Send/Receive Email via webMethods Integration

[Mubarik]

Hi Folks
I want to integrate webMethods Integration server (10.11 free trial) with some email server (e.g. company’s email server) so that we may send or receive emails via webMethods Integration server.

Is there any document or Tech Community post etc that you may recommend me as a quick reference? so that I may learn how to send/receive emails via webMethods IS?

Thanks

[reamon]

pub.client:smtp to send mail.

Create a webMethods/Email port to poll for incoming email.

We use the smtp service for notifications to people only (errors and sometimes success). Never for automated integration.

We have used the email port in the past for automated integrations but have abandoned that.

I would strongly encourage the use of something else for transport. Email is not reliable enough for automation and you have no visibility.

[Mubarik]

Hello Reamon

Thanks for your response.

You mentioned that you use smtp service for notifications. When you say smtp service, do you mean any external (to webMethods) service (like WCF, REST or webservice etc) that has email send/receive functionality and you are just invoking or consuming that external service inside your flow service or java service to send/receive email?

Please comment.

Thanks

[reamon]

I mean calls to an SMTP server. In our case, our corporate mail server that support SMTP. I am not aware of any components in Integration Server that will accept an SMTP exchange directly.

For receiving mail For retrieving email from an inbox, you define a port in IS Administrator. That port definition identifies the POP3/IMAP host and the account to use to connect to it. The account would be the owner of the POP3/IMAP mailbox to which email is delivered by whatever email infrastructure you have. This port will poll the email inbox every interval that you define. For each mail item it finds, it can dispatch it to an IS service that you define. There are several options for handling these. Refer to the documentation for details.

I would once again advise that even though this is doable, you likely want to consider other transport mechanisms.

Can you share more about what is leading you down this path?

[Mubarik]

Hi Reamon

I would be glad to explain what is leading us down this path.

Actually we are doing POC for a client. And one of the client’s requirements is webMethod’s integration with Email/smtp server.

If we can’t do send/receive (both) then at least sending email via webMethods is something that we need to quickly implement locally and then confirm back to client with item doable/completed comment.

Neither client nor we knew much about webMethods ability to send/receive emails (because both we and client are new to webMethods ) and hence that’s why I initiated this thread to get some direction or knowledge from Tech Community about if and how we can integrate IS with Email server?

Thanks

[Sonam_Chauhan]

Further to what Rob Eamon said, you must configure the Integration Server, then write webMethods Flow code to send and retrieve emails. These documentation resources should help.

Retrieve emails spooled on an email server account (via IMAP or POP protocols):
https://documentation.softwareag.com/webmethods/microservices_container/msc10-5/10-5_MSC_PIE_webhelp/index.html#page/integration-server-integrated-webhelp/to-configure_ports_22.html

Send emails outbound (via SMTP protocol):
https://documentation.softwareag.com/webmethods/microservices_container/msc10-5/10-5_MSC_PIE_webhelp/index.html#page/integration-server-integrated-webhelp/pub_client_smtp.html

[reamon]

@Mubarik

client’s requirements is webMethod’s integration with Email/smtp server

Sure, it is established that there is a desire to send/receive data – using email for some reason. Why email? What is the process that would use email doing?

Email is not typically used for automated integrations. It can be (there are even some standards defined for doing so for EDI) but in general it is not. Other transports provide capabilities that email cannot.

If you just need to indicate that wM IS can interact with SMTP or read emails from an inbox (created for this purpose), you can say “yes it can” right now. It takes a bit of set up and some development of FLOW services but it definitely can send emails (with attachments) via SFTP, and can read emails from a POP3- or IMAP-capable server inbox and process them in some way.

If by “POC” you mean “learn how to” the URLs to the docs that @Sonam_Chauhan shared are the place to start.

At the risk of being repetitive, don’t do this if at all possible. The one scenario where email is appropriate is sending email notifications to people about failed (or successful) activity within an integration hosted on wM IS. If notifying people is what the client is after, then certainly pursue that. But if they intend to use email for data transport, try to avoid that.

[Mubarik]

Thank you Reamon & Sonam for your valuable suggestions & feedback. I appreciate.

I was able to send email using smtp client and I agree with you Reamon that email should be used for notifications only and not for data transport.

Thanks