Input around possible EV domain name reinstallation

[Bruce_Cranksh1]

 Hi All

 I have a customer that is on EV 9.0 sp2

 They have had an issue where the MailApp functionality on their BlackBerrys(BB) or IPAD doesn’t allow Shortcut resolution. I have  raised this  on the forums and we know this is by design, see the link below for those interested

 https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/input-around-ipad-and-blackberry-archive-access#comme...

 Anyway they don’t want to invest in the Commondesk product range which I know would solve their problem. So I am now looking for other solutions that will allow them to open any Shortcut from there BB or IPAD using the MailApp component on these devices. Note normal OWA access through there Browsers does work  

 One suggestion was to reinstall EV into the domain that is in  the external DNS as obviously this name resolution works fine externally. Let’s say this domain name is called red.co.za and currently EV is installed into an internal Active directory domain called red.local

 I have been through the document Enterprise Vault How To Guide : Moving an Enterprise Vault server to a new Active Directory Domain  and my  questions are 

1. Would this even work as currently the domain name red.co.za is not an Active Directory Domain but a standard DNS Zone. It has no Domain Controllers  and is just used for DNS name resolution from the outside world and hosts the MX record for example and there Firewall does the forwarding to servers on the internal network
2. If the above question won’t work is there a way to tell EV to use the red.co.za domain name so that I can recreate all the shortcuts so that Shortcut resolution will work.

 Any input would  be appreciated around this  or does anyone have another suggestion that would allow the BB and IPAD to resolve Shortcuts without the customer having to spend additional money :) ( Maybe some clever DNS trick we are not thinking of )

[MichelZ]

Bruce

This would not work, as you cannot "freely choose" the domain name. You are bound to Active Directory for DNS Naming. So you would need a new AD Domain/Forest for this.

Another way would be to change the EV Directory/Server Alias to red.co.za in the Database, and recreate shortcuts and stuff. But I doubt that this is supported. You may want to chat to SYMC about this.

And the last thing which comes to my mind would be a customizing program, which just "rewrites" the Shortcuts to red.co.za. After all, this is just a standard Link in an e-mail :)

Cheers
Michel

[Bruce_Cranksh1]

Thanks Michel

I'll look into these options, any idea what program would be able to rewrite the actual Shortcut data?

[LCT]

Bruce,

Just my thought - in the SiteEntry table - in the EV Directory database, you can change the defaultwebappurl to use red.co.za (you need to use the fully qualified domain name i.e. http://serveralias.red.co.za/enterprisevault). By default it is /enterprisevault and it looks up your local domain which is red.local and creates your defaultwebappurl which becomes http://serveralias.domain.local/enterprisevault.

Consequences, you will need to recreate all EV shortcuts, and also internally users will need to be able to access DNS (http://serveralias.red.co.za/enterprisevault). I would fully test this first. This will overcome your issue, and as Michael has mentioned, this will not be supported by SYMC once the defaultwebappurl has been modified.

[LCT]

How to recreate EV shortcuts - http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH49033

[MichelZ]

After reading more about, I am confused :D

Are we talking about the "Shortcut", or are we talking about the "HTTP Link" inside the shortcut?
 

[LCT]

From what I know from the previous blog...it's the actual shortcut Michel.

[MichelZ]

OK, and how does the MailApp of BB/iPad open that shortcut at all, even if the shortcut URL is "valid"? I'm still confused.... :)

[Bruce_Cranksh1]

Hi Michel and LCT

The MailApp in the BB and IPAD doesnt work at it tries to open the shortcut using  the hardcoded name of the internal EV server. ( LCT is familiar with this  issue :) )

So I have confirmed at this customer if can put the External hosted name of the EV server in the request to open an item from a device it works as the Firewall does link translation to the EV server in the internal network, well it opens the attachments and thats what the customer wants

@ LCT

I am familiar with how to recreate the Shortcut content but its time consuming and resource intensive. I though Michel mentioned a different way to do this so I was considering that option. Also I would use the method below

 http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH47364

[MichelZ]

Sorry guys, I can't help you before I don't exactly know what I'm dealing with.

