4.2 Autodiscover Client Querying for Autodiscover Servers

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This example uses the following configuration:

  • A mail client is configured to use the email address User@Contoso.com.

  • The mail client is configured to use ClientLdap.Contoso.com as its LDAP server.

  • Servers are configured as specified in section 3.2 of this document.

The client wants to construct a list of URIs of possible Autodiscover server locations. First the client executes the steps specified in section 3.1.5.1. The client searches its LDAP server on ClientLdap.Contoso.com for a service connection point object that has the following GUIDs: 67661D7F-8FC4-4fa7-BFAC-E1D7794C1F68 or 77378F46-2C66-4aa9-A6A6-3E7A48B19596.

The client performs the search by constructing the following URI:

 LDAP//ClientLdap.Contoso.com "/?cn,serviceBindingInformation,Keywords?sub?(&(objectcategory=serviceConnectionPoint)(|(keywords=67661D7F-8FC4-4fa7-BFAC-E1D7794C1F68)( keywords=77378F46-2C66-4aa9-A6A6-3E7A48B19596)))"

After evaluating that query, the following service connection point object is returned to the client:

  
 DN: CN=mail.contoso.com,CN=Microsoft Exchange Autodiscover,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=Users,DC=Contoso,DC=com
 Changetype: add
 Objectcategory: serviceConnectionPoint
 serviceBindingInformation: LDAP://MailLdap.Contoso.com
 Keywords: "67661D7F-8FC4-4fa7-BFAC-E1D7794C1F68"

Seeing that the service binding information is provided in an LDAP URI, the Autodiscover client then proceeds to construct the following:

  
 LDAP//MailLdap.Contoso.Com "/?cn,serviceBindingInformation,Keywords?sub?(&(objectcategory=serviceConnectionPoint)(|(keywords=67661D7F-8FC4-4fa7-BFAC-E1D7794C1F68)( keywords=77378F46-2C66-4aa9-A6A6-3E7A48B19596)))"

This query returns the following object:

  
 DN: CN=WebServices,CN=Autodiscover,CN=Protocols,CN=WebServices,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=Contoso,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=Contoso,DC=com
 Changetype: add
 Objectcategory: serviceConnectionPoint
 serviceBindingInformation: https://WebService.Contoso.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml
 Keywords: "77378F46-2C66-4aa9-A6A6-3E7A48B19596"

From this, the client adds "https://WebService.Contoso.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml" to the list of possible Autodiscover Web services.

The communication is shown in the following figure.

Communication required to find an Autodiscover server URI by using service connection point objects

Figure 3: Communication required to find an Autodiscover server URI by using service connection point objects

Next, the client adds "https://Autodiscover.Contoso.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml" and "https://Contoso.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml" to the list of possible email addresses based on the information specified in section 3.1.5.2.

As specified in section 2.2.1.2, the client executes a DNS search for the SRV record "_autodiscover._tcp.Contoso.com". No records are returned. This is expected behavior, as no records were created.