An Introduction to Exchange 2007 and Certificates

Scott Lowe gives an introduction to how to use SSL Certificates with Exchange 2007 explaining the annoyances that are involved.

Let me start by saying that I like Exchange 2007. However, I am convinced that when it came time to design Exchange 2007’s certificate handling functions, the task was handed to someone with a true loathing for humanity.

We are rolling out Exchange 2007 in my organization and I’m working on figuring out certificates. Here’s what I have learned so far:

• You need certificates for many of Exchange 2007’s features. OWA, Autodiscover, ActiveSync and other services all use SSL for communication. Although you can disable SSL, it is not recommended.
• You need different certificates for different services. For example, if you have a server named “mail” and you use OWA, you’ll need a certificate that protects “mail.yourdomain.com.” Simple enough.

Exchange 2007 and certificates - [TechRepublic]

Originally posted on Mon Jul 9, 2007