Connector for Novell GroupWise Architecture

Connector for Novell GroupWise supports bidirectional message transfer and directory synchronization between an Exchange organization and a Novell GroupWise environment. Novell GroupWise releases 4.2, 5.0, and 5.5 are supported. This MAPI-based connector uses the Novell GroupWise API Gateway to communicate with Novell GroupWise. For information about how to install and configure Connector for Novell GroupWise, see the Exchange Server 2003 Interoperability and Migration Guide.

The following table lists the important components of Connector for Novell GroupWise.

Connector for Novell GroupWise components

Message Transfer

The following figure illustrates the process for sending messages from Exchange Server 2003 to Novell GroupWise.

Sending messages from Exchange Server 2003 to Novell GroupWise

The message transfer process between Exchange Server 2003 and Novell GroupWise is made up of the following four steps:

1. Exchange Server 2003 determines that the recipient is a Novell GroupWise user (based on the target address of the user) and sends the message to the Exchange MTA.

2. The MTA delivers the message to the MTS-OUT directory, from which the Lsmexout.exe process retrieves it, checks Active Directory, replaces target recipient information with corresponding GroupWise addresses, and then delivers the message to the READYOUT folder.

3. The Mex2gw.exe process converts the message to Novell GroupWise format before writing it as header and body files to the connector store on the server running Exchange Server 2003.

   Note

   Header and body files are keyword-based text files that the GroupWise API Gateway uses to communicate with Connector for Novell GroupWise. You can use a text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad, to read and write keyword-based text files in the API Gateway directory structure.

4. The Exchange Router for Novell GroupWise service (Gwrouter.exe) places the message in the API_IN and ATT_IN directories of Novell GroupWise API Gateway. The gateway works in conjunction with a Novell GroupWise MTA for delivery in the GroupWise organization.

The following figure illustrates the process for sending messages from Novell GroupWise to Exchange Server 2003.

Sending messages from Novell GroupWise to Exchange Server 2003

The process for message transfer from Novell GroupWise to Exchange Server 2003 is made up of the following four steps:

1. The Router for Novell GroupWise service obtains the message from the API_OUT and ATT_OUT directories of Novell GroupWise API Gateway in the form of header and body files and places them in the connector store.

2. The Gw2mex.exe process converts the header and body files to a message in Exchange Server 2003 format, before it places the message in the READYIN folder.

3. The Lsmexin.exe process obtains the converted message from the READYIN folder, verifies the validity of the recipient (converting the address to Exchange format, if necessary), and delivers the message to the MTS-IN folder.

4. The Exchange MTA then processes the message from the MTS-IN folder and places it in the SMTP service's MTS-OUT folder, from which it is then routed to its destination in the Exchange organization.

Message Conversion

Novell GroupWise supports several specific message types, such as e-mail messages, appointments, notes, tasks, forms, presentations, and documents. MAPI message types are mapped to corresponding message types in Novell GroupWise, when possible. In other words, e-mail messages appear as e-mail messages, meeting requests as appointments, and so on. Message types that are not supported in Exchange Server 2003, such as Novell GroupWise phone messages, are converted to regular e-mail messages. Connector for Novell GroupWise can track delivery confirmation reports, read receipts, and non-delivery reports.

Message Conversion between Novell GroupWise and Exchange Server 2003

E-mail Message Type Conversion

E-mail messages that originate in either Exchange or Novell GroupWise are converted to the format of the target system. Connector for Novell GroupWise also tracks message delivery by using delivery confirmation reports, read receipts, and non-delivery reports.

Connector for Novell GroupWise handles meeting requests and phone messages as follows:

• Meeting Requests and Appointments   Exchange meeting requests and Novell GroupWise appointments are transferred through Connector for Novell GroupWise. Updated meeting requests are identified as "Updated" in their subject lines. Because of a limitation of the GroupWise API Gateway, meeting requests sent from Exchange Server 2003 users to GroupWise users cannot be updated automatically in Novell GroupWise and must be updated manually by the user.

  Note

  The API Gateway does not support recurring meeting requests from GroupWise that use the AutoDate feature. These recurring meeting requests are not transferred to Exchange Server 2003. Recurring meetings transferred from Exchange Server 2003 to Novell GroupWise are added to the Novell GroupWise calendar once, and recurring information is then displayed at the top of the message body. It is the user's responsibility to remember when the meetings take place or to enter multiple meeting occurrences individually in the calendar.

• All Day Meeting Requests   All day meeting requests generated in Exchange Server 2003 appear as meeting requests in Novell GroupWise. However, if the meeting continues over multiple days, the connector creates a single instance on the first day with the date range in the message field.

