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About Exchange Connector

The SSSE Exchange Connector is responsible for all communications between the PIMSI Engine and the Microsoft Exchange Server. The Exchange Connector reads from and writes to the Exchange Server mailboxes of all synchronization-enabled users. The method used by SSSE to provide Exchange Connector functionality varies according to the version of Microsoft Exchange Server that you are using:

• For Exchange Server 2010 implementations, SSSE Exchange Connector functionality is provided by a Web service Exchange Connector.
• For Exchange Server 2007 implementations, SSSE Exchange Connector functionality is provided by a DCOM Exchange Connector application.

If your implementation includes Microsoft Exchange 2010 servers and Microsoft Exchange 2007 servers, both types of Exchange Connectors must be enabled. For information on configuring the Exchange connectors, see Configuring Siebel Server Sync for Microsoft Exchange Server.

About the Web Service Exchange Connector

If you are using Microsoft Exchange 2010, SSSE Exchange Connector functionality is provided by the Siebel PIMSI Connector business service.

When a PIMSI engine synchronization task is initiated, the PIMSI Connector business service generates a new instance of the Web service Exchange Connector; this connector runs in the same address space as the PIMSI engine.

A dedicated connector is assigned to each PIMSI engine user synchronization task, for both initial extract synchronization processes and ongoing synchronization extract processes. The PIMSI Connector service issues Web service calls to transfer data between the PIMSI engine and the Exchange Server, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Synchronization Process With the Web Service Exchange Connector

About the DCOM Exchange Connector

The DCOM Exchange Connector is installed during the Siebel Server installation process. The Exchange Connector can reside on the same computer as the Siebel Server that hosts PIMSI Engine components, or it can reside on a separate computer. In a DCOM Exchange Connector environment, multiple PIMSI engines can interact with multiple Exchange Connectors at a time.

When a PIMSI engine synchronization task is initiated, a connection is made to a DCOM Exchange Connector. Each Exchange Connector processes a defined number of user synchronization requests and, once the number of users exceeds the defined limit, a new connector process is initiated to exchange data with the Exchange Server. The DCOM Exchange Connector process runs in a separate address space to the PIMSI Engine.

The DCOM Exchange Connector uses several APIs to communicate with Microsoft Exchange Server. As shown in Figure 3, the Exchange Connector currently uses Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), CDO, WebDAV and ADSI APIs.

Figure 3. Synchronization Process With the DCOM Exchange Connector