In the context of a dedicated Client Access server with a public IP, an admin might want to make the default landing point for the server be the /OWA site, so that users can get to the login prompt without appending the /owa to the end (e.g. https://<Public Name>/owa).

Some sites will tell you to simply log in to IIS and set a redirect on the default site to /owa. Problem is, that setting will be pushed down to all the virtual directories, which will then have to be un-set manually. If you don’t do this, you can expect the sub-sites to fail, including activesync. If you have ever worked as an admin on an Exchange or IIS server, you know that, if you are running a Microsoft web-based application, you change as little as you can get away with and you do it in the simplest manner possible. The best way to do this is to set up a redirect on the iisstart.htm file.

To do this,

  1. Select the default website in IIS (this assumes Server 2008 and Exchange 2007, btw).
  2. Select the content view at the bottom to see the documents in the root of the directory.
  3. Highlight the iisstart.htm file and hit the “switch to features view” Now we are looking at the features for just this one file.
  4. Now select the HTTP Redirect button and check the box for “Redirect request to this destination” and put in “/owa” (no quotes).
  5. Hit apply and test. This should not require a bounce of IIS.

To ensure that users get directed to the correct site even if they forget to type in https, you can force the error they get to redirect them to the correct site.

  1. In the IIS manager, click on the default site and choose “Error Pages.”
  2. Select the 403 error and choose to edit it.
  3. Choose to “Respond with a 302 redirect” and put in the full path (including https and /owa) of your owa login page. Hit OK. No restart of IIS should be necessary.
  4. Test.