I spent a couple hours over the past two days trying to figure out how to redirect requests from the root of my domain to the /owa directory. To boot I wanted to redirect HTTP to HTTPS. I needed to simplify the method of connecting to Outlook Web Access – basically make it ID10T-proof. This way users don’t have to specify HTTPS or use the /owa directory. They can simply type mail.mydomain.com in their browser and voila, they are directed to the right location.
As with most things more than one way exists to skin this cat. The two most common ways I discovered (both of which have some limitations and problems) were to either use HTTP REDIRECT in IIS Manager, or to use a custom 403 error page.
The simplest and most elegant solution I found was to create a one-line default.asp file. Of course you have to have ASP installed/enabled on the server and default.asp needs to be in (preferably alone or at the top of) your default documents list.
Wait no longer – all you need in the default.asp file is:
<% Response.Redirect “https://mail.mydomain.com/owa” %>
That’s it. It’s that simple!
Now when your users access (http://)mail.mydomain.com they will magically and instantly be redirected to the secure and correct location of https://mail.mydomain.com/owa.