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Is it possible to provide OWA to a subset of users without deploying Win2k and AD?

I am working with an extremely large company that is responsible for an environment supporting thousands of users. To get maximum benefit out of its SAP implementation, my client needs to be able to utilize the most recent release of Outlook Web Access (OWA).

Unfortunately, it is my client's understanding that to use this version of OWA, he must be on the Exchange 2000 platform with Active Directory. Although he ultimately plans to deploy Exchange 2000/AD to his entire user community, he is not in a position at this time to take on such a large deployment. He is wondering whether he can deploy the Exchange 2000/AD environment to a subset of users, giving them access to the required version of OWA without having to deploy Exchange 2000/AD to the entire user community.

I would think that he could simply establish a new domain that is Exchange 2000/AD-based and move the subset of users to that domain. This domain could interoperate with the remainder of his NT4 environment, minimizing the impact on those users. This should then allow those users to utilize the required version of OWA. Am I correct or totally lost?

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You are correct. Your client can build a new AD domain and establish a trust relationship with their existing Windows NT domain. Have a look at KB article Q278888, which discusses how to grant Windows NT 4 accounts access to Exchange 2000 mailboxes.

This was first published in December 2002

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