Configuring and Indexing Microsoft Exchange Sources for an Online Deployment

CES 7.0.7814+ (August 2015)

The Coveo connector supports indexing Microsoft Exchange Online mailboxes whether the mailbox owners are federated (listed in a local AD and synced or not in Azure AD) or cloud-based users (will be listed using Azure AD). The only requirement for an online mailbox to be indexed is that the mailbox owner can be found either in a local AD or using Azure AD.

A source defines a set of configuration parameters for a specific Microsoft Exchange server.

To configure and index Microsoft Exchange sources for an online deployment

1. On the Coveo server, access the Administration Tool (see Opening the Administration Tool).

2. Select Index > Sources and Collections.

3. In the Collections section:

   1. Select an existing collection in which you want to add the new source.

      OR

   2. Click Add to create a new collection (see Adding a Collection).

4. In the Sources section, click Add.

   The Add Source page that appears is organized in three sections.

5. In the General Settings section of the Add Source page:

   

   1. Enter the appropriate value for the following required parameters:

      Name

      Enter a source name of your choice that represents the scope of the source.

      Example: Microsoft Exchange Online Mailboxes

      Source Type

      The connector used by this source. For an Exchange Online case, select Exchange (WebServices).

      Note: If you do not see Exchange (WebServices) in the Source Type list, your environment does not meet the requirements (see Microsoft Exchange Connector Requirements).

      Addresses

      List of starting points for the connector, typically one address. When you specify more than one address, you must ensure that all other parameter values apply to all specified starting addresses. The connector supports both secured https and unsecured http servers.

      For Microsoft Exchange Online, the address is always the same:

      https://outlook.office365.com/

      Refresh Schedule

      Time interval at which the index is automatically refreshed to keep the index content up-to-date. By default, the Every day option instructs CES to refresh the source everyday at 12 AM.

      Note: You can create new or modify existing source refresh schedules (see Creating or Modifying a Source Schedule).

   2. Review the value for the following parameters that often do not need to be modified:

      Rating

      Change this value only when you want to globally change the rating associated with all items in this source relative to the rating to other sources (see Understanding Search Results Ranking).

      Example: If this source was for a local or remote Exchange archive, you may want to set this parameter to Low, so that in the search interface, results from this source appear lower in the search results compared to those from other sources.

      Document Types

      If you defined custom document type sets, ensure to select the most appropriate for this source (see What Are Document Type Sets?).

      Active Languages

      If you defined custom active language sets, ensure to select the most appropriate for this source.

      Fields

      If you defined custom field sets, ensure to select the most appropriate for this source (see What Are Field Sets?).

6. In the Specific Connector Parameters & Options section of the Add Source page, review if you need to change the parameter default values:

   

   Max Number of Retries

   Number of reconnection attempts performed when the Exchange server fails to reply to a request.

   Retry Delay

   Delay between reconnection attempts in seconds.

   Exchange Folder

   Name of the folder hosting all the mailboxes. The default value is exchange. It corresponds to the segment of the URI that is after the server name and points to the mailboxes https://ExchangeServer/exchange/.

   Use Form Authentication

   Whether to use forms-based authentication. The check box is cleared by default.

   Select the check box when forms-based authentication is enabled on the Microsoft Exchange Server. The connector supports two forms-based authentication types:

   • Standard Microsoft Exchange forms-based authentication.

   • ISA server forms-based authentication. When an ISA filter is put in front of the Microsoft Exchange OWA server.

   Index Exchange Security

   Whether to index the permissions specified in Microsoft Outlook. The check box is cleared by default.

   Select this check box when you want the Coveo connector to index user defined permissions as well as the Active Directory permissions.

   Callback Service Url

   Note: CES 7.0.8047+ (December 2015) Due to an Exchange Web Services limitation (which limits the number of online mailbox subscriptions to approximately 20), the callback service is no longer used by default (see Exchange Online Throttling and Limits FAQ).

   If you still want to use the callback service to receive change notifications during incremental refreshes (by setting the UseCallbackServiceForMultipleExchangeOnlineStartingItems hidden parameter to true), have in mind that it will only work for 20 (or less) mailboxes or public folders (see Modifying Hidden Microsoft Exchange Source Parameters). When you try to subscribe to more mailboxes/public folders, you get the following error message:

   Folder error: https://outlook.office365.com/public/[path]

   You have exceeded the available subscriptions for your account.

   Remove unnecessary subscriptions and try your request again.

   (When you set the UseCallbackServiceForMultipleExchangeOnlineStartingItems hidden parameter to true) Parameter indicating the location of the Exchange Callback Service that enhances the incremental refresh performance when you have less than 20 mailboxes or public folder to index (see Fine-Tuning the Exchange Callback Service).

