CCS SERVICE REQUEST 5.0
Installation
and Administration of the Event Sink on the Exchange Server
For Automatic Conversion of Emails to Tickets – Exchange Server
2003/2007
Crow Canyon Systems, Inc.
support@crowcanyon.com
Overview
(Note: This Event
Sink is for Exchange 2003 and 2007. For the Exchange 2010 Event Sink, contact
us.)
CCS Service Request
Standard and Professional editions include an Event Sink that runs on the
Exchange Server and converts incoming emails into new Tickets. The Event Sink
provides an efficient, automated way to handle support requests coming in by
email.
Users can send in
emails from any account, whether part of the Exchange system or an outside
account, to a Service Area folder. The emails can also come from a web-based
form that sends the data as email. For example, a company’s support site could
include a web form to submit a support ticket. This would be sent as email to
the Service Area folder and turned into a new ticket.
The Event Sink
detects the arrival of new email in the folder and then acts to convert that email
into a new Ticket, while also sending an auto-reply to the user and
notifications to staff if configured to do so.
Attachments
are passed from the incoming email to the new ticket. The sender’s name and
email are looked up in Active Directory and, if found, the contact information
on the new ticket is filled in with the sender’s department, office, and other
data. Emails with “RE:” as the first part of the subject are not processed so
that replies to the Service Area folder are not transformed into ticket.
Mail-enabling a folder and setting email address
Any of the Service
Area-level folders can receive emails, but any folder that will be receiving
emails needs to be “mail-enabled”. See instructions below.
Once mail-enabled,
the folder will have an email address. This address can be changed in the Exchange
System Manager (Exchange 2003) or the Public Folder Management Console
(Exchange 2007), by accessing the properties of the folder. The folder will
also show up in the Global Address List for Outlook users, unless it is hidden
from the address book, which is done in those same management tools.
If an
email address is in use on another folder or mailbox, it cannot be added to the
folder. The address first has to be removed from the folder or mailbox that
currently uses it, then it can be added to the desired folder. However, there
is usually a lag time when Exchange Server rebuilds the Address Book. It can
take up to overnight for the Exchange Server to recognize the change in
address. In the meantime, senders may get undeliverables
when using this address.
System Service Area
One option in CCS
Service Request 5.0 is to add a “System Service Area” to the system and set it
up to receive all emails. This is in contrast to having users send emails
directly to the individual Service Areas.
If the emails go to individual Service Areas,
each Area would have its own email address, which might not be the desired
setup of the system, as the users would need to know which email address to
use. For internal users, this is not as much an issue, as each mail-enabled
Service Area folder will show up in the Global Address List. The users would
still need to know which folder to choose from the Address List.
With
the System Service Area, the users have one email address to send to or one
folder to select from the Global Address List. The emails arrive at the folder
and are converted to tickets. A “dispatcher” can then review the new tickets
and “assign” them to the appropriate Service Area or simply finish and close
the tickets right in the System Service Area.
Installation
This “Event Sink”
component installs an Event Sink on the Exchange Server. It also installs our Event
Sink Manager tool, which is used to manage options in ticket conversion.
System Requirements:
·
This
installation must be run on Windows 2003 or above running Exchange 2003 or 2007.
·
It
can run on either 32-bit or 64-bit machines.
·
The
Event Sink will run on a Windows 2000 Server, but there is a different install
process. If you are running Exchange on a Windows 2000 Server, please contact
us for the correct install files.
·
This
Event Sink is not compatible with Exchange Server 2010. We have another
installation package for the Event Sink on Exchange 2010. Contact us for more
information.
To
install:
1.
Copy
the CCS Service Request optional component setup to your Exchange Server. Put
the file in a new folder under one of the drives, e.g. d:\CCSSR. The name of
the folder does not matter.
2.
Run
the setup program. It will show the below image. To Run CCS Service Request 5.0
Email to Ticket Converter setup,
click on Email to Ticket Converter link highlighted below in red
3.
Welcome Page opens as shown in
below image. Click on the next button.
4.
License Agreement
page
will open as shown in below image. Select “I
Agree” radio button and click next to continue.
5.
Select Installation
Folder page
will open as shown in below image. This page has two input controls. First one
is to select the folder location on the Exchange Server where the Event Sink
will be installed. The second is a checkbox -- check the box if the name(s) in
the CC line of the incoming email should be added to the ticket (the CC goes
into the Additional Contact field on the new Ticket). This setting can be
changes later in the registry or with our Event Sink Manager tool. Click next
to continue.
6.
User account and
permission page
will open.
Enter User Name in
Domain\username format. The user needs to have Owner permission on the Service Area folders
where the emails will be arriving. The user needs also to be a member of the Local Administrators group.
