SynergyExchange.exe - Background Process
Background Job: BLProcess.exe
Introduction
The SynergyExchange.exe background job allows you to replicate appointments
from the calendar in e-Synergy to the calendar in Outlook and vice versa. This
means that appointments only have to be entered once, either in e-Synergy or in
MS Outlook, but are visible in both programs. So when a company is already
working with MS Outlook for registration of appointments this could be
continues, the replication makes sure the appointments are shown in e-Synergy as
well.
Technical Information
Tables involved when running SynergyExchange:
- humres
- BacoSettings
- Absences
When SynergyExchange runs it checks which resources have the flag for
synchronization on. This is checked in the table 'humres' where the field
SynchronizeExchange indicated whether the calendar of the resource needs to be
synchronized. The value '1' means synchronization needs to be done and the value
'0' indicated no synchronization needs to take place.
In the table BacoSettings SynergyExchange checks whether the resource has
specified additional request types to be synchronized to Exchange. By default
all request types that have the option 'Calendar' checked in the request
definition will be synchronized to Exchange. Via their calendar > customize each
user can add certain request types which will be synchronized for them as shown
in the screenshot below.
Depending on the direction set for synchronization SynergyExchange will
create activities in Outlook for all selected request types. When
synchronization is done in both directions also activities from Outlook will be
created as the selection request type in e-Synergy.
When using the SynergyExchange background application there are three
mandatory parameters which need to be included in the command line of the job.
These are the standard parameters /S: and /D: and /E:. The /E parameter
indicates the name of the Exchange server. Next to these mandatory parameters
there a number of optional parameters:
- /M:0 (or no /M setting) - default, still stop
after 10 login fails
- /M:1 - still report login fails, but do not stop
after 10
- /M:2 - do not report login fails, do not stop after
10
- /L: - this parameter is used to create an
extensive logfile. The logfile must exist on the server and after /L: the
location of this file must be specified
- /R: - this parameter is mainly for
testing purposes, but it allows you to run the exchange synchronization for
only one specific user. Just fill in the user's synergy ID after the /R:
- /Z: - this parameter is
mainly for testing purposes, but it allows you to run the exchange
synchronization with the exclusion of specific users. Just fill in the user's
synergy ID's after the /Z:
- /A: - this parameter specifies
whether there is one or multiple exchange servers. /A:0 means one server and
is the default and /A:1 means multiple servers.
An example of the command line for SynergyExchange would look like this:
- C:\Synergy\bin\SynergyExchange.exe /S:Server1 /D:001 /E:Server2 /M:0
/R:1 /L:C:\SynExchangeLog.txt
Settings e-Synergy
Each employee can decide whether he or she wants to synchronize his/her
calendar with MS Outlook. This done via a setting on the employee's own resource
card as shown in the screenshot below.
More extensive settings for the synchronization between e-Synergy and MS
Outlook can be found via the user's calendar. In the top right corner there is a
link available 'Customize'. After clicking this link you will see the screen
below.
In this screen you can choose to synchronize your contact persons from
e-Synergy to Outlook or vice versa. The first time SynergyExchange runs it will
only synchronize contact persons from e-Synergy to Outlook. Only the contact
persons of which you are account manager will be synchronized. When something
changes for the contact persons in Outlook those changes will also be applied in
e-Synergy. Contact persons which were already created in Outlook will not be
synchronized to e-Synergy as they might be private contact persons. More
information about synchronizing contact persons can be found in the
release notes of this functionality. It is advised to leave the option to
synchronize contact persons unchecked. There are some unresolved issues with
this functionality which may cause SynergyExchange to not function properly. For
now we advise to only synchronize calendars with Outlook.
In e-Synergy each user can indicate whether appointments need to be
synchronized with their Outlook calendar. The administrator in e-Synergy can
setup which type of request needs to be created when a 'activity' is imported
from Exchange. This can be done via [System > Maintenance > Settings - General >
Calender] as shown in the screenshot below. Also the administrator can setup the
range used for synchronizing appointments from Exchange to e-Synergy.
In the screenshot above e-Synergy is setup to create
requests of the type 'Appointment' when activities are imported from Outlook.
More information about this screen can be found in this document: Calendar:
Settings for e-Synergy/Exchange synchronization.
Next to the settings in e-Synergy there are also
settings which need to be checked on the Exchange server via the Exchange System
Manager. The settings that need to be checked on the Exchange server are
described in this document: How
to configure the Synergy Exchange replication.
Troubleshooting
When running the SynergyExchange background job you can check the results via
[System > Reports > Log > Processes]. In this overview all log entries for the
background jobs are shown. These log entries might contain error messages when
something goes wrong with the background job. There are a few error messages
which are known by Exact and which are caused by wrong settings either in
e-Synergy or on the server itself. Those messages are explained in this section.
"Failed to logoff from mailbox of
[username]. Error code = -2147417848, error text = Method '~' of object '~'
failed" - This error message could be caused by an old version of the file
CDO.dll. In that case the solution is to update this file according to the instructions
in this
technote.
"Failed to logon to mailbox of synadmin.
Error code = -2147221233, error text = [Collaboration Data Objects -
[MAPI_E_NOT_FOUND(8004010F)]] "
- This error message is often caused by insufficient rights for the user that is
running the SQL Server Agent on the Exchange server. That user needs to have
full access to the server in order to update and create appointments.
"Failed to process calendar for jvg: Error
in ProcessContacts" - This error message is caused by turning on
synchronization of contacts. This functionality is not yet supported by Exact
because of instabilities in this application. This means that synchronizing of
contact persons should not be turned on.
Rejecting appointments
You can
create an appointment in e-Synergy and SynergyExchange will synchronize
them to Outlook. When you reject them in e-Synergy they are supposed to be
deleted from Outlook as well. In some cases the bias between UTC time and
regular time on the SQL server might come into play though. With the following
queries the bias can be found:
SELECT GETDATE()
SELECT GETUTCDATE()
In most cases this bias will
be 60 minutes which means that you should wait at least 60 minutes to reject the
appointment. Only then the appointment will be deleted from your Outlook
calendar as well. This is because of the following check:
msg.TimeLastModified
< DateAdd("n", -serverBias, LastModifiedTime)
With the date
filled out the check would look like this:
CDate("15-11-2005
10:24:16") < DateAdd("n", -60 ,CDate("15-11-2005 10:26:18"))
Active directory issue
There might be a situation where
the SQL Server and IIS are located on different servers. This means e-Synergy is
installed on server1 (the server with IIS) and the database is located on
server2 (with SQL). Due to other software programs server2 might not be known in
the Active Directory, so both servers can't see each other. This could lead to
problems with some background jobs including SynergyExchange.exe. This can be
solved by registering the instance of the SQL server to the Active Directory.
Registering the instance is done via the Enterprise Manager by selecting the
properties of the instance you would like to register. The screenshot below
shows which setting needs to set.
Related Topics
Main Category: |
Support Product Know How |
Document Type: |
Support - On-line help |
Category: |
On-line help files |
Security level: |
All - 0 |
Sub category: |
General |
Document ID: |
08.904.534 |
Assortment: |
Exact Synergy
|
Date: |
16-03-2017 |
Release: |
|
Attachment: |
|
Disclaimer |