How to force Outlook 2003 / Exchange 2003 to use static RPC ports

exchangeoutlookportrpc

I have a requirement to set the Outlook client to use a specific RPC port that will allow me to poke Outlook through our secure Application Level Gateway (Appgate). I have found article :
KB 833799

That tells you how to setup a profile with a PRF file to use certain ports.

My question is this – do I need to force Exchange to use those ports (IE set Exchange to use those ports only) or can exchange continue to work on a random port basis.

If I do need to change them, how the heck do I do it and does it require a reboot?

Will it cause any adverse affects if i do this?

Also, does this need to be done on all exchange servers or can i get away with doing it on just the one that has mailboxes that need to access it in this way.

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

Kip

Best Answer

Before you go off and do this, you might want to consider using RPC over HTTP (aka "Outlook Anywhere"). This gateways the MSRPC protocol over HTTP (or HTTPS) and might make life easier for you re: forwarding this traffic thru the firewall.

Here's the server-side instructins for statically assigning ports: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270836

You would be making this change only on the Exchange Server computer(s) that the Outlook clients would be talking to. The change will require a "bounce" of the Exchange services but should not require a reboot of Windows.

Have a look at this article re: RPC over HTTP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833401

You'll like RPC of HTTP better, I think, and it's more "supported".

Related Topic