[SOLVED] Exchange 2010 support

[GabrielV]

Hi everyone, I have a little question.
Is really necesary enable pop3 or imap in a MS Exchange 2010 mail account for OTRS 4.0.5 ?
Can OTRS handle an MS exchange account without pop3 or imap enabled?

Any help are welcome

Thanks!!

[jojo]

OTRS does only support pop3,pop3s,imap,imap+tls and imaps to fetch mails.

You also can send mails via smtp to the OTRS server (would need setup of a MTA like postfix on the OTRS server)

[Linwood]

I am new to OTRS so take this with a grain of salt, but having just gone through that, the only solutions I found to the same question were imap, pop3, or set up a mail server on the OTRS server (e.g. postfix) and route the specific mail OTRS uses there via exchange (I haven't looked at the details, I don't recall if one mailbox can be rerouted or you need a host name in the domain part, e.g. help@otrs.mycompany.com). Once off exchange you could use pop3 only there, or set up procmail.

I opted just to open POP3 with TLS as being simpler; you can also close POP3 at the firewall so external users cannot make use of it, or indeed limit it via the windows firewall to only a specific host (you may be able to do that with the receiver setup but I do not recall an IP specific control for pop3 in exchange).

[crythias]

Note that you can limit POP3/IMAP4 access per user in Exchange.

Check also:
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=16009#p91142
and the bottom of viewtopic.php?f=60&t=20319 for setting up a contact and a send connector.

[Linwood]

Note that you can limit POP3/IMAP4 access per user in Exchange.

You can limit access but the port is still open. Do you by chance know if it is possible to create a separate receive connector (or whatever the right term is) that has POP3 enabled, but only for a specific IP address (when the default one is "all")? i have only a production exchange server at the moment to experiment with and did not want to try, worried it would interfere with the existing one.

[GabrielV]

OTRS does only support pop3,pop3s,imap,imap+tls and imaps to fetch mails.

You also can send mails via smtp to the OTRS server (would need setup of a MTA like postfix on the OTRS server)

Yes, for send email I have not problem, I need for incoming mails...

[jojo]

you can fordwar incoming mails from exchange to OTRS server via smtp instead of pulling them

[elitt]

Hi,
I have a quite similar issue : my OTRS server (v4.0.5 with Windows Appliance) was able to connect to gmail server during my tests sessions, but it can't fetch emails on my Exchange server.

you can fordwar incoming mails from exchange to OTRS server via smtp instead of pulling them

Could you explain the steps to process in order to have this running ? How can I automatically forward emails from Exchange to OTRS ? Do I need a mail server on OTRS server ?
Am I also obliged to forward emails from OTRS server to Exchange server in order to send them to customers or agents ?

To send and receive emails with OTRS, I want to use the email address help.otrs@mycompany.com. which is already running on my Exchange server. How can it be possible when forwarding emails from Exchange server to OTRS server and vice-versa ?

Thanks,

Egareg JAOUEN
Elitt

[crythias]

This is mentioned in my links above.

the bottom of viewtopic.php?f=60&t=20319 for setting up a contact and a send connector.

The summary is:
1) Set up an SMTP server at the OTRS box.
2) make sure it can receive emails (and postfix configured, etc.)
3) set a Contact in Exchange going to a dummy email address (otrs@otrsserver).
4) Forward your valid email address to the dummy contact.
5) Create a send connector in Exchange for handling otrsserver domain and point it to the IP address or resolvable FQDN of your OTRS box.

Please read my Need help? link (in my signature.)

[Linwood]

I just did this but am a bit unfamiliar with OTRS, so apologies if it is obvious...

You need to first make a decision whether you are going to run a mail server on the OTRS box itself.

IMO the simplest solution is not to, and let your exchange server house the OTRS mailbox(s), use POP3 (perhaps with TLS) to pull mail into OTRS, and let OTRS use SMTP to send to Exchange.

To make POP3 happen you need to enable it and make sure its service is started properly, make sure the policies are such that at least that mailbox can be accessed via POP3, and make sure that 110 If using POP3[TLS] is open from the OTRS server through to the exchange server.

To send via SMTP you need to set up Exchange to allow relay from your OTRS server (by IP is simplest), and make sure then that port 25 is open from OTRS to the exchange server through any firewalls.

Both of these are easier to debug if you have telnet installed as a client on the OTRS box, as you can test to 110 and 25 to make sure you are at least getting a response; most everything else can be debugged from the syslog (or wherever you have OTRS logging).

If you wanted to run a mail server on OTRS, that's when you need mail forwarded from exchange. The simplest and cleanest way is to put a host name in. It's not necessary, but it helps humans in the future be less confused, so perhaps you use help@otrs.mycompany.com instead of help.otrs@mycompany.com.... You then set up the mx (or A) record for otrs.mycompany.com to be your otrs host, and let exchange forward the mail as it normally would to any off-exchange mailbox. Your otrs server can then either use exchange as a mart host (via SMTP and again allow relay) which is probably the most secure or you can just let it do all the mail handling outbound based on MX/A records if that's appropriate to your setup.

Frankly I would do the latter if for some reason you didn't want OTRS mail on exchange (e.g. archiving and a desire not to archive these), or had a large volume of mail and wanted to run procmail instead of pop3 to pull for volume/performance/latency reasons.

PS. I see the other prior post, and mine is a bit redundant, but I'll offer an email experience comment -- forwarding mail and having special rewrite or forward rules for one account will some day invariably confuse some support staff who won't know where mail is coming from or going to. Often a KISS solution is simplest -- which is why I like including the host name (or subdomain if you prefer). It's not necessary, but it is obvious 18 months from now when you have some email issue.

[crythias]

I'm not opposed to Linwood's idea, and it's the better long term solution. My Contact/Send connector option is simply to just get it done in one (Exchange Management) interface.

[elitt]

Thanks for the answers.
I will have a look on it... but my preference goes to the first Linwood's proposal : Exchange server for emails, OTRS server for tickets.

For the moment, I have a "Can't connect to exchange.mycompany.com" error. Probably nothing dealing with OTRS configuration. I am looking around and so does my server admin.

[Linwood]

For the moment, I have a "Can't connect to exchange.mycompany.com" error. Probably nothing dealing with OTRS configuration. I am looking around and so does my server admin.

again, sorry if obvious, but if from the OTRS machine you use telnet:

telnet mailservername-or-ip 110

You should get a prompt like:

+OK The Microsoft Exchange POP3 service is ready.

If you do, you know your issues are likely credentials or account setup (or otrs setup), not networking issues or POP3 service related issues.

If you don't get such a prompt, POP3 is either not running on the exchange server, or is not accessible through the network from the otrs box.

[GabrielV]

Thanks to all for the different solution posibilities.
In my case, for politic reasons, none help me.

For this reason I saw on the obligation to elaborate a trap. I do not like it... but I have no choice.
I installed davmail for fetch email through imap (locally) on Exchange Server OWA (remote). This is a local gateway.
I mention this in case anyone would serve this way to do it.

Thanks again!!

GabrielV

[hnoor0033]

i have only a production exchange server at the moment to experiment with and did not want to try, worried it would interfere with the existing one.