Enter Password and
Confirm password.
Enter the Email
Domain – this is the Email Domain, not the Active Directory Domain. It is
usually the part after the @ in users’ email addresses.
Enter the path to the
top-level Service Request folder. Use the format \\Public Folders\All Public
Folders\Service Request. If there are any folder levels between All Public
Folders and Service Request, these need to be included in the path, such
as \\Public Folders\All Public
Folders\Minneapolis\Service Request.
Click next to
continue.
7.
Select Service Area
page
will open.
During the initial
installation, the “Install COM+ Application” checkbox should be checked. This
puts the COM+ Application on the Exchange Server. The COM+ Application is one
component of the Event Sink installation. Only one COM+ Application is needed
on an Exchange Server. However, each Service Area folder needs to be activated
with an Event Registration.
To explain further,
the Event Sink consists of two parts. One is the Exchange Server’s COM+
Application, which only has to be installed once on the Exchange Server. (Once
installed, it is visible in Component Services tool on the Exchange Server.) The
other component is the Event Registration, which needs to go on each Service
Area folder that receives email. This is a hidden file in the folder that tells
the folder what COM+ Application to run when the “event” of a new email
arriving happens. Each mail-enabled folder needs its own Event Registration,
but they all use the same COM+ Application.
If the Event Sink
installation has been run already on the Exchange Server, and the COM+
Application is installed, there is no need to install it again. The Event Sink
installation will need to be run again to add an Event Registration to a
particular Service Area folder, if it was not added during the initial
installation. When running the installation after the initial install, uncheck
this box because the Exchange Server should already have the COM+ Application
installed.
The other check boxes
on this screen show Service Area folders where the “Event Registration” will be
added, which, as stated above, activates the folder for email conversion. Select
only those Service Areas that will be receiving emails that need to be
converted to tickets.
Click next to continue.
8.
Verifying Installation
page
will open as shown in below image. This will check the prerequisites which are
required for event sink installation.
If verification is successful, click
next to continue.
9.
Confirmation page will open as shown
below.
Click next to continue.
10.
After
processing done Installation Complete page will open as shown in below image.
Click on Finish button to finish the
setup. Email to Ticket Converter has been successfully installed.
Event Sink Manager tool
The
Event Sink installation adds an Event Sink Manager tool to the Exchange Server
to allow easy changing of the Registry Settings for the Event Sink. This is
accessed from the Start menu using All Programs/Crow Canyon Service
Request/Event Sink Manager.
NOTE: this tool gives a GUI for setting the
registry settings, which are explained in more detail in the section
below. The settings can be changed manually in the registry, though this tool
makes it easier.
“Configure
Logging” enable logging, and determines if it is Information (a lot of data, so
only use when troubleshooting) or Error. The Log Folder Path tells where the
Log file is (a text file). The location can be changed here also.
“Skip
Email Conversion” means that the email that have the corresponding subject prefixes, email addresses, and/or domains will be skipped
(not converted to tickets).
“Configure
SMTP Server” is only used if the front-end Exchange Server is on different
machine than the backend Exchange Server. If that is the case, check the box
and enter in the SMTP Server Name (the front-end Exchange Server) and the SMTP
port, which is almost always 25.
If
checked, “Add CC” adds the CC on the email to the Additional Contact on the
ticket form
If
checked, “Use Reply To” sets the emails to user to go back to the Reply To address on the incoming email, not the From address. The
end user on the ticket is the ReplyTo address.
Event Sink Registry
Settings and Logging
The Event Sink uses a number of
registry keys to determine its behavior. The Event Sink has a log file that
sits in the same directory where the Event Sink Setup was run from. The actions
of this log file are controlled by the registry values on the Exchange Server.
See explanations below:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Crow
Canyon Systems\Service Request\Event Sink]
"EnableTraceLog"="True"
"TraceLog Level
(Information/Error)"="Error"
"PrefixSubject"="RE:"
"IsReplyToUse"="True"
"IsAddCCToTicket"="True"
"SkipEmail"=""
"SkipDomain"=""
"ExternalSMTP"="False"
"SMTPServer"="localhost"
"SMTPPort"="25"
"SendUsing"="2"
"TraceLog Folder Path"=""
“EnableTraceLog” turns the logging on and off
“TrackLog
Level (Information/Error)” sets whether all information about the running of
the Sink is recorded in the Log (best for troubleshooting) or only errors are
recorded (best for normal operation).
“PrefixSubject” tells the Event Sink to not process emails
that have Subject lines that begin with the prefixes in this key. The entries
can be any length and are not case-sensitive. Multiple entries must be
separated by a semi-colon. The entries are assumed to start at that very
beginning of the Subject line, meaning that if the PrefixSubject
was “RE:”, the Event Sink would not process a Subject
like “RE: Printer not working” but would process “Printer is down, RE: out of
paper”.
