Resolve User ID Conflicts
The system uses the Microsoft Exchange LegacyDN as a unique user identifier when processing mail. When moving users between Administrative Groups or Exchange Organizations, the Exchange LegacyDN may change. To ensure that retained mail remains associated with a user as the LegacyDN changes, the SyncManager checks for multiple instances of the same primary email address on each directory sync.
When SyncManager encounters more than one instance of a primary email address, Aurea Messaging Solutions sends out a notification to persons to the fault notifications recipients.
In most cases, the instances of the primary email address refer to the same, single end user, and by resolving the conflict, you ensure that mail collected for the first instance is associated with the second instance.
NOTE
When the same primary email address belongs to two different users, you must assign a new primary email address to either one of the users. For example: user Joe Smith (jsmith@organization.org) left the organization, but his mail was still subject to retention policies. A year later, you hired Jill Smith, and assigned the email address jsmith@organization.org. SyncManager would detect the conflict, but you would not want to resolve it using the methods described here, as that would associate Joe’s retained mail with Jill’s new mail. Instead, you must assign a new primary email address to either Joe or Jill.
The system offers multiple ways to resolve such conflicts. Root-level administrators can configure the system to resolve them automatically using certain criteria (see Resolve User ID Conflicts Automatically) and Super Administrators and Continuity Administrators can resolve conflicts manually using the processes described under Resolve User ID Conflicts Manually.
Resolve User ID Conflicts Automatically
In some situations, such as when you are transitioning from one server version to another where only one Administrator category is permitted, SyncManager may detect high numbers of user ID conflicts. You can choose to have administrators resolve conflicts manually, or you can configure the system to handle them automatically using various criteria. There are four separate options for resolving user ID conflicts:
- Manual resolution: This is the default setting, and requires that all user ID conflicts must be resolved manually by an AMS administrator. See Resolve User ID Conflicts Manually.
- Primary email address: If the primary email address is the same, the users are determined to be the same person, and the conflict is resolved.
- All Emails: All aliases in the mailbox of first instance of the user ID are also present in the second instance of the user ID. The second instance can have additional aliases associated with it, but all of the first instance ones must be there. If only some or most are present, the action fails and an administrator must resolve the conflict manually.
- Active Directory Attribute: Choose a custom or default attribute from Active Directory to confirm that the users identified as having IDs in conflict are the same person. Examples are User ID, phone number, or cell phone number. This attribute can be set from the System Settings menu, see Configure the system-wide method for resolving user ID conflicts.
Resolve User ID Conflicts Manually
Super Administrators and Administrators can resolve conflicts manually using the processes described in this section.
Resolving multiple user ID conflicts using CSV upload
If you are doing a planned migration of users, and anticipate many user ID conflicts, you can prepare a spreadsheet identifying the users and upload it to the system. When the spreadsheet is uploaded, the conflicts are resolved after the next Directory sync.
Prepare a CSV file in the following format:
|
Primary Email Address |
New Exchange Legacy DN |
|
suzy@lab104.organization.org |
/o=E2K7-Lab104/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=suzy |
- From the AMS Admin Console, click User Administration.
- Click User Conflicts.
- In the Upload user resolution information section, click Browse, then select the CSV file.
- Click Submit.
NOTE
Changes uploaded by CSV go into effect after the next directory sync. You may want to perform a manual sync to have the changes take place as soon as possible.
Resolving user ID conflicts individually
Each instance of duplicate primary address information encountered by the SyncManager is provided. For each instance in the list, you can determine whether the email addresses belong to the same user, and if so, resolve them.
- In the Resolving User ID Conflicts Individually section, identify a user and, in the Resolve User column, click Details.
- Both instances of the primary email address are provided, along with the Exchange Legacy DN value.
- For the user, select one of the following:
- I am unsure whether these are the same user. Keep these addresses in a conflict state until I find more information.
- These addresses belong to the same user. Resolve the conflict, and store all mail together for this user in the system.
- These addresses belong to different users. The first instance will be deleted, and only mail for the second instance will be retained as of the next directory sync.
- These addresses belong to different users. I must create a new primary email address for one of the users. Remove this conflict from the list, but do not create new directory information until the next sync.
- Click Submit.
- If you chose to resolve the conflict, the user appears in the Users Resolved section. To delete the user from the list, click Remove.