RouteBySender for Exchange 2013/2016/2019

Purpose

Exchange server natively does not provide any option on the Send Connectors or Transport rules to set sender based routing.
RouteBySender application allows you to route outgoing emails based on the following parameters:

• if a sender is a member of the marked group
• if a sender is NOT a member of the marked group
• combination of the sender’s and recipient’s domains
• size of the message
• Subject line value

Typical scenario of usage

Let’s assume that your Exchange organization has only one send connector “Internet Connector” using DNS for the address space *. All messages leaving the organization will use this connector. Let’s further assume that you want to route messages from members of a certain group to a smart host instead of using DNS. RouteBySender utility will help you to solve this problem.

Also this program can help if you have a requirement for some users to send their mail to a specific smart host to get delivered across a secure network.

It might be useful for local authorities needed to comply with strict mail routing rules for COCO and Government Connect policies to run this utility.

The application is a transport agent for Exchange server.

Current version: 1.0.0.36

Installation

On your Exchange 2013/2016/2019 Mailbox server computer:

1. Select (or create) a user account that is a member of the local Administrators, Domain Admins and Domain Users security groups.
2. Log on locally as that user.
3. Create C:\Program Files\IvaSoft\RouteBySender\ directory and download there RouteBySender2013-Demo.zip archive file.
4. Right-click RouteBySender2013-Demo.zip and select ‘Properties’. If there is ‘Unblock’ button, hit it.

1. Extract all files to C:\Program Files\IvaSoft\RouteBySender\ directory.
2. Run RouteBySenderSetup.exe. Click Install button [1]. Make sure that RouteBySender is appeared in the list of Transport agents [2]. Click Enable button [3]. Make sure that Running mark is in the status line [4].

1. Click “Send Connectors” button [1]. “RouteBySender setup – Send Connectors” window will appear. Click “New” button [2]. Now “New Send Connector” window will appear with pre-populated Name and Address Space fields. Place IP Address or Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the smart host to appropriate field [3]. Click OK [4]. Make sure that new send connector is in the list. Click OK [5] to close “RouteBySender setup – Send Connectors” window.
   Click Exit button to close the program.
2. [OPTIONAL] Run Exchange admin center and navigate to mail flow and then to send connectors. Select the send connector you have just created and click Edit.
   Now you can change authentication method and source server parameters.
   
   PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE PREDEFINED ADDRESS SPACE.
   In particular, DO NOT PLACE ASTERICKS AND POINTS (e.g. *.ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID}) THERE!
3. [OPTIONAL] Test the send connector you have just created. To do that run Exchange admin center and navigate to mail flow and then to send connectors. Select the send connector you have just created and click Edit. Select scoping.
   Select predefined address space value (“ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID}”) located in the “*Full Qualified Domain Name (FQDN):” field and save it to a temporary text file. Now set the address space to yahoo.com.
   
   Click save button to close the Address Space – Webpage Dialog window. Click save button to close the Exchange Send Connector window. Now try to send a test e-mail to [email protected] Make sure it is delivered properly. After that return the address space back to “ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID}”.

Testing

Let’s assume that your default SMTP address is [email protected]

1. Run RouteBySenderSetup.exe. Click “Add” button [1]. “RouteBySender setup – Add New rule” window will appear. Place domain.com to “If Sender’s E-mail domain is:” field and select “is any domain” radio button [2]. Click Browse button [3]. “RouteBySender setup – Send Connectors” will appear. Select “ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID}” from the “Send Connectors” list. Click OK to close the window. Make sure that the first field in “Use this Send Connector” frame is populated with ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID} [4].

 

Click OK to save changes [5].

1. Open Outlook and create a new e-mail message to any external address. Send this message. Make sure that messages is routed to smart host associated with ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID} Sender connector.
2. Run the Exchange Management Console and navigate to Recipient Configuration > Distribution Group. Create a new distribution group named testroutebysendergroup and add yourself into this group.
3. Run RouteBySenderSetup.exe and clear all items in the second frame by clicking “Delete All” button [1]. Click “Add” button in the third frame [2].
   
   
4. “RouteBySender setup – Add new rule” window will appear. Click Browse button in “If sender is a member of this group:” frame [1]. “RouteBySender setup – Add groups” will appear. Select testroutebysendergroup from the list. Make sure you are a member if this group by clicking Members button. Click OK to close the window. Make sure that the one-row table in the first frame is now populated with testroutebysendergroup data [2]. Now click Browse button in “Use this Send Connector:” frame [3]. “RouteBySender setup – Send Connectors” will appear. Select ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID} from the “Send Connectors” list. Click OK to close the window. Make sure that the topmost field in “Use this Send Connector” frame is populated with ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID} [4].
   
    
   
   Click OK to save changes [5].
   
   
5. Open Outlook again and create a new e-mail message to any external address. Send this message. Make sure that messages is routed to smart host associated with ROUTEBYSENDER{GUID} Send connector.

We have tested RouteBySender on Exchange 2013 CU20, on Exchange 2016 CU10 and on Exchange 2019 CU1 server.
In all cases it was a single server that plays Client Access and Mailbox roles.

Uninstallation

Run RouteBySenderSetup.exe. Click Uninstall button. Make sure that RouteBySender is not in the list of Transport agents. Click Exit button to close the program.

About this demo version.RouteBySender demo version adds “[RouteBySender DEMO]” to the Subject line of each message re-routed.

F.A.Q.

Q. I am having trouble getting the program to work. When I enable the transport agent, I get 1052 and 16023 errors in Event Viewer and the Transport service will not stay running.
A. Exchange uses the Network Service account for the Transport Service credentials and it seems this account didn’t get security permissions to RouteBySender program folder. Try to add Network Service account read permissions to that folder.

Q. I am about to purchase this product but I wondering regarding updates/patches. What are the policies regarding updates? Do you provide them freely or as a purchase?
A. As a registered user, you will get free updates for one year from the date of purchase.
Once the new version is ready, this information will be e-mailed to all registered users. We will send updates via e-mail to those who request them.

Q.  I have already ordered your software and want to view data relating to my order.
A.  Just visit our Customer Care Center.