see Level of use of the Autodiscover services, by
the different Exchange clients.
By default, Outlook client doesnt know the name of the Exchange CAS server that
will serve him. The only way for Outlook client to locate and find their Exchange
CAS server is, by using the Autodiscover process.
These are some exceptions for this rule because technically, we can provide
Outlook client the Exchange CAS server name manually or, by using a local
configuration file, but this method is not recommended and additionally, there are
many other configuration settings that we will need to provide to the Outlook client
beside of the name of the Exchange CAS server.
Mobile (ActiveSync) clients will try to locate their Exchange CAS server by using the
Autodiscover process and, this is the recommended way.
In a scenario in which the Autodiscover process failed or the in some old mobile
devices the Mobile client (ActiveSync) doesnt support Autodiscover; we can
manually provide the name of the Public facing Exchange CAS server who will
accept the communication request of the Mobile (ActiveSync) client.
Regarding a webmail client such as OWA, the OWA mail client doesnt use the
Autodiscover protocol for locating the element that will lead him to his mailbox
because, when using a webmail client, the basic assumption is that the user will
have to know in advance the name of the Exchange mail server that will enable him
to access his mailbox.
Get information about available Exchange web services
The only way for informing Outlook client about the availability Exchange web
services is via the Autodiscover process, in which the Exchange CAS server sends
the Outlook client the URL address of the existing Exchange web services.
Regarding the other Exchange clients mobile (ActiveSync) client and OWA (web
client), its not so clear, how does this client get the information about available
Exchange web services.
As far as I know, a client such as OWA, doesnt need to know about available
Exchange web services, the OWA client just needs to apply for information and the
Exchange server is responsible for locating the required resources (Exchange web
services) and fetching the required information for the OWA client.
And again, Im not sure that this theory accurate in 100%.
Get the information required for the creation of a new mail profile.
Outlook client must be configured with a mail profile that serves as a logical
container for all the communication settings that will be required for the
communication channel between the Outlook client and Exchange CAS server.
The only optional way for Outlook mail client to get the required configuration
setting for the mail profile is by using the Autodiscover services.
The Exchange CAS server will accept the Outlook client Autodiscover request for
information and based on specific characters of the Exchange client such as the
Exchange Mailbox server who hosts the recipient mailbox, the geographic location
of the client and more, provide a custom answer.
Other
In the other section, we can relate to any type of configuration settings or services
that can be provided as part of the Autodiscover process to Exchange client.
For example, as mention, part of the Autodiscover information that is provided by
Exchange includes a specific section that relates to the OWA mail client.
Because Im not sure how this information does is used by OWA mail client, I will
classify this information in the other section.
The answer to these questions is that the Autodiscover process is not a static
process!
The more suitable term for the Autodiscover relationships that exists between the
Autodiscover client and the Autodiscover Endpoint is a dialog.
For example, Exchange clients, such as Outlook, are accessing the Autodiscover
Endpoint, on an hourly basis to check for new information or updates relating to
the Exchange infrastructure.
Another example could be each time that the mail client such as Outlook is
restarted, the client will try to access the Autodiscover Endpoint, looking for a new
information or verifying that he has the required information.