Exchange 2007 POP3/IMAP integration issues with Jira

[Greg Redl]

I have an open support ticket with Atlassian, and they suggested posting within this forum.

Background:

Jira 4.1.6 hosted on Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft Exchange 2007 Ent

I have followed the online instructions to allow Creating Issues and Comments from Email - http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA041/Creating+Issues+and+Comments+from+Email?from=sac_createissue. I am continuing to run into issues where authentication fails or it won't work at all:

JiraQuartzScheduler_Worker-1 ERROR ServiceRunner Create/Comment [service.services.mail.MailFetcherService] Create/Comment[10033]: Error connecting to host 'MAILSERVER' as user 'USER' via protocol 'pop3': javax.mail.AuthenticationFailedException: Command is not valid in this state.


Has anyone implemented this scenario? If so, how did you actually get it to work?

[Greg Redl · Accepted solution]

Below was the response I sent back to Atlassian support. Hopefully it will prevent someone else from going through the same configuration pains I experienced.

I decided some additional research on the subject was in order. I find it strange that in the 3+ years Exchange 2007 has been out that no one else has raised this issue with Atlassian after what I found. That being said, I strongly recommend that you add this to Atlassian's knowledge-base and online documentation to include this information as a warning to other potential integrators of this feature.

Exchange 2003 was the last version to support native MIME storage for POP3/IMAP, and Exchange 2007/2010 only supports this feature using the MAPI protocol. There are documented cases indicating Microsoft has been working on a bug fix since 2008 for it, but there's no indication a fix is coming any time soon. This would be why JIRA and Thunderbird are unable to determine the actual SMTP address it was delivered to as a result. Instead, they can only return the primary SMTP assigned to the account.

3rd party plugins, like JEMH, will not magically fix the issue. They also rely on the POP/IMAP handlers within JIRA to provide additional features to enhance the built-in service(s).

I assume that Atlassian leverages Oracle's JavaMail API to provide its current POP/IMAP features. This same API also allows the use of the MAPI protocol, and I'm amazed that Atlassian hasn't considered using it - http://java.sun.com/products/javamail/Third_Party.html. I'm sure a few other customers, other than myself, would benefit from the inclusion of this as Exchange 2003's extended support expires in 2014.

However, as you stated, the only way I can get the Create Comments and Tickets from Email to work for all my JIRA projects is to create 20+ mailbox accounts, 20+ JIRA mail servers, and 20+ JIRA services.

Reference sites include:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/exchangesvrtransport/thread/e4fd7752-e009-4224-bfc8-e7e328ea9fcf/
http://forums.msexchange.org/m_1800529588/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm#1800529604
http://forums.msexchange.org/m_1800445998/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm#1800449573

As a result, I then had to determine what JIRA projects were absolutely necessary to have this feature included. In the end, 6 individual mailboxes, JIRA POP/IMAP mail servers, and POP/IMAP services were created - making an administration nightmare. Since opening my support ticket 1 month ago, I now have the Create Issues and Comments from Email feature working, and my ticket was closed as a "Feature Request".

[Greg Redl]

So I've installed JIRA 4.4.1 in a clean environment and reattempted. The new version allows me to test the mail server connection for the primary email account jira@company.com, so at least I know this part is working. However, the service does not pick up any emails and include them as either new tickets or comment updates.

I am using SMTP aliases for my JIRA projects, all within the primary account used to setup the working POP/IMAP mail server. Below is my handler parameter:

project=ITO, issuetype=1, catchemail=jira-ito@company.com, createusers=false, bulk=forward

My log files now indicate:

2011-09-16 08:35:20,264 QuartzWorker-1 DEBUG ServiceRunner    Create/Comment - ITO [service.services.mail.MailFetcherService] Create/Comment - ITO[10100]: There are 4 messages in the pop3 folder
2011-09-16 08:35:20,498 QuartzWorker-1 DEBUG ServiceRunner    Create/Comment - ITO [service.services.mail.MailFetcherService] Message Subject: New Jira Testing ticket creation
2011-09-16 08:35:20,498 QuartzWorker-1 DEBUG ServiceRunner    Create/Comment - ITO [service.services.mail.MailFetcherService] Message-ID: <F212EA479BB09045BAD1FA864E5906391B082B9D18@mailserver.company.local>
2011-09-16 08:35:20,498 QuartzWorker-1 DEBUG ServiceRunner    Create/Comment - ITO [service.util.handler.AbstractMessageHandler] Cannot handle message as the recipient(s) (jira@company.com) do not match the catch email jira-ito@company.com
2011-09-16 08:35:20,498 QuartzWorker-1 DEBUG ServiceRunner    Create/Comment - ITO [service.util.handler.CreateOrCommentHandler] Cannot handle message 'New Jira Testing ticket creation'.

So, it sees that there are 4 messages in the POP account. The catchemail alias does not appear to be associating with the POP/IMAP mail server account; wheres, the instructions online indicate this can be used.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Greg Redl]

So I've installed JIRA 4.4.1 in a clean environment and reattempted. The new version allows me to test the mail server connection for the primary email account jira@company.com, so at least I know this part is working. However, the service does not pick up any emails and include them as either new tickets or comment updates.

I am using SMTP aliases for my JIRA projects, all within the primary account used to setup the working POP/IMAP mail server. Below is my handler parameter:

project=ITO, issuetype=1, catchemail=jira-ito@company.com, createusers=false, bulk=forward

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Tim Eddelbüttel]

Hello,
in one Jira project we use POP3 integration with Exchange 2007 as mail server.
It works fine for us.
In the username we don't need to specifiy the user1@domail.com. You only need user1.

Are you sure, that the POP3/IMAP Service is activated for this mailbox by your Exchange Administrator?
In our enviroment it's deactivated for all user and will be activated if there is a need for this.

Regards,
Tim

[Greg Redl]

Tim,

I am also the Exchange admin and found that I needed to change the authentication method to PlainText. I did have it working for 2 days and then it stopped. I have not been able to get it back working since.

I originally had the username as user like you did, but could never get it to work. With Atlassian support assistance, I reconfigured the Jira mail server account using FQDN and username in the Pre-Windows 2000 format of user@domain.local, and that got it working in the first place. Not 2 days later did it stop working :(

I have blown away and readded my config a few dozen times, all with the same result - "Command is not valid in this state" messages in the logs. I am only starting out with one project, but would like to alias additional projects with the one Exchange account using the catchemail parameter.

I have also tried IMAP, using the additional startup parameters, but continue to have certificate issues.