Once again: Are we talking about the Shortcut itself, or the "Link" inside the Shortcut?
Or in other words: What are the settings in your Mailbox Policy -> "Shortcut Content" Tab.

Please post a screenshot & a screenshot of a "shortcut", pointing out exactly what you want to change :)

[Bruce_Cranksh1]

Hi Michel

You have raised some good points around the definition of what I mean so let  me explain properly what the customer wants to achieve because it has been confusing and I am to blame for that

The Shortcut contains 1000 characters so they see enough of the body of the message. The attachments are links within the Shortcut and they want to be able to the open the attachments as they are a property rental  company and all there work is done in spreadsheets and other office documents

If this doesn't make sense let me know and I can confirm anything else you may need to know tomorrow as I can go back onsite

[MichelZ · Accepted solution]

Bruce

This gives me something to work with :)
So, actually what you want is: change all "Links" to attachments from someserver.red.local to someserver.red.co.za. This will allow you to click on the link in BB/iPAD inside the MailApp, which opens a browser and "downloads" the attachment.

The easiest thing to do would be to create a service application, which scans for shortcuts and which replaces all someserver.red.local links to attachments with a link to someserver.red.co.za (probably on a daily basis after the archiving run).

This is unfortunately not possible without either programming skills or cost, but it is doable. If you need help in doing it, we could do customizing for you.

As for the "free" approach, I think the change of the server alias in the database and the RestoreShortcutBody would help, but I would really call support and see if such a scenario would be supported by SYMC.

Hope that helps a little bit :)

Cheers
Michel

[Bruce_Cranksh1]

Thanks Michel

Thats exactly what they want. I confused the issue by talking about Shortcuts when only after you mentioned it I realized that its the Links to attachments that end of the day they require access to :)

Okay I'll raise this with support and also discuss the whole programming option with them and then contact you if thats a route they want to look into.

Tell Wayne Humpreys I say hi :)

[LCT]

I thought you said the customer trying to open the actual message in the MailApp in iPad/iPhone/BB?

Anyway, if you change the defaultwebappurl in the SiteEntry table and then recreate the shortcuts, this will update the defaultwebappurl and also update the links to attachment and link to view original message etc.

Test it first of course. :)

[LCT]

I stumbled across this very similar issue with Outlook Anywhere/RPS Over HTTPS where there is not mechanism to translate the default webappurl to the externalwebappurl whilst the EV shortcuts contains the links to attachment and the link to view original message. The EV shortcuts themselves can translate fine, just the links within the shortcuts.

Your issue is because the iPad/iPhone/BB MailApp has no mechanism to translate the webappurls as Alex and I already explained. If you are just talking about the links within the EV shortcuts then this is a similar issue, hence I suggested the workaround.

Still a bit confused* face*!! :)

[Bruce_Cranksh1]

@ LCT

Thanks LCT for the pertinent  input as usual , this post was more about the domain re-installation and not the issue with the Shortcut/Attachment on the deivces but obviously when Michel asked certain questions I realized its the links to the attachments that need to be resolved. Of course the Shortcuts also don't work but thats not an issue as its the attachments they need access to

I'm going to log a call with support to see if they will support any changes to the defaultwebappurl and then test it of course :)

[LCT]

No worries...good luck with support :)

I will be interested to know what their responses are. I used to work in that department and worked with the issue that I described above with Outlook Anywhere. ;)

[Bruce_Cranksh1]

Just an update

Support has explained the process we need to follow in order to rename the defaultwebappurl to resolve the attachment links

They would support this change but I do need recreate the Shortcut content and test it first

[LCT]

Ask support if they found the long internal doc that I wrote around this topic...lol Once the default webappurl is changed, the quickest way to test is to archive a few new message and see if it works then slowly recreate the existing shortcuts. Cheers.

[Bruce_Cranksh1]

Hi LCT

Thanks, I'll ask them for that, whats your real name or what name would the document be registered as?