   The default value (http://localhost:8181/) is appropriate when the Exchange Callback Service runs on the same machine as CES. When the service runs on another computer, replace localhost by the Exchange server machine name. Change the port when the service does not use the default port (8181). Leave the parameter empty to disable the service.

   Public Folder

   Name of the public folder. The default value is public. It corresponds to the segment of the URI that is after the server name and that points to the public folders https://ExchangeServer/public/.

   Index Junk E­mails

   Whether to index junk emails or not. Junk emails are indexed by default.

   Skip 3rd Party Archived Items

   Whether to skip indexing of items archived by an external archiving system, such as Symantec Enterprise Vault. This parameter is useful to make the Microsoft Exchange connector ignore email stubs left behind by an external archiving system. The check box is selected by default.

   Note: Do not confuse the Skip 3rd Party Archived Items with the IndexArchive hidden parameter, which controls whether Exchange archive mailboxes should be indexed (see Modifying Hidden Microsoft Exchange Source Parameters).

   Parameters

   Click Add Parameter to show and change the value of the following required hidden source parameters (see Modifying Hidden Microsoft Exchange Source Parameters):

   Depending on your setup:

   • When your users are cloud-based (Azure AD users):

     Parameter name	Parameter value
     AzureAdOAuth2TokenEndpoint	The endpoint used to obtain an access token using OAuth 2.0 (see Authorizing the Coveo Connector to Access the Exchange Online Mailboxes of Your Azure AD Users).
     AzureAdGraphApiEndpoint	The endpoint used by the Azure AD Graph API to access directory data in the Windows Azure AD directory (see Authorizing the Coveo Connector to Access the Exchange Online Mailboxes of Your Azure AD Users).
     AzureAdClientId	The Azure AD client ID you previously obtained (see Authorizing the Coveo Connector to Access the Exchange Online Mailboxes of Your Azure AD Users).
     AzureAdClientKey	The Azure AD client key you previously obtained (see Authorizing the Coveo Connector to Access the Exchange Online Mailboxes of Your Azure AD Users).
     OwnerOnlySecurity	true

   • When your users are federated (local AD users):

     Parameter name	Parameter value
     OwnerOnlySecurity	true

   In the Option section:

   Index Subfolders

   Check to index all subfolders below the specified starting addresses. Selected by default.

   Index the document's metadata

   When selected, CES indexes all the document metadata, even metadata that are not associated with a field. The orphan metadata are added to the body of the document so that they can be searched using free text queries.

   When cleared (default), only the values of system and custom fields that have the Free Text Queries attribute selected will be searchable without using a field query (see Adding a Field to Search On and What Are Field Queries and Free Text Queries?).

   Example: A document has two metadata:

   • LastEditedBy containing the value Hector Smith

   • Department containing the value RH

   In CES, the custom field CorpDepartment is bound to the metadata Department and its Free Text Queries attribute is selected.

   When the Index the document's metadata option is cleared, searching for RH returns the document because a field is indexing this value. Searching for hector does not return the document because no field is indexing this value.

   When the Index the document's metadata option is selected, searching for hector also returns the document because CES indexed orphan metadata.

   Generate a cached HTML version of indexed documents

   When you select this check box (recommended), at indexing time, CES creates HTML versions of indexed documents. In the search interfaces, users can then more rapidly review the content by clicking the Quick View link rather than opening the original document with the original application. Consider clearing this check box only if you do not want to use Quick View links or to save resources when building the source.

   Open results with cached version

   Leave this check box cleared (recommended) so that in the search interfaces, the main search result link opens the original document with the original application. Consider selecting this check box only when you do not want users to be able to open the original document but only see the HTML version of the document as a Quick View. In this case, you must also select Generate a cached HTML version of indexed documents.

7. In the Security section of the Add Source page:

   

   1. In the Active Directory Security Provider drop-down list, depending on your setup:

      • When your users are cloud-based (Azure AD users), select (none).

        Note: When the Azure AD hidden parameters are specified on the source, this parameter becomes optional.

      • When your users are federated (local AD users), select Active Directory or a custom Active Directory security provider that you created for a specific domain (see Configuring an Active Directory Security Provider).

   2. In the Exchange Security Provider drop-down list, depending on your setup:

      • When your users are cloud-based (Azure AD users), select the security provider that you created for this source (see Microsoft Exchange Connector Deployment Overview).

      • When your users are federated (local AD users), select (none).

   3. In the Authentication drop-down list, select the user identity that you created for Microsoft Exchange Online.

      Note: The user must be in an email format and NOT in the domain\username format.

      Example: ces_crawling@mycompany.onmicrosoft.com

   4. Click Save and Start to save the source configuration and start indexing this source.

8. Validate that the source building process is executed without errors:

   • In the navigation panel on the left, click Status, and then validate that the indexing proceeds without errors.

     OR

   • Open the CES Console to monitor the source building activities (see Using the CES Console).