CoexLinks - A typical support scenario

Wed 7 Jun 2006, 08:30 AM

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by Ben Langhinrichs
A potential CoexLinks customer from a very well known company called yesterday.  The evaluator, whom I will call Eva,  said that she had installed and configured CoexLinks as directed (which takes about five minutes), but that the NDL attachments were not showing up.  Since about 95% of all CoexLinks support calls come with initial setup, it was fairly easy to guess where we were going.  Below is a very loose approximation of our conversation:

Ben: Did you add the disclaimer text so that you could tell if the message was actually modified by CoexLinks (n.b. disclaimer text is set using COEXPrependDoclink parameters)
Eva: Yes, I added that.
Ben: Did the disclaimer text show up in the converted message in Outlook?
Eva: No, it didn't
Ben:  Ah, so the message wasn't touched by CoexLinks.  There are three common reasons why that might be true.  Let's take them one by one.  First, it is possible that CoexLinks didn't load at all, because the license file or software were installed wrong.  Since you have an evaluation license, the name of the server does not matter, but the license and software have to be in the right place (n.b. the Domino executable directory).  You can tell if CoexLinks started because in the log file, there will be a copyright message when the server was started.
Eva: CoexLinks started correctly, and I see the copyright message.
Ben: Good.  Second, it is possible that the message was converted to MIME before it left your Notes client.  Did you send the message from a Notes client or from an agent?
Eva: I sent it from a Notes client.  How would I check about whether it got converted to MIME first?
Ben: Open your location document, click on the Mail tab, and look for Format for messages addressed to internet addresses.  It should be set to Notes Rich Text Format, and not MIME Format.
Eva: OK, I looked, and it is set correctly to Notes Rich Text Format.
Ben: Good.  OK, the third most likely possibility is that the e-mail message never touched the server on which you have CoexLinks installed.  Let me guess, the database from which you sent the message is on Server A, but your mail server is Server B.  Server A is a development server, so you put CoexLinks on it to test.  Is that right?
Eva: Yes, that's right.  So, I have to change my mail account to point at Server A in order to test this?
Ben:  That's right, because even though the database is on Server A, mail sent by you from that database never really touches Server A.  If it were created by an agent on Server A, or routed through Server A, or your mailbox was on Server A, CoexLinks would have a chance to operate.
Eva: Great!  I'll set it up and let you know if I have any problems.  Thank you so much.
Ben: That is what we are here for.  Please let us know if you have any other questions.

That is a typical CoexLinks support call.  Once CoexLinks is configured and routing is set up properly, there is hardly ever a reason to call.  It just hums away, doing its thing.  Still, I am glad that our new support organization is taking over, because with the number of new customers we have recently, this conversation is likely to be repeated often.

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