Phased rolloutThis documentation supports the 23.3 version of BMC Helix Business Workflows.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Detecting email loops


An email loop occurs when multiple emails are exchanged between two systems, such as two BMC Helix Business Workflows systems, or between an internal and external system, in a specific time limit. By default, parameters are configured with a default value to detect email loop. When an email loop is detected, an email is automatically sent to the administrator and incoming emails from the sender are automatically blocked.

Parameters for detecting email loop

The following parameters are used to detect email loop:

Parameter

Description

Default value

EMAIL_LOOP_TIME_INTERVAL_IN_MINUTES

Interval of time allowed between two incoming emails. If email threshold is reached in this time interval, an email loop is detected.

10 minutes

EMAIL_LOOP_NO_OF_EMAILS_THRESHOLD

Number of emails that are allowed in the defined time interval. If this value exceeds, an email loop is detected.

10

Example

The following image shows an example of an email loop:

2105_EmailLoop.gif

The default value (10) for the email loop parameters is not changed for the Calbro Services company. In 10 minutes, 15 emails are received from a particular external ID for Calbro Services. The system detects that the number of emails has exceeded the default threshold. A warning email notification is automatically sent to the administrator and further emails are blocked.

To set the time interval and email threshold for email loops

  1. As an administrator, log in to BMC Helix Business Workflows.
  2. Select Application Configuration > Common Configurations.
  3. Select the company for which you want to define the time interval and email threshold.
  4. Click EMAIL_LOOP_TIME_INTERVAL_IN_MINUTES.
  5. Specify Configuration Value.
    The default value is 10. If you do not want to detect email loop in your setup, set the value to 0.
  6. Click Save.
  7. Click EMAIL_LOOP_NO_OF_EMAILS_THRESHOLD.
  8. Specify Configuration Value.
    The default value is 10.
  9. Click Save.

Results

When an email loop is detected, the email ID of the sender is blocked. You can review the emails that are received from the sender to understand if any action needs to be taken. You can then unblock the email ID by removing it from the blocked list.

 

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