CA Service Management

Hi Folks,

      We are trying to enable PDA approval in catalog. For this we have already opened the ports required for service catalog to send message (SMTP port 25).

Apart from this we also need to monitor and send mails through ITPAM. Please let us know what are the ports (SMTP/IMAP or both) we need to open for the same from PAM to mail server. If anyone has done this before, please share the details about how to configure mail trigger after opening the ports.

Thanks In Advance,

EMS

Good Afternoon EMS.

From an earlier local test, I gathered the following information.

Possibly not 100% correct, however a good starting point for you, I believe.

Kind regards, Louis.

- Install a mailserver that can run the IMAP protocol.
> I used hMailServer and added accounts and imap settings and smtp settings
> Add(use) a specific account for 'mailtrigger@maildomain.com' purposes, to be set in PAM later
- Install an Email-UI.
> I used Thunderbird
- In Thunderbird, NO password/authorization set for smtp

- SC/catalog/config>pda=yes

- PAM/config
> Domain>trigger>mail trigger
https://support.ca.com/cadocs/0/CA%20Process%20Automation%2004%202%2002-ENU/Bookshelf_Files/HTML/Content%20Administrator%20Guide/index.htm?toc.htm?1544841.html

=======================================================
https://cawiki.ca.com/display/catalog/PDA+Approval
Email Message Customizations
Administrators can customize the email messages to have different links.
Customization can be done by adding/modifying the place holders in the email messages.
Here are the customizations that can be done in the email messages:
-Approve/Reject at custom approve/reject statuses
-Approve/reject at various pending action levels. i.e In Service level or Service Option Level or Request level.
-Type of links. i.e MailTo or HTML
-This is done by adding the UPDATE_STATUS_LINK to the email content, e.g.
--$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|R|Subject|Body|$ creates a mailto link which will update the status of the request (R) to 800.
Make sure that there is no Pipe Symbol (|) in the Subject, Body text.
--$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|800|S$ creates a http link which will update the status of the service (S) to 800.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|800|R$'>Approve Request</a> without further review.
This works when the mail is generated from Request Email Rule Action.
--$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|800|SO$ creates a http link which will update the status of the service option (SO) to 800.
This works when the mail is generated from Request Email Rule Action.
=======================================================
Case 00529800 and also see case 00462820:
If the email action is configured using '800|R' as follows the entire request is approved:
<br> <br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|800|R$'>Approve Request</a> without further review
<br> <br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|600|R$'>Reject Request</a> without further review

Approve Request without further review
This option approves all the requests pending action that are assigned to you.
In addition, this option approves all other requests pending action remaining for the request, if your role permits you to do so.
Even if you are not the assignee.
For example, if your role is Service Delivery administrator (named spadmin by default), you can approve all requests pending actions for all requests.

$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|800|R$ Provides the link that the approver clicks to approve the entire request.
$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|600|R$ Provides the link that the approver clicks to reject the entire request.

You can update this to '800|S' to only approve the assigned service:
Approve Service without further review
This option approves the highlighted service in the request pending action;
the service assigned to you is highlighted in the request summary.