“IsReplyToUse” sets the emails to user to go back to the
Reply To address on the incoming email, not the From
address. The end user on the ticket is the ReplyTo
address.
“IsAddCCToTicket” adds the CC on the email to the Additional
Contact on the ticket form
“SkipEmail” lists email address(es) – if an email comes from that address, the Event Sink
will not process it.
“SkipDomain” lists email domain(s) ( the
part after the @ symbol) – if an email comes from the domain, that the Event
Sink will not process it.
The
next four keys are used when the Exchange front-end server is on a different
server than the back-end server. The Event Sink has to be on the back-end
server. If you are running a front-end Exchange Server on a different machine,
change these four values as follows. Otherwise, leave them as is:
“ExternalSMTP”=True
"SMTPServer"="NAME
OF FRONT-END EXCHANGE SERVER"
"SMTPPort"="25"
(if the front-end server uses a different port, change it here, but this is
rare, as most SMTP servers use port 25)
"SendUsing"="2"
(This is a parameter used programmatically and should not be changed.)
“TraceLog Folder Path” is the path to the Log file. Upon
contacting Crow Canyon Support for Event Sink issues, you will often be asked
to provide this file for analysis.
Troubleshooting Event Sink Installation
The
error below usually means the Email Domain or Folder Path are
wrong on the set up screen:
The error below
means the User Name or Password were entered incorrectly. The User Name
needs to be in Domain\UserName format:
Troubleshooting the Event Sink Operation
After
installing the Event Sink, you should be able to send an email to the Service
Area folder and it should get converted to a new ticket. This
usually only takes a few seconds. If this does not work, here are some
troubleshooting tips:
The email conversion is a
two-step process. First, the email has to arrive at the folder. After arriving,
it gets converted into a ticket.
1) If emails do NOT arrive at the
folder:
If emails do not arrive in the
folder, then the error is in the configuration of the Service Area folder, not
in the Event Sink. The folder must be Mail-enabled (see below). If you want the folder to receive mails from
outside customers, then the Anonymous permission on the Service Area folder
must be set to Contributor.
The email address of the Service
Area folder can be set in Exchange System Manager (Exchange 2003) or the Public
Folder Management Console (Exchange 2007). This address could be used by people
inside or outside your company. For people inside your company, you can set the
folder to show in the Global Address List. If it is listed in there, then your
users can find it easily when sending an email.
Another
consideration is if there are multiple Exchange servers with replicas of the Service
Area folder. If that is the case, the email could be arriving at another server
different than the one with the Event Sink installed. In that case, put the
Event Sink on both servers or reduce it to one replica.
2) If emails do arrive at the
folder, but are not converted properly:
If
emails arrive at the folder but are not converted properly, then it is most
likely an issue with the Event Sink configuration. The Sink has error handling
built in as follows:
Event Sink Logging – As mentioned above, the Event Sink has a log file
that sits in the same directory where the Event Sink Setup was run from. Upon
contacting Crow Canyon Support for Event Sink issues, you will often be asked
to provide this file for analysis.
Emails arrive at the folder but
are converted into regular Tasks
The
most common reason for this is that you are using the wrong DLL. Contact us for
more information on this.
Check COM+ Application Account
The account that the COM+
Application runs under needs to be mail-enabled, and its Exchange mailbox must
be Owner of the Service Area folder. This is the account entered in the Setup
screen. Sometimes the password on this account is changed, but not changed in
the COM+ Application, which causes the Event Sink to fail.
Mail-enabling a Public Folder
Exchange 2003
- Start the Exchange System Manager.
- Expand Folders, then Public Folders
- Find the Service Area folder that need
to be mail-enabled
- Right-click that folder, and select All Tasks, and
then click on Mail
Enable. (If it is already Mail Enabled, it will say
Mail Disable there.)
- Next, right-click the folder again and
go to Properties
- The email (SMTP) address of the folder
can be set in the Email Addresses tab
Exchange 2007
1. Start the Exchange Management Console.
2. In the console tree, click Toolbox.
3. In the result pane, click Public Folder Management
Console, and then in the action pane, click Open Tool. The Public Folder
Management Console appears.
4. In the public folder tree, click or expand Default
Public Folders, and then if any public folders are displayed in the result
pane, select the parent folder of the public folder that you want to
mail-enable.
5. In the result pane, select the public folder that
you want to mail-enable.
6. In the action pane, click Mail Enable.
To indicate
that this is a mail-enabled public folder, the icon for the public folder
changes.
Mail-enabled public folders are
represented by the following icon.
Public folders that are not
mail-enabled are represented by the following icon.