• Phone Messages   Novell GroupWise phone messages appear as e-mail messages in Exchange Server 2003.

E-mail Message Property Conversion

The connector discards rich text format (RTF) information in the message body of Exchange messages, because API Gateway supports plain text only. Objects embedded in messages sent by Exchange Server 2003 clients (Microsoft Office Outlook) are converted to attachments. These attachments, if embedded more than one level deep, appear as attachments to the primary message. If a Novell GroupWise user sends a message that includes an attached message that contains additional attachments, all attachments appear in Exchange Server 2003 as single attachments to the primary message.

E-mail message conversion between Novell GroupWise and Microsoft Outlook

Directory Synchronization

Directory synchronization with Novell GroupWise follows a pattern similar to directory synchronization with Lotus Notes. The Lsdxa.exe process is responsible for controlling the actual directory synchronization processes. However, instead of Dxanotes.dll, the LSDXA process uses Dxagwise.dll (that is, the Novell GroupWise DX Agent) for directory synchronization with Novell GroupWise. Dxagwise.dll communicates with Novell GroupWise by means of Novell GroupWise API Gateway, the Exchange Router for Novell GroupWise service, and GroupWise administrator messages (Msg-Type= Admin). For more information about how to configure directory synchronization, see the Exchange Server 2003 Interoperability and Migration Guide.

Connector for Novell GroupWise performs the following steps to synchronize directories with Novell GroupWise:

1. Dxamex.dll communicates with Active Directory through ADSI to extract the recipient information from the export containers specified in the connector configuration.

2. Dxamex.dll maps the recipient attributes as defined in Amap.tbl and Mapmex.tbl and places the results in the form of a temporary file named Dxagwise.txt in message interchange format (MIF) in the \Program Files\Exchsrvr\Conndata\Togwise directory. The following is an example of a Dxagwise.txt:

   Load
   A
   DOMAIN:
   POSTOFFICE:
   OBJECT:
   LASTNAME:
   FIRSTNAME:Administrator
   DESCRIP:Administrator
   ACCOUNTID:
   TITLE:
   DEPARTMENT:
   PHONE:
   FAX:
   GWADDR:Exchange.First Administrative Group.Administrator
   EXCHANGEID:Microsoft Exchange Connector for Novell GroupWise
   
   EndOfBuffer
   

3. Dxagwise.dll parses the Dxagwise.txt file, processes the addresses, and places an administrator message to perform the update operation (add, modify, or delete recipient objects) in the Novell GroupWise directory in the \Program Files\Exchsrvr\Conndata\Gwrouter\Togwise directory. The following is an example of an administrator message to update recipient objects in the Novell GroupWise directory:

   WPC-API= 1.2; 
   Msg-Type= Admin; 
   DS-External-Post-Office= 
       Operation= Add; 
       Domain= EXCHANGE; 
       Post-Office= FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP; 
       Time-Zone= gmt; 
       ; 
   DS-User= 
       Operation= Modify; 
       Visibility= System; 
       Domain= Exchange; 
       Post-Office= First Administrative Group; 
       Object= Administrator; 
       Last-Name= \\; 
       First-Name= Administrator; 
       Description= Administrator; 
       Account-ID= \\; 
       Title= \\; 
       Department= \\; 
       Phone= \\; 
       Fax= \\; 
       Network-ID= \\; 
       User-Def-5= Microsoft Exchange Connector for Novell GroupWise; 
       ; 
   -END-
   

4. The Exchange Router for Novell GroupWise service transfers the administrator message to the Novell GroupWise API Gateway's API_IN directory.

5. Novell GroupWise API Gateway parses the administrator message and performs the specified action.

6. If Novell GroupWise API Gateway receives an administrator message to request directory information, the API gateway returns the requested information in the form of an administrator message. The administrator message is placed in the API_OUT directory in the form of an .api file. The following is an example of an administrator message to request directory information from the Novell GroupWise directory:

   WPC-API= 1.2;
   Msg-Type= Admin;
   -GET-DIRECTORY-
   -END-
   

7. The Exchange Router for Novell GroupWise service retrieves the .api file and places it in the \Program Files\Exchsrvr\Conndata\Gwrouter\Dirsync directory.

8. Dxagwise.dll parses the .api file, extracts the recipient information, and writes updates or the complete list (Full Load) to Dxamex.txt.

9. Dxamex.dll processes the Dxamex.txt file and places the recipient information in the import container specified in the connector configuration.