Intercepting emails as they are sent

[SeekerOfTruths]

Hi, I've been asked to develop (despite having no prior experience with
Exchange) some sort of plugin that can intercept ALL emails at the point they
are sent.

I've looked at the SMTP OnArrival event, but this isn't sufficient as it
only catches emails as they leave the exchange server for hte outside world.
I need to be able to inspect ANY email at th epoin that it is sent, including
one's between mailboxes on the same Exchange server.

Can this be done, and if so what do I need to look at?

[Michael Bell]

Look at Journaling rules.

Michael Bell

Post by SeekerOfTruths
Hi, I've been asked to develop (despite having no prior experience with
Exchange) some sort of plugin that can intercept ALL emails at the point they
are sent.
I've looked at the SMTP OnArrival event, but this isn't sufficient as it
only catches emails as they leave the exchange server for hte outside world.
I need to be able to inspect ANY email at th epoin that it is sent, including
one's between mailboxes on the same Exchange server.
Can this be done, and if so what do I need to look at?

[SeekerOfTruths]

Thanks for the reply Michael, but I'm not sure that journaling would allow me
to do what I need.

I need to be able to intercept any email sent by any user and perform some
security check upon it. If it passes the email should be dispatched to it's
destination, but if it fails it should be put in a quarantine area/mailbox to
be checked by an appropriate person. If that person then decides the email is
OK, it should subsequently be dispatched to the original recipient(s). The
sender (and the recipients) should be completely unaware that this has
happened.

My understanding of journaling is that the journal receives a copy of all
emails sent, and thus would not enable me to prevent the original emal from
being dispatched - or is my understanding incorrect?

Seeker

Post by Michael Bell
Look at Journaling rules.
Michael Bell

Post by SeekerOfTruths
Hi, I've been asked to develop (despite having no prior experience with
Exchange) some sort of plugin that can intercept ALL emails at the point they
are sent.
I've looked at the SMTP OnArrival event, but this isn't sufficient as it
only catches emails as they leave the exchange server for hte outside world.
I need to be able to inspect ANY email at th epoin that it is sent, including
one's between mailboxes on the same Exchange server.
Can this be done, and if so what do I need to look at?

[Oliver Moazzezi [MVP]]

Post by SeekerOfTruths
My understanding of journaling is that the journal receives a copy of all
emails sent, and thus would not enable me to prevent the original emal from
being dispatched - or is my understanding incorrect?

Your understanding is correct yes. There's already products available that
do what you want. But they are for recipients outside the Exchange Org
(Internet).

Are you saying you must have this functionality for users even when sending
to each other?

Oliver

[SeekerOfTruths]

Yes, at the moment the requirement is to handle all mails sent - both
external and internal. I am aware of a number of existing products that would
fit the bill, but apparently that is not an option - the company (can't or
won't) buy an 3rd party product and want something developed in-house instead.

Post by Oliver Moazzezi [MVP]

Post by SeekerOfTruths
My understanding of journaling is that the journal receives a copy of all
emails sent, and thus would not enable me to prevent the original emal from
being dispatched - or is my understanding incorrect?

Your understanding is correct yes. There's already products available that
do what you want. But they are for recipients outside the Exchange Org
(Internet).
Are you saying you must have this functionality for users even when sending
to each other?
Oliver

[Oliver Moazzezi [MVP]]

I would get a project and man hour overview document created to see if it
would be cheaper just to buy something already out there.

Oliver

[John Fullbright]

An OnArrival event only processes the message if it's in MIME format. A
message sent in MAPI format won't be processed. If you want to use an
OnArrival event, you have to force a content conversion. That is resource
intensive and doesn't scale well. You might try a store event. Seems like
an awful lot of work for somthing you could get off the shelf.

Post by SeekerOfTruths
Hi, I've been asked to develop (despite having no prior experience with
Exchange) some sort of plugin that can intercept ALL emails at the point they
are sent.
I've looked at the SMTP OnArrival event, but this isn't sufficient as it
only catches emails as they leave the exchange server for hte outside world.
I need to be able to inspect ANY email at th epoin that it is sent, including
one's between mailboxes on the same Exchange server.
Can this be done, and if so what do I need to look at?

[GSteven]

I know this thread is aging but thought I'd ask. I have a similar
requirement. A small service or applet that will actually run on the server
to evalualte an email and trigger sending an outbound email. Several people
have stated that there are products you can buy off the shelf for this. Can
anyone offer names of said products?

Post by John Fullbright
An OnArrival event only processes the message if it's in MIME format. A
message sent in MAPI format won't be processed. If you want to use an
OnArrival event, you have to force a content conversion. That is resource
intensive and doesn't scale well. You might try a store event. Seems
like an awful lot of work for somthing you could get off the shelf.

Post by SeekerOfTruths
Hi, I've been asked to develop (despite having no prior experience with
Exchange) some sort of plugin that can intercept ALL emails at the point they
are sent.
I've looked at the SMTP OnArrival event, but this isn't sufficient as it
only catches emails as they leave the exchange server for hte outside world.
I need to be able to inspect ANY email at th epoin that it is sent, including
one's between mailboxes on the same Exchange server.
Can this be done, and if so what do I need to look at?

[GSteven]

guess not...

Post by GSteven
I know this thread is aging but thought I'd ask. I have a similar
requirement. A small service or applet that will actually run on the server
to evalualte an email and trigger sending an outbound email. Several people
have stated that there are products you can buy off the shelf for this. Can
anyone offer names of said products?

Post by John Fullbright
An OnArrival event only processes the message if it's in MIME format. A
message sent in MAPI format won't be processed. If you want to use an
OnArrival event, you have to force a content conversion. That is
resource intensive and doesn't scale well. You might try a store event.
Seems like an awful lot of work for somthing you could get off the shelf.

Post by SeekerOfTruths
Hi, I've been asked to develop (despite having no prior experience with
Exchange) some sort of plugin that can intercept ALL emails at the point they
are sent.
I've looked at the SMTP OnArrival event, but this isn't sufficient as it
only catches emails as they leave the exchange server for hte outside world.
I need to be able to inspect ANY email at th epoin that it is sent, including
one's between mailboxes on the same Exchange server.
Can this be done, and if so what do I need to look at?