Can I install a 'Filter' onto an Exchange Server?

Can I install a 'Filter' onto an Exchange Server?

I'm designing a system which will integrate Exchange messaging with the 
application messaging built into our application. What I'll need to do is be 
able to monitor incoming / outgoing mail traffic on the Exchange server. 
Certain of these messages will trigger specific actions within our 
application and in some cases, we'll need to actually suppress the send of 
the message or reroute it to a different Exchange mailbox or folder based on 
our application defined rules. Is it possible to install a 'filter' on the 
Exchange server to implement this sort of activity monitoring and message 
management? If so, links to whitepapers and tutorials would be very much 
appreciated.

Also, every message which is related to our application needs to be 'tagged' 
to identify its context and metadata within our application. (Every such 
message will originate with our application, and so we can 'tag' it at the 
point of origin.) I'd like this tag to be hidden from the users to guard 
against modification, since if the 'tag' is lost the connection to our 
application is lost. Does messaging protocol (SMTP?) support user-defined 
headers which could be used to encapsulate and transport this information 
without revealing it to the users?

BTW, if you sense a lack of experience with Exchange, I will readily admit 
as such. I won't be the one implementing the system, once we have the 
initial design in place we'll find someone who can. I'm just trying to 
determine whether the elements of my design are sound. Your advice will be 
very much appreciated. BTW, if you'd like to get into technical details, 
feel free. I'm fairly senior, I've got many years of experience in general 
applications development; as I said I'm not an Exchange expert, but I am 
certanly interested in learning!

Thanks!

Joseph Geretz

date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:54:57 -0500 author: Joseph Geretz

Re: Can I install a 'Filter' onto an Exchange Server?

Responses inline.

-- 
Bharat Suneja
MVP - Exchange
www.zenprise.com
NEW blog location:
exchangepedia.com/blog
----------------------------


"Joseph Geretz"  wrote in message 
news:%23ijZ1MEZIHA.1132@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> I'm designing a system which will integrate Exchange messaging with the 
> application messaging built into our application. What I'll need to do is 
> be able to monitor incoming / outgoing mail traffic on the Exchange 
> server. Certain of these messages will trigger specific actions within our 
> application and in some cases, we'll need to actually suppress the send of 
> the message or reroute it to a different Exchange mailbox or folder based 
> on our application defined rules. Is it possible to install a 'filter' on 
> the Exchange server to implement this sort of activity monitoring and 
> message management? If so, links to whitepapers and tutorials would be 
> very much appreciated.

You'll need to write a transport event sink. Information can be found on 
MSDN.


>
> Also, every message which is related to our application needs to be 
> 'tagged' to identify its context and metadata within our application. 
> (Every such message will originate with our application, and so we can 
> 'tag' it at the point of origin.) I'd like this tag to be hidden from the 
> users to guard against modification, since if the 'tag' is lost the 
> connection to our application is lost. Does messaging protocol (SMTP?) 
> support user-defined headers which could be used to encapsulate and 
> transport this information without revealing it to the users?

X-headers can be inserted in messages - but these are visible to users. 
Users cannot, however, change message headers.

>
> BTW, if you sense a lack of experience with Exchange, I will readily admit 
> as such. I won't be the one implementing the system, once we have the 
> initial design in place we'll find someone who can. I'm just trying to 
> determine whether the elements of my design are sound. Your advice will be 
> very much appreciated. BTW, if you'd like to get into technical details, 
> feel free. I'm fairly senior, I've got many years of experience in general 
> applications development; as I said I'm not an Exchange expert, but I am 
> certanly interested in learning!
>
> Thanks!
>
> Joseph Geretz
>

date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:12:07 -0800 author: Bharat Suneja [MVP]

Re: Can I install a 'Filter' onto an Exchange Server?

Thanks Bharat. Very helpful! X-Headers will be fine. If a user wants to peek 
into the headers they'll see 
X-MYAPP-MSGID(6B29FC40-CA47-1067-B31D-00DD010662DA) (or something like that) 
but there's really nothing about this ID that needs to be absolutely hidden 
from the users. I just need it in an out-of-the-way spot to protect against 
inadvertant alteration.

Thanks!

