iPhone and Microsoft Exchange
Sunday, November 9th, 2008Connecting iPhone and Microsoft Exchange reveals two primary connectivity relationships.
- IMAP (possible with iPhone 1.0 and 2.0)
- Exchange Active Sync employing Direct Push (iPhone 2.0 and newer)
Exchange has two major releases that support iPhone
The service packs for Exchange also support different functionality.
The key turning point for iPhone in relation to Exchange has been Apple’s support for Direct Push technology and Exchange Active Sync (achieved in iPhone 2.0 release). Microsoft has placed the emphasis on Direct Push since Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 released in June 2005, and now Apple is on-board. H
Prior to 2.0 release, Apple offered only IMAP as a supported method of connecting iPhone to Exchange.
Here are some great articles on setting up IMAP in your Exchange environment
- Configuring IMAP for iPhone Sync Microsoft Exchange 2003 - Non-Clustered Configuration
- Configuring iPhone and IMAP access for Microsoft Exchange 2007
Followed by Apple’s own articles on connecting iPhone to Exchange using Exchange Active Sync. First is Apples definitive guide (.pdf) on deploying iPhone in the Enterprise . There are also Apple specific articles including:
- Apple - Support - iPhone - Mail Helper
- Preparing Exchange for iPhone setup
- iPhone 2.1 Exchange Active Sync “direct push” - setting up iPhone with Exchange
This is what iPhone 2.0 looks like from the Exchange 2007 administrator’s perspective if connected using Exchange Active Sync.
POP3 and IMAP are still supported in the latest release of Exchange 2007 SP1. Therefore iPhone can support both methods. One question that may also be asked prior to selecting the method is whether you require support for Public Folders from Exchange to be supported in the iPhone. At this time only IMAP connectivity will provide iPhone users any view of Public Folders in Exchange.
To learn more about the differences between IMAP and EAS, please read Mobile Device Connectivity to Exchange using IMAP vs Exchange ActiveSync .
Finally, the follow table examines iPhone on Exchange 2003 and 2007 in light of Public Folders
| Exchange 2003 SP2 Direct Push | Exchange 2003 SP2 IMAP | Exchange 2007 SP1 Direct Push | Exchange 2007 SP1 IMAP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 1.0 CONTACTS/CALENDAR/EMAIL | N | Y | N | Y |
| iPhone 1.0 w/PUBLIC FOLDERS | N | Y | N | Y |
| iPhone 2.0 CONTACTS/CALENDAR/EMAIL | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| iPhone 2.0 w/PUBLIC FOLDERS | N | Y | N | Y |
Why the emphasis on Public Folders? Clients are often interested in the Public Folder concept of Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft however has recently “de-emphazied” Public folders… making them essentially an endangered species in reference to future support and expansion of the concept.
TO BE CONTINUED