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Discover Exchange Protocols & advancements in ActiveSync, Exchange
Web Services, and MAPI
Andrew Davidoff
Senior Software Engineer
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Agenda
• Brief introduction to Exchange Server Open Specifications
• An overview of the protocol architecture for Exchange Server
• Important protocol families that are used to communicate with Exchange Server
• Exchange Protocols Tools and Resources
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Introduction to Open Specifications
• Normative language• Designed to document bits over the wire
• No APIs – only Protocols
• MUST, SHOULD, MAY are used to document version-specific behavior
• Strict document structure
• Windows/Exchange or product API knowledge not required…• Microsoft Products are not mentioned in normative content, only in
endnotes
• Open Specifications document on-premises Exchange Server protocols
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Exchange Protocols
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Overview Document [MS-OXPROTO]Defines Exchange protocol families
Scenario-Based
How multiple protocols work together in typical scenarios
How to complete the same task using different protocol families
Walkthroughs and examples
Send email using different protocols
Resolve a recipient from an Address Book
Synchronize items
Many other scenarios
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Protocol families
• RPC/ROPS (Remote Operations, the core protocol family behind MAPI)• Name Service Provider Interface (NSPI) provides access to Address Book
• New in Exchange 2013 – MAPI over HTTP, combines ROPS and NSPI bypassing RPC layer
• Exchange Web Services (EWS)
• Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
• Other groups of protocols• Autodiscover
• Content Conversion
• Standards Support
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Client communication with Exchange
EAS
EWS
MAPIHTTP
POP/IMAP
SMTP
Storage
NSPI
RPC/ROPs
M
A
P
I
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RPC/ROPSOn-the-wire protocols behind MAPI
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Exchange RPC/ROPs protocols
• Implemented in some form from “Day 1” (such as Exchange 4.0), extended and re-architected several times
• Low-level access to Exchange Storage
• Workhorse for Outlook communication with Exchange
• Used by MAPI
• Transport layer: ROPs (Remote Operations) within an RPC binary blob
• Optimized to minimize traffic on the wire; very complex parsing
• RPC can use HTTPS or TCP connections (HTTPS-only in Exchange 2013)
• New [MS-OXCMAPIHTTP] as alternative to use ROPs over HTTP; no RPCs
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Exchange RPC/ROPs: Transport
HeaderRPC : Binary Blob
ROP1 ROP2 …
RopID ROP Data
HSOT TableRopSize
RopID ROP Data
Note: No ROP Data size or end marker.
Every ROP Data in the blob must be parsed.
Every RopID has different ROP Data structure.
Number of documented RopIDs: 130
(EcDoRpcExt2)
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RPC/ROPS protocols - continued
• RPC/ROPs protocols define both Exchange (server) and Outlook (client) behaviors
• Outlook behaviors are very complicated – server here is a very complex storage for items generated and maintained by the client• This is wrapped in MAPI layer on the client, but that is not part of protocol
documentation. Remember, we don’t document APIs in Open Specifications, only traffic over the wire.
• Client (not Server) is handling logic behind complex items –messages, folders, calendar items, contacts, tasks, etc.
• Naming: [MS-OXO*] and [MS-OXC*]
• 40+ Protocols, ~3000 pages
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Exchange Web Services (EWS)
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Exchange Web Services (EWS)
• Alternative to RPC protocols
• Higher level of abstraction compared with RPC protocols• EWS implement messages, attachments, calendar events, contacts on
server side in a way that is interoperable with Outlook.
• First implemented in Exchange Server 2007
• Current support in Exchange 2016 as well as Exchange Online
• Outlook uses subset of EWS protocols • Unified Messaging, MailTips, Availability, OOF, Office Apps, Room List,
Archive, Mailbox Policies, Calendar Sharing, Site Mailboxes, etc.
• New Exchange features are likely to be implemented in EWS
• Intuitive/readable XML (vs MAPI) (easier troubleshooting)
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Exchange Web Services (EWS) - continued
• Versioning• Clearly defined
• Versioned by schema for the SOAP bodies
• RequestServerVersion header element in each request let’s client to request version-specific behavior
• Transport: • SOAP over HTTP(S)
• Code against it using any language/platform that supports making HTTP/SOAP calls
• Naming: [MS-OXW*]
• 43 Protocols, ~2000 pages
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EWS Schema versions
• <xs:simpleType name="ExchangeVersionType">
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2007"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2007_SP1"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2010"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2010_SP1"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2010_SP2"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2013"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2013_SP1"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2015"/>
<xs:enumeration value="Exchange2016"/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
Archiving
eDiscovery
Personas
Retention policies
Unified Contact Store
User photos
Full access to items, folders, and
attachments (Create, Get,
Update, Delete)
Availability
Out of Office settings
Notifications
Synchronization
Name resolution
Distribution list (DL) expansion
Search
MS-OXWSCDATA 2.2.5.14 t:ExchangeVersionType Simple Type
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Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
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Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
• Lightweight synchronization protocol for Microsoft Exchange
• Optimized to work on high-latency and low-bandwidth networks
• High level of abstraction, similar to EWS in complexity
• Provides access to email, calendar, contacts, tasks, documents, etc.
• Designed to maximize battery life
• Device management enforcement for enterprise organizations
• Industry standard, several non-Exchange Server implementations
• Wide range of clients – Windows, iOS, Android, …
• Server support from Exchange Server 2003 to latest Exchange Server 2016
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Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) - continued
• Versioning• Clearly defined version negotiation
• Version-specific features documented in open specifications
• Transport• WBXML over HTTP(S)
• Naming: [MS-AS*]
• 15 Protocols, ~900 pages
• Licensing requirements
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Typical Usage of Exchange ActiveSync
• Mobile phones• “De-facto standard” supported by email applications on all major platforms.
• Tablets• Allows for low-bandwidth and high-latency data (Internet) connections
while scaling reasonably on high-speed connections.
• Lightweight desktop applications• Windows 8/8.1/10 Mail application uses EAS.
• Mobile Applications
Not all Exchange features are accessible through EAS
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Version History
• 2.5 - Exchange Server 2003 SP2
• 12.0 - Exchange Server 2007
• 12.1 - Exchange Server 2007 SP1
• 14.0 - Exchange Server 2010
• 14.1 - Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• 16.0 - Exchange Server 2016
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EAS in Interoperability tools
• Exchange Server EAS Protocol Test Suites• Client Side protocol implementation, can be run against an
existing EAS server
• C# implementation of all EAS protocols (except [MS-ASSMS])
• Reference implementation of transport, including WBXML encoding algorithm
• Microsoft Message Analyzer• Exchange ActiveSync Parsers available with Message Analyzer (optional
package)
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Other Exchange protocols
• Autodiscover
• Content Conversion
• Standards-based protocols – Extensions and Compliance
• [MS-OXPROTO] is a good reference
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Exchange Protocols:Tools and Resources
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Exchange test tools update
• New parsers for Message Analyzer• Protocol families: EAS, EWS, RPC, and MAPIHTTP
• New test suites for EAS, EWS, RPC, and MAPIHTTP
• Fiddler Inspectors for MAPIHTTP and other protocols
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Exchange protocols resources
• All Exchange protocol documents• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc425499(v=exchg.80).aspx
• Microsoft Message Analyzer• http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44226
• Fiddler inspectors for Office and Exchange protocols• https://github.com/OfficeDev/Office-Inspectors-for-Fiddler
• Protocol Test Suites• https://github.com/OfficeDev/Interop-TestSuites
• Help with Open Specifications: • mailto:[email protected]
• Office Interoperability blog:• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/officeinteroperability/
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Thank You!
Questions?
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