Joseph Geretz

"Bharat Suneja [MVP]"  wrote in message 
news:udnSWcGZIHA.748@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Responses inline.
>
> -- 
> Bharat Suneja
> MVP - Exchange
> www.zenprise.com
> NEW blog location:
> exchangepedia.com/blog
> ----------------------------
>
>
> "Joseph Geretz"  wrote in message 
> news:%23ijZ1MEZIHA.1132@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> I'm designing a system which will integrate Exchange messaging with the 
>> application messaging built into our application. What I'll need to do is 
>> be able to monitor incoming / outgoing mail traffic on the Exchange 
>> server. Certain of these messages will trigger specific actions within 
>> our application and in some cases, we'll need to actually suppress the 
>> send of the message or reroute it to a different Exchange mailbox or 
>> folder based on our application defined rules. Is it possible to install 
>> a 'filter' on the Exchange server to implement this sort of activity 
>> monitoring and message management? If so, links to whitepapers and 
>> tutorials would be very much appreciated.
>
> You'll need to write a transport event sink. Information can be found on 
> MSDN.
>
>
>>
>> Also, every message which is related to our application needs to be 
>> 'tagged' to identify its context and metadata within our application. 
>> (Every such message will originate with our application, and so we can 
>> 'tag' it at the point of origin.) I'd like this tag to be hidden from the 
>> users to guard against modification, since if the 'tag' is lost the 
>> connection to our application is lost. Does messaging protocol (SMTP?) 
>> support user-defined headers which could be used to encapsulate and 
>> transport this information without revealing it to the users?
>
> X-headers can be inserted in messages - but these are visible to users. 
> Users cannot, however, change message headers.
>
>>
>> BTW, if you sense a lack of experience with Exchange, I will readily 
>> admit as such. I won't be the one implementing the system, once we have 
>> the initial design in place we'll find someone who can. I'm just trying 
>> to determine whether the elements of my design are sound. Your advice 
>> will be very much appreciated. BTW, if you'd like to get into technical 
>> details, feel free. I'm fairly senior, I've got many years of experience 
>> in general applications development; as I said I'm not an Exchange 
>> expert, but I am certanly interested in learning!
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Joseph Geretz
>>
>

date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:09:52 -0500 author: Joseph Geretz

Re: Can I install a 'Filter' onto an Exchange Server?

Which version of Exchange? Exchange 2007 uses a very different API than 
2000/2003 and requires the use of a managed language.

"Joseph Geretz"  wrote in message 
news:%23Iqh%23XQZIHA.4440@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
Thanks Bharat. Very helpful! X-Headers will be fine. If a user wants to peek
into the headers they'll see
X-MYAPP-MSGID(6B29FC40-CA47-1067-B31D-00DD010662DA) (or something like that)
but there's really nothing about this ID that needs to be absolutely hidden
from the users. I just need it in an out-of-the-way spot to protect against
inadvertant alteration.

Thanks!

Joseph Geretz

"Bharat Suneja [MVP]"  wrote in message
news:udnSWcGZIHA.748@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Responses inline.
>
> -- 
> Bharat Suneja
> MVP - Exchange
> www.zenprise.com
> NEW blog location:
> exchangepedia.com/blog
> ----------------------------
>
>
> "Joseph Geretz"  wrote in message
> news:%23ijZ1MEZIHA.1132@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> I'm designing a system which will integrate Exchange messaging with the
>> application messaging built into our application. What I'll need to do is
>> be able to monitor incoming / outgoing mail traffic on the Exchange
>> server. Certain of these messages will trigger specific actions within
>> our application and in some cases, we'll need to actually suppress the
>> send of the message or reroute it to a different Exchange mailbox or
>> folder based on our application defined rules. Is it possible to install
>> a 'filter' on the Exchange server to implement this sort of activity
>> monitoring and message management? If so, links to whitepapers and
>> tutorials would be very much appreciated.
>
> You'll need to write a transport event sink. Information can be found on
> MSDN.
>
>
>>
>> Also, every message which is related to our application needs to be
>> 'tagged' to identify its context and metadata within our application.
>> (Every such message will originate with our application, and so we can
>> 'tag' it at the point of origin.) I'd like this tag to be hidden from the
>> users to guard against modification, since if the 'tag' is lost the
>> connection to our application is lost. Does messaging protocol (SMTP?)
>> support user-defined headers which could be used to encapsulate and
>> transport this information without revealing it to the users?
>
> X-headers can be inserted in messages - but these are visible to users.
> Users cannot, however, change message headers.
>
>>
>> BTW, if you sense a lack of experience with Exchange, I will readily
>> admit as such. I won't be the one implementing the system, once we have
>> the initial design in place we'll find someone who can. I'm just trying
>> to determine whether the elements of my design are sound. Your advice
>> will be very much appreciated. BTW, if you'd like to get into technical
>> details, feel free. I'm fairly senior, I've got many years of experience
>> in general applications development; as I said I'm not an Exchange
>> expert, but I am certanly interested in learning!
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Joseph Geretz
>>
>

date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 20:09:39 -0600 author: Always Learning