Downloading, installing, and configuring the Exchange Connector

SCSM has a built-in function to handle incoming e-mails. Unfortunately, this built-in function can be challenging to configure and is also very limited. Here's a few limitations:

  • It can only handle incidents
  • It doesn't handle updates to existing work items
  • It requires an SMTP server to drop e-mails as a file in a folder within Windows

Because of these limitations and the need to have a working incoming e-mail channel, the Exchange Connector was developed by members from the SCSM product group, but was initially released as an unsupported solution. Nowadays, the solution is supported but is still handled as a separate download and is not included in the product itself.

Using the Exchange Connector, you will be able to monitor one or more mailboxes for new e-mails. When a new e-mail is discovered, the Exchange Connector will either update an existing work item, if it can find the work item ID encased in square brackets in the subject, or create a new incident or service request.

Getting ready

Make sure SCSM is running and that you have sufficient privileges to create a new connector.

Download the Microsoft Exchange Web Service Managed API 1.2 from Microsoft at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=28952.

Note

Please note that you need Microsoft Exchange Web Service Managed API 1.2 - a newer version of this will not work.

Download the Exchange Connector from Microsoft at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45291.

Note

The download site for the connector doesn't list SCSM 2016 as a supported software at the time of writing. However, the connector is working fine beside from a small bug when configuring new connectors, and is supported to run on SCSM 2016 until a new version is released.

You will also have the option to use your own predefined incident and service request templates for creating and updating work items when configuring the connector. In a non-test environment, you have to create these templates before creating the connector, but in the recipe we will use some of the out-of-the-box templates.

How to do it...

This is how to install and configure the Exchange Connector for Service Manager. The process of installing the connector is split into three parts.

Part 1 - Installing the Exchange Web Service Managed API

  1. Log on to the Primary Service Manager Management Server and make sure you have downloaded the Exchange Web Service Managed API installer.

    Tip

    The Primary Management Server is the first server you install and handles all the internal automation, such as connectors, workflows and subscriptions.

  2. Double-click on the EwsManagedApi.msi file to start the installation.
  3. In the first page of the installation wizard, click on Next.
  4. Read the EULA, select I accept the terms in the License Agreement, and click on Next.
  5. Make a note of the installation folder and select Everyone to install the EWS Managed API for everyone. Then click on Next followed by Next again.
  6. Once the installation is finished, click on Close.
  7. Now browse to the installation folder of the Exchange Web Service Managed API and copy the Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll file.
  8. Browse to the installation folder of SCSM and paste this DLL file. (The default installation folder for SCSM 2016 is C:Program Files Microsoft System CenterService Manager).

Part 2 - Installing the Exchange Connector

  1. Log on to the Primary Service Manager Management Server. Make sure that you have downloaded the Exchange Connector.
  2. Double-click on the System_Center_Service_Manager_Connector_3.1_for_Exchange.exe file to extract it.
  3. On the welcome page, click Next.
  4. Read and accept the EULA by checking I accept the agreement and clicking Next.
  5. Choose a destination folder and click Next followed by Extract.
  6. When the extraction is completed, click Finish.
  7. Go to the extracted folder and open the en-us subfolder.
  8. Copy the Microsoft.SystemCenter.ExchangeConnector.dll and Microsoft.SystemCenter.ExchangeConnector.resources.dll files.
  9. Browse to the installation folder of SCSM and paste the DLL files.
  10. Open the Service Manager console and go to the Administration workspace. Then select Management Packs in the navigation pane.
  11. Click on the Import task in the task pane.
  12. Browse to the ServiceManager.ExchangeConnector.mpb file that's located in the en-us directory from where you extracted the Exchange Connector. Remember to change the file extension in the bottom-right corner to MPB files(*.mpb) in order to be able to browse the file.
  13. Select the ServiceManager.ExchangeConnector.mpb file and click on Open.
  14. The Import Management Packs dialog should now be displayed. Click on the Import button to import the management packs.
  15. Once the import has finished, click on the OK button.

