I have setup my OWA server and also my instance of SharePoint 2013 on another server and I have setup the OWA farm to allow http access to both the internal URL and the external URL. So in other words I decided to go "cowboy" and not use SSL at all for external access and use.
I created the SPWOPIBinding from the SharePoint server to the OWA server's internal address and it seeks it out just fine and establishes the connection. I have setup the default SPWOPIZone to be "external-http". But when I go to view a document from the SharePoint site using web apps, it almost loads and even shows that it is funneling the document into web apps but then throws an error before it loads any data which says, "There's a configuration problem preventing us from getting your document. If possible, try opening this document in Microsoft Word".
So my question is this - is SSL absolutely required for external access or else it wont even work, or could my error be another issue altogether. If SSL is an absolute requirement built into OWA directly, then I will just cave in and buy an SSL certificate but I would rather not, as this is mainly just a test, albeit a test which requires me to use external access.
Any information would be very much appreciated. Thanks,
Derek