Redirecting emails.

[slicardie]

Hi guys,

The scenario:

Exchange Server 5.5 running on NT 4.0. Users are able to send internal and external email (internal through the exchange server, external through smtp/pop, both accounts configured in outlook xp).

I want to know if there is any way to redirect internal email to be sent to external email. I mean... suppose user X has gone to a meeting on another country. Suppose user Y is in the office, and selects from the "Global Address List" the name of user X. User Y then sends the email... but User X won't be able to see the email, because it was sent as an internal one, and will only be able to see it until he returns to the office and opens Outlook... hope you understand. Any ideas?

 

[Spirit]

OWA, dial-in, automatic forwarding rule or VPN theres four off the top of me head.

 

[Trackhappy]

Setup an external email address in teh address book (custom recipient). Then use the delivery options under the account to deliver to that recipient. You can select whether to keep a copy or not as well.

 

[slicardie]

But there's a problem here. Each user mailbox has an smtp address, for example userx@domainname.com. If I want to add a custom recipient (as a smtp address??) then Exchange won't create it, because the address userx@domainname.com already exists...

 

[Spirit]

Create FakeName@Yourdomain.com and have this forwarding Realname@Externamail.com then under the persons original mail account goto properties delivery options the select FakeName@Yourdomain.com as the alternative recient and select to either deliver only to the external mail address or to both.

I think thats what TrackHappy meant.

Iain

 

[zbnet]

Redirecting mail automatically outside the company is potentially able to cause a mail loop, which is A Bad Thing. Do it at your own risk.

Out of Office (OOA) has a rules section that (unlike the OOA message itself) fires every time a message arrives whilst the OOA is set. The user could use this to forward messages matching the specific rule to an external address if the IMS setting to permit the transmission of automatic replies is selected.

 

[slicardie]

But as I said before, take into account the scenario:

User X is out of the office. An internal email arrives to his mailbox. Then, the OOA rules redirect it to userx@mydomain.com BUT User X's mailbox smtp address is set to userx@mydomain.com so the email will be fired BUT internally again. Do you see my point?

I checked this in my lan. If for example I send an email to myself, it doesn't matter if I send it through a POP account (Outlook) and put manually the external email address in the "TO" box, Outlook (or exchange) always sends it as an internal email...

 

[Trackhappy]

I am not getting what you have configured. Have you an external (ISP?) server for POP3 accounts as well as the Exchange ones? Is Outlook XP then checking the POP account as well as the Exchange account?
If so, then you need to stop it from doing that while the person is away. Once it retrieves it from the POP3 server, then it is no longer there to be retrieved by another email client. There may be an option under the POP3 account settings to leave a copy on the server though, which may help you. I don't have Outlook XP to check, maybe someone else can.

 

[slicardie]

That's the configuration... but finally I found a solution: I am configuring OWA and I'll see if it works...

 

[striker4972]

Slicardie, I have the same setup with the same problem. We now have some users that work off laptops when they are out of town. If we try to email them from within we get resolved to the internal address. What did you do for a solution? I am running exchange 5.5 on Nt4 and do not currently use owa.

Thanks for any help

Striker

 

[slicardie]

Striker, I am using OWA. I have to admit I didn't configure it, but this was a very good solution as now we are all able to check our emails when out of the office... Anyway, I guess OWA installation is not hard. It seems to me you only have to install ISS and configure some things... Check the MS site for more details. If you want a more simple solution check out what zbnet posted, it is the post which makes more sense... sorry I can't give you more help than this.

 

[striker4972]

what would happen if you changed the smtp address in the exchange profile of that user? would Outlook/Exchange still resolve an internal email address to the internal address? I am going to try that in a controlled environment.

 

[striker4972]

I meant an external email address to the internal address.

 

[slicardie]

Exchange won't resolve the external address to the internal one if they are different.

So if you're thinking to change the smtp address to let's say you@hotmail.com go ahead and try it... it is not the best solution though... if possible, you should try OWA.

 

[striker4972]

Yeah, I am definately going to go with OWA but I need a solution of some sort by noon today so this is something...