$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|800|S$ Provides the link that the approver clicks to approve an individual service.
$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|600|S$ Provides the link that the approver clicks to reject an individual service.
=======================================================
December 27th:
SAAB - EmailApproval for ($request_id$) for $rate_item_name$
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) for $req_for_user_id$ for service $offering_name$ has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>Please review this request by clicking <a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>here</a>
<br>is_pda_enabled=$pda_enabled$
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>The summary of the request is included in this email.
<br><br>Click links below to perform the approval action on the request.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|R|Approved Request $request_id$|Approved Request $request_name$|$'>Approve Request</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|600|R|Rejected Request $request_id$|Rejected Request $request_name$|$'>Reject Request</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|S|Approved Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)|Approved Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_name$)|$'>Approve Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|600|S|Rejected Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)|Rejected Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_name$)|$'>Reject Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>Review the Details</a> of the request in CA Service Catalog.
<br>Afterwards you can approve or reject some or all of the requested items.
<br><br>Please wait for the confirmation message in your browser after performing the approval action.
========
December 29th:
SAAB - EmailApproval for ($request_id$) for $rate_item_name$
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) for $req_for_user_id$ for service $offering_name$ has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>Please review this request by clicking <a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>here</a>
<br>is_pda_enabled=$pda_enabled$
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>The summary of the request is included in this email.
<br><br>Click links below to perform the approval action on the request.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|R|Approved Request $request_id$|Approved Request $request_name$|$'>Approve Request</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|600|R|Rejected Request $request_id$|Rejected Request $request_name$|$'>Reject Request</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|S|Approved Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)|Approved Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_name$)|$'>Approve Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|600|S|Rejected Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)|Rejected Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_name$)|$'>Reject Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>Review the Details</a> of the request in CA Service Catalog.
<br>Afterwards you can approve or reject some or all of the requested items.
<br><br>Please wait for the confirmation message in your browser after performing the approval action.
========
SAAB - EmailApproval for ($request_id$) for $rate_item_name$
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) for $req_for_user_id$ for service $offering_name$ has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>Please review this request by clicking <a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>here</a>
<br>is_pda_enabled=$pda_enabled$
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>The summary of the request is included in this email.
<br><br>Click links below to perform the approval action on the request.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|800|R$'>Approve Request</a> without further review
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|600|R$'>Reject Request</a> without further review
<br><br><a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>Review the Details</a> of the request in CA Service Catalog; afterwards you can approve or reject some or all of the requested items. <br> <br>Please wait for the confirmation message in your browser after performing the approval action.
<br>
>>> Working locally.
=====================
Local - EmailApproval for ($request_id$) for $rate_item_name$
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) for $req_for_user_id$ for service $offering_name$ has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>Please review this request by clicking <a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>here</a>
<br>$is_pda_enabled=$pda_enabled$$
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>The summary of the request is included in this email.
<br><br>HTTP::: Click links below to perform the approval action on the request.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|800|R$'>Approve Request</a> without further review
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=HTTP|600|R$'>Reject Request</a> without further review
<br><br><a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>Review the Details</a> of the request in CA Service Catalog; afterwards you can approve or reject some or all of the requested items. <br> <br>Please wait for the confirmation message in your browser after performing the approval action.
<br><br>EMAIL::: Click links below to perform the approval action on the request.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|R|EmailApproved Request $request_id$|Approved Request $request_id$|$'>Approve Request</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|600|R|EmailRejected Request $request_id$|Rejected Request $request_id$|$'>Reject Request</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|S|EmailApproved Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)|Approved Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_name$)|$'>Approve Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|600|S|EmailRejected Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)|Rejected Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_name$)|$'>Reject Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>Review the Details</a> of the request in CA Service Catalog.
<br>Afterwards you can approve or reject some or all of the requested items.
<br><br>Please wait for the confirmation message in your browser after performing the approval action.

http://winx64:8083/usm/wpf?Node=icguinode.requestapproveconfirmmessage&Args=800|R|10156|-1

==========================================
$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|R|Subject |Body |$
$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|R|Approved Request $request_id$|Approved Request $request_name$|$'>Approve Request</a> without further review.
==================================================
<br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) for $req_for_user_id$ for service $offering_name$ has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>Please review this request by clicking <a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>here</a></br>$is_pda_enabled=$pda_enabled$$
<br><br>One or more items in the request $request_name$ ($request_id$) has been submitted to your approval queue.
<br>The summary of the request is included in this email.
<br><br>Click links below to perform the approval action on the request.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|800|SO|Approved Item in Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)|Approved Item in Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_name$)|$'>Approve Item in Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$UPDATE_STATUS_LINK=MAIL_TO|600|SO|Rejected Item in Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)|Rejected Item in Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_name$)|$'>Reject Item in Service ($offering_name$) in Request ($request_id$)</a> without further review.
<br><br><a href='$REQUEST_APPROVE_DETAILS$'>Review the Details</a> of the request in CA Service Catalog; afterwards you can approve or reject some or all of the requested items.
<br><br>Please wait for the confirmation message in your browser after performing the approval action.
<br>
========================================================

EMS -

The ports that are required to be open are the Ports that your Mail server are available on.  For instance we would need port 993 open to access outlook.office365.com, or Port 25 for sending mail.   Typically these are default ports that are opened for general accessibility and often do not need to be modified for Process Automation to work.

To begin with troubleshooting this,

Can you verify the connection to your mail server outside of Process Automation?     You can use Telnet to test this on the server the Process Automation Orchestrator is installed on. 

For example I tested with telnet against outlook.office365.com

Which will return a blank page waiting for further commands.

If it fails it will error immediately, here I have used the incorrect Port:

Once you have verified basic connectivity through telnet, you should then build a simple test process that uses the default email operators to test the sending, and receiving of emails.   The Get Email Count operator is a great one to use to test to verify mail server connectivity for reading emails as it does very little other than log into the mail server and check how many emails are in a specific folder.   Use the operator configurations to setup the connection instead of the global configuration tab settings.

When you run this test process, if there are problems, it will give an error message in the dataset of the instance run that should help correct the connection details, for instance in the following I provided an incorrect password when attempting to get an email count:

Here I pointed at a non-existent mail server, which would simulate a situation where the mail server is not accessable at the connection information specified:

And finally once you have established the connection and need to start getting details from specific emails, you can review the following knowledge document on using the Filters to get specific emails, or to get emails from specific time frames.

How to use the Message Filter Criteria to retrieve specific emails in the Mail Operators.
https://comm.support.ca.com/kb/how-to-use-the-message-filter-criteria-to-retrieve-specific-emails-in-the-mail-operators/kb000020101