Coexistence Manager for Notes 3.9 - Quick Start Guide

CMN Mail Connector

The CMN Mail Connector is a Windows service that monitors SMTP traffic between Domino and Exchange to resolve incompatibilities. This service detects and converts messages to facilitate, for example:

CMN’s Mail Connector also detects and converts Notes rich-content features whereby messages carry "live" or "active" functional content, for things such as:

These features, which we collectively call "Active Mail," would normally be lost or degraded when delivered to an Exchange recipient, due to differences between the mail platforms. However, CMN’s Mail Connector can detect and process Active Mail content to preserve this functionality. CMN detects messages en route to Exchange with Active Mail content, and encapsulates the functionality within an NSF file attachment. Assuming a Notes client is still installed on the Outlook recipient’s computer, and the NSF file type is associated (in Windows) with the Notes client application, the Outlook recipient simply double-clicks the icon to open the attached NSF file into Notes, with the fully functional Active Mail content in view.

The Mail Connector functions as a passive SMTP interface between Domino and Exchange. That is, the Mail Connector does not establish a connection or store output of processed messages. CMN converts messages containing calendar data, active mail and DocLinks, while other messages simply pass through to the destination server.

Before introducing CMN, Ellen configures Notes person documents and AD object records to permit internal SMTP mail-routing during coexistence. SMTP mail routing can be configured for either single-domain or multi-domain environments, and Ellen prefers using smart hosts to configure a single-domain routing scheme. She configures Exchange to route mail to a smart host if Exchange determines the recipient is not in the local internet domain, via the targetAddress attribute in the Active Directory object record. Meanwhile, she configures Domino to do the same thing in reverse for a recipient whose local internet domain address is not listed in any Domino person documents. Then she configures both smart hosts to point to the CMN Mail Connector server.

CMN Free/Busy Connector

Ellen knows that calendar features are popular among all American Widgets users, but obviously the features will be useful only if they have access to accurate, timely free/busy information for all users. CMN’s Free/Busy (F/B) Connector is a coordinated set of applications that enable Exchange and Domino to query the calendar availability of each other's users. Sharing free/busy data between Notes and Exchange simplifies calendar updates when accepting a meeting invitation, or changing the day/time or canceling a meeting, or making some other change to an existing meeting or recurring meeting series.

When a user in one environment requests free/busy information about a user in the other environment, the asking server’s query must be translated into a form that the other server will understand. Likewise, the data reply has to be translated into a form that the asking server will understand. This is true of free/busy queries and replies in both directions, and a separate translation application is required for each direction.

In addition to the query, translation and reply functions, both the Exchange and Domino servers require a service to facilitate data communications between themselves and external data sources (e.g., each other). Exchange uses Exchange Web Service (EWS) for communications with other applications, while Domino requires a server task. And finally, Exchange also uses an Autodiscover service to track and report the location (URL) of the EWS.

In a typical configuration, CMN’s bidirectional Free/Busy Connector contains five components to facilitate the flow of F/B queries and replies between the two environments, as shown here. For technical reasons, the Domino server task (called QCalCon) must be installed on the Domino server. It is possible to install the other four CMN F/B Connector components on a single server, but American Widgets sees sufficient query volume to warrant separate servers, for optimal performance. Ellen therefore opts to deploy the components on two servers.