Using GFI products in non-spec environments and technical support stance in regard of special topics ( ONLY)

Answer

This article discusses GFI Software's stance when GFI products are being used in a non-spec environment, for example:

Non-spec environments, incl. but not limited to:

• Terminal server environments
• Citrix environments
• More complex Active Directory environments (incl. multi-AD-domain and multi-AD-forest environments or Microsoft Exchange resource forests)

Furthermore, it discusses certain special topics, incl. but not limited to:

• Additional scripts and tools available for GFI Archiver
• GFI Archiver's WebServices API
• Publishing GFI MailEssentials or GFI Archiver to the Internet
• Issues caused by 3rd parties (incl. Microsoft Exchange) which are outside of the control of GFI Software

Non-spec environments

Our Quality Assurance (QA) department is testing the GFI products on a wide range of environments which aligns with the product requirements published in the product documentation and the product web pages. But it is impossible to test the product on each and every possible environment, therefore QA is focusing on environments which are most common across the product's main customer base of small to medium sized businesses.

If problems arise in such a non-spec environment the GFI technical support team will try to analyze the situation and provide assistance based on a best-efforts basis. Depending on the situation GFI Software might cater for certain situations by creating patches and/or implementing changes in future versions, or deem the situation unsupported.

Based on above, GFI Software cannot guarantee that the product works completely without problems in each and every environment. Therefore it is very important to extensively evaluate the product before purchasing it; preferably in the production environment under real conditions or in a test environment with the same specs.

As an example, the GFI Archiver server installation nor its client side components are not tested on Citrix environments. On the other hand, GFI Software is aware that some customers run the Outlook Connector and Archive Assistant successfully in Citrix environments.

GFI FaxMaker is interfacing with third parties like analogue modems, SMS modems, ISDN cards and FoIP gateways. A wide range of devices have been tested with GFI FaxMaker and those devices have been summarized and published in an official maintained support list. Devices which are not listed might be fully operable with GFI FaxMaker, however any issues that arise from such devices may fall outside of the scope of GFI Software.

Example: Customer is evaluating a GSM SMS modem with GFI FaxMaker. The GSM SMS device is not on our supported device list. SMS can be sent, but not received. Although the GSM SMS modem is not supported, Technical Support will investigate whether 

• the current settings of GFI FaxMaker are configured correctly to receive inbound SMS,
• the SMS arrives on the GSM SMS modem,
• the GSM SMS device notifies the GSM SMS modem about new inbound SMS,
• GFI FaxMaker downloads the SMS from the GSM SMS modem and
• the SMS email message is being routed to the designated mailbox of the user

If the finding indicates that the issue is caused solely by the unsupported GSM SMS device, Technical Support will consult the Product Specialist and ask for his / her opinion. If further investigations are required and there is a likelihood that our developers will be able to rectify the issue with a hotfix, the case will be escalated to the Product Specialist. Otherwise, the customer will be advised to replace the GSM SMS device with the one from our supported device list..

Special topics

Technical support for the product in regard certain topics or areas of the product are limited and fall outside of the scope of GFI Software. These incl. but are not limited to:

Additional scripts and tools available for GFI Archiver
A range of scripts and tools exist for GFI Archiver which are not bundled with an installation (e.g. deletion scripts or a tool to remove orphaned bix-files). Each tool and script that is tested and released for a specific build will contain the build number in the readme.txt that is bundled with it and it must not be used against a build that it was not tested against. These scripts and tools are advanced and normally require at least basic knowledge of Microsoft SQL. For example, most scripts require knowledge on how to run an SQL script using the Microsoft SQL Management Studio and edit certain parts of the scripts e.g. to enter a user name. Their target audience is a technical person. GFI technical support should aim to assist customers using such scripts and tools, explain the general functionality and aim of a script or tool, but avoid running them themselves for the customer unless there is a valid reason in doing so. It is important to note that a backup should always be created before running any script or tool.

GFI Archiver's WebServices API
The product provides an API and a manual explaining how to make use of it. The GFI technical support team will answer questions regarding the API on a best-effort basis. On a general basis, GFI technical support is limited in regard of this topic, for example the GFI technical support team will not assist with or analyze user side code implementations.

Publishing GFI MailEssentials or GFI Archiver to the Internet
Making GFI MailEssentials or GFI Archiver available via the Internet is possible in general, but a main factor is the network configuration of the environment which is highly individual. Note that assistance by the GFI technical support team in regard of this topic is limited as network configuration falls outside of the scope of GFI.

Issues caused by 3rd parties (incl. Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server or the network in general) which are outside of the control of GFI Software
If the GFI technical support team identifies a 3rd party entity to be responsible for an issue in a GFI product we will offer assistance on a best-efforts basis, but assistance provided by the GFI technical support team is limited.

Example: Let us assume a situation in which GFI Archiver does not archive any emails for one particular user, but emails for all other users are archived without problems. Troubleshooting the situation reveals that Microsoft Exchange does not create a copy of emails for UserA in the journal mailbox. It is clear at this point that the root cause is located outside of GFI Archiver. In such a situation the GFI technical support team will explain the findings and also try to find an obvious cause on the Microsoft Exchange side on a best-efforts basis. But GFI Software does not offer full technical support for 3rd party entities and assistance at this point might be limited.

Usage of WPAD within GFI WebMonitor
One of the methods used to publish the proxy is the Web Proxy Autodiscovery Protocol (WPAD). It is a method used by clients (e.g. a browser) to locate a configuration file containing proxy settings using DHCP and/or DNS discovery methods. GFI technical support can help to troubleshoot common issues in relation to WPAD, but we not offer to customize the configuration file itself. WPAD is very dependent on the network configuration and we will provide technical support on a best-efforts basis, but assistance provided by the GFI technical support team is limited.

Processing syslog and SNMP in GFI EventsManager
Supported Network Devices for Syslog and SNMP collection. GFI EventsManager can collect and process events from any device or operating system that creates Syslog and SNMP logs and are forwarded to GFI EventsManager server. These events must be compliant to the relevant Syslog and SNMP RFCs. GFI technical support does not offer support or guidance on how to configure such Syslog or SNMP devices.

Creating custom schemata to process syslog events or events based on text based files
Processing of syslog and text files based events is governed by parsing schemata. GFI EventsManager contains schemata for common data like W3C logs. If it is desired to process data which cannot be parsed using the schemata GFI EventsManager ships with custom schemata can be created. This requires extensive knowledge of GFI EventsManager, the source data and regular expressions. GFI technical support does assist explaining the basics of creating such custom schemata, but we do not offer to create a schema based on example data, customize it or guarantee that any data format can be processed. Assistance provided by the GFI technical support team is limited in relation to this topic.

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