Connecting my iPhone to my official email account

Question

We have an Microsoft Exchange Server at work and use Microsoft Outlook as email client. We also have BlackBerry to access our official emails.

I have recently purchased an iPhone and would like to use it to access my official emails. I asked my IT guy about how to configure iPhone, he didn't take much interest. Basically he didn't want any trouble but wouldn't mind if I end up setting it up myself.

Though he certainly is not going to do something drastically to make it work (open up his firewall/upgrade email server), he wouldn't mind giving me some information about existing setup. The problem is that I don't even know what questions I need to ask him.

My understanding is that since anyone can send an email to "[e-mail]", the email server of mycompany must be on internet and there must be some way to connect to it through iPhone. Please can help me sort this out?

Answer 1

Here looks to be a good guide. You'll need your email ([e-mail]), your full username (in the format "DOMAIN\Username" - this might be the "me" in your email, but might not. Check with your IT), and your password. If you can schedule a meeting with your IT guy, it can be set up in just a few minutes. The phone will present you with those initial 3 fields, and if there's anything non-standard about your setup (the company is using a non-default port, for example), the iPhone will display that field for input after it can't connect. Your IT can provide these values for you as well.

It's possible that the exchange server will enforce settings on the phone for security purposes, such as a maximum lock screen timeout and a lock screen pin or password. You will have to live with this or convince IT to remove it.

You will have the option to also sync your contacts and calendars in addition to your email, though beware that you'll lose all existing contacts on the phone.