Another thought, I know EX2010 had issues when the CAS server was in one AD
site and the mailbox was in another AD site.  It would try to proxy you to
a CAS in the site where the mailbox resided. I think they may have changed
that in EX2013, not sure.


On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 11:33 AM, ccollins9 <[email protected]> wrote:

> With EX2013 CAS, all client connectivity is over port 443, so that's nice
> because there is no need to open RPC, etc., all which I'm sure you know. I
> would leave the CAS in the internal network and just open port 443 to it.
>  There is no real security threat unless MS has unpatched vulnerabilities
> in IIS/Exchange.  The second best option is to use either NAT or a reverse
> proxy in front, or in our case, load balancers that can do reverse proxy.
>  I agree with Jim, it sounds like you have some old school thinking running
> around there that any and all internet accessible servers must be in DMZ no
> exceptions.  Where I am, we have three CAS servers in the same internal AD
> site.  Two service the internal and one services external connections.  In
> the load balancer we have mail.domain.com that points to the two internal
> CAS and mobile.domain.com that points to the one CAS for external. Our
> external CAS does ActiveSync only, so we removed all OWA/ECP/EWS virtual
> directories from that one externally accessible CAS server.  Maybe someone
> can weigh in why this is a bad idea, but we were able to get the security
> team to sign off on it.
>
>
> On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 11:17 AM, Kennedy, Jim <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>>  "A reverse proxy is not wanted..."
>>
>>
>>
>> I have to ask why because in my mind that is the best thing to do in this
>> situation. If they won't allow access to 443 from the outside to a specific
>> location why have an internet connection?
>>
>>
>>
>> "....and NAT through the firewall to the CAS array is deemed too
>> dangerous. "
>>
>>
>>
>> And again why, because that would be the second best solution imho. This
>> sounds like predisposed beliefs that exposing Exchange OWA to the world is
>> dangerous. Back in 5.5 days I would have been on that page but I don't
>> think that is the case now.
>>
>>
>>
>> "...for the single CAS in the DMZ."
>>
>>
>>
>> And this sounds like the worst idea of them all. You will have lots of
>> ports open from the CAS to the internal to make that CAS work. So now that
>> box gets popped out there and the bad guy now has the whole world of all
>> the AD ports at their disposal to your internal network.
>>
>>
>>
>> Be interesting to see what my learned colleges here on the list think.
>> But the above is what I am going with.
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* [email protected] [mailto:
>> [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Tommy Fudge
>> *Sent:* Friday, May 9, 2014 11:08 AM
>> *To:* [email protected]
>> *Subject:* [Exchange] CAS exposure - Exchange 2013 SP1
>>
>>
>>
>> Morning,
>>
>>
>>
>> My work is concerned about exposing our CAS array to the public
>> internet.  Initial thoughts are to place a single CAS in the DMZ with ports
>> open to our internal network.  I have obvious concerns with this approach,
>> but it is gaining traction, so I need to know if this will even work.  On
>> our internal network are two AD sites, each site contains 2 CAS and 2 MBX
>> (single DAG) and each has independent internet connectivity.  Varying
>> thoughts are floating around such as using mail.domain.com for the
>> internal CAS array, and mobile.domain.com for the single CAS in the
>> DMZ.  Autodiscover will point to "mail" which should allow internal clients
>> to auto configure.  There is no desire for external clients to auto
>> configure (or even laptops to function out of the office using Outlook
>> Anywhere).  Mobile devices would be statically configured to use the
>> "mobile" namespace by IT, and external clients would connect to OWA via
>> "mobile" as well.
>>
>>
>>
>> A reverse proxy is not wanted, and NAT through the firewall to the CAS
>> array is deemed too dangerous.  I know the single CAS is a hole in the
>> firewall anyway and also unsupported by MS, but would this scenario even
>> work?  Is there any impact to Outlook clients on the internal network
>> seeing the CAS in the DMZ?  Would I need to make the internal CAS array non
>> internet-facing and the single DMZ based CAS internet-facing?  Can a single
>> AD site support both internet-facing and non facing CAS?
>>
>>
>>
>> Definitely open to suggestions here.  This is not production yet - no
>> coexistence as we use an old Linux mail server right now.
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>>
>> Tommy
>>
>
>

Reply via email to