Exchange Activesync and SBS
I don't work with Small Business Server a lot, but I found some interesting information this morning that I thought I would share. For many, configuring Server Activesync can result in a lot of frustration. This does not just apply to SBS. There are a lot of settings that have to be configured in order for this to work.

One common scenario where Activesync can be problematic is where you have enabled Forms-based authentication for Exchange, and have only one server. The problems this causes are actually quite well documented here. The main issue here is that the Activesync virtual directory expects to talk to the Exchange virtual directory via http, not https. If you have forms-based authentication enabled, and are requiring ssl, activesync (and oma) will not work. The solution is to create another virtual directory according to the instructions in the KB article above. The nice thing about SBS is that this is done automatically as part of the SBS customization. Here's where it gets tricky. In addition to wanting to talk over http, Activesync also expects to use Kerberos authentication. If Integrated authentication has been disabled on the Exchange virtual directory OR the new exchange-oma virtual directory, then you will see the same HTTP_500 error indicating there was a server error and activesync will fail.
- posted by Ben Winzenz @ 8:22 AM