Autodiscover Service (POX) in Exchange 2010
Last modified: May 27, 2009
Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 | Exchange Server 2010
The POX Autodiscover service provides a mechanism that allows you to use "plain old XML" (POX) messages — that is, messages that consist solely of XML payloads without any enclosing SOAP envelopes — to automatically configure Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 client applications to access the Client Access server. Autodiscover provides a powerful tool for configuring client application profiles used to discover Exchange Web Services (EWS) and associated mailbox information. Autodiscover provides configuration information inside or outside firewalls. In addition, Autodiscover will work in resource forest and multiple forest scenarios.
Important
For Exchange 2010 and later versions, we recommend that you use the SOAP Autodiscover services instead of the POX Autodiscover service for the following reasons:
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The SOAP Autodiscover service supports batch requests.
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The SOAP Autodiscover service provides the ability to request only the settings that you need.
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The SOAP Autodiscover service has first class support in the Microsoft Exchange Web Services Managed API.
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In the future, all new Autodiscover features will be added to the SOAP Autodiscover service but not to the POX Autodiscover Service.