Part 3 - Configuring the Exchange Connector

  1. In the Service Manager console, go to the Administration workspace and select Connectors in the navigation pane.
  2. Click on Next in the Welcome step.
  3. Click on the Create Connector task in the task pane and select Exchange Connector.
  4. Give the Exchange Connector a Name, a Description, and the Active Directory Forest(s) to search for users in:
    • Check Attach each email as a .eml file... if you want to save a copy of the e-mail within the actual work item that the connector creates. This can be used but if you have a large number of incoming e-mails or e-mails with big attachments, this could fill up your database so be careful with this option.
    • Check Only process emails from users in the CMDB if you don't want to allow other users to update or create new work items. If this is unchecked and a user that doesn't exist in the CMDB sends an e-mail to the system, the connector will create this user object in the CMDB.
    • Check Move email to Deleted Items after processing to ensure that the mailbox doesn't fill up over time.
    • Check Append the full body of the email message... if you want to save the whole e-mail as a post in the Action Log.
    • Make sure that Enable this connector is checked to actually enable the connector.
    • Click Next once you're done configuring this step.
  5. On this page of the wizard you can use different methods to connect to the Exchange server. In this recipe, we will use Autodiscover to connect to a mailbox in Office 365.
  6. Check the checkbox to Use Autodiscover and leave the Validate only Office 365 autodiscover options checked.
  7. Click the New... button to create a new Run As account. Give the Run As account a display name and enter the username and password of the account of which you would like to import e-mails from. Enter a username like username@domain, just as in the following screenshot:

    Part 3 - Configuring the Exchange Connector

  8. When done, click OK to create the new Run As Account and then click Next to proceed to the next step of the wizard.
  9. You will now be prompted for the Run As account password again. Enter the password and click OK.

    Note

    Important! Do not click the Test Connection button as this will cause the wizard to crash with an error saying Could not load type...This is due to incompatibility issues with the Exchange Connector 3.1 and SCSM 2016. Similar errors will show up if you entered invalid information in the wizard and try to proceed to the next step. This issue will be resolved in an upcoming release of the connector, according to Microsoft.

  10. You will now be asked to enter a number of parsing keywords. The suggested keywords work very well, and you can always go back and change this later if you realize that you should have used something different. Click Next to proceed.
  11. In the Routing and Schedule step you have to choose some templates to apply when creating and updating incidents and service requests.
  12. You should create specific templates to use for the Exchange Connector, but in our example here, select the Default Incident Template for new work items and incident updates, and select the Default Service Request template for Service Request updates.
  13. It's not recommended to change the polling interval of the connector, so complete the configuration of the Exchange Connector by clicking on Next followed by Create and Close.

How it works...

The Exchange Connector will connect to the mailbox of the user specified using the Exchange Autodiscovery service on the specified interval, and will then look for new e-mails. Upon receiving a new e-mail, the Exchange Connector will take a look at the subject. If the subject includes a work item ID in square brackets (such as [SR921]), it will try to update the action log of that work item with the text in the body of the e-mail.

If the subject doesn't contain a work item ID enclosed in square brackets, the Exchange Connector will create a new work item based upon the template specified when configuring the connector.

It's also possible to resolve, close, vote on review activities, and so on using the connector. This is based upon the parsing keywords specified in step 9 of the Part 3 - Configure the Exchange Connector section. For instance, if you would like to resolve the incident with ID IR562, you could simply send an e-mail to the configured mailbox, with the incident ID enclosed in square brackets in the subject ([IR562]) and specifying the parsing keyword for resolving an incident in the body of the e-mail ([Resolved]).

There's more...

When using the Exchange Connector, you will have to make sure that every notification template in use has the work item ID enclosed in square brackets in the e-mail subject. Otherwise, replies to automatic notifications might result in new incidents/service requests instead of updating an existing one.

To be able to edit and create Exchange Connectors from any machine beside the Primary Management Server, you need to copy the Exchange Connector DLL files to the Service Manager console directory on that machine, as we did in Part 2 of this recipe.

See also

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