One of the new features that I believe I have mentioned briefly before is the inclusion of Information Rights Management (IRM) in Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1, and more specifically being able to use it with Exchange ActiveSync (EAS). While I am able to do most of my every-day tasks without this feature I’d like to test it out on a mobile device to see how it plays out. Needless to say though – before getting it to work with ActiveSync I need to verify it’s working on a more general level first

I’m not running the AD RMS role that will let me use IRM so what needs to be done is installing it and do some basic configuration. I’m not going to walk you through all the screenshots – I just followed the TechNet articles available to get it up and running.

First you need to install the AD RMS Role on a suitable server:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770957.aspx

Exchange 2010 SP1 has IRM enabled by default (even before it’s installed) so it’s not that much configuration to do on Exchange. Check out the following links nonetheless:

Understanding IRM in OWA: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876891.aspx
Understanding IRM in EAS: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff657743.aspx
Enable Certification of Mobile Devices:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731519.aspx

When I went over the instructions a bit too fast I missed out on setting the proper permissions on all the necessary .asmx files – there are three files you need to set permissions on (certification.asmx, ServerCertification.asmx, and publish.asmx).

Run the “Test-IRMConfiguration –Sender andreas@mobilitydojo.net” cmdlet on your Exchange server to verify that things are working. You should get “PASS” as the overall result.

After that you can open up your OWA, and try to apply a restriction to your message. And you’re done

Well, ok, while this article makes it seem like it’s all done in five minutes it will actually take you a little longer running through all the steps, but since it is described on TechNet I gave you the short version here. Now, my intent with these few paragraphs is really just to set the stage for doing more work on the client side. I’ll get out the tools I need to do that, and I will return to you when I’ve got something to actually show you

Oh, if IRM and RMS in itself means nothing to you check out the overview at TechNet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/dd448611.aspx
(Should possibly have pointed this out at the beginning…well, never mind eh?…)