Troubleshooting Approval emails

AR System Email Engine handles outgoing and incoming email messages for approval requests. If email-based approvals are not working, the Email Engine might be misconfigured.
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If you are unable to resolve issues with approval emails after following these guidelines, create a BMC Support case.

Issue symptoms

End users do not receive an email to approve a request.
Approval emails are submitted, but the approval does not occur.
Users receive an error when trying to submit an approval.
An error occurs when incoming emails are parsed and run.

Issue scope

One or more users experience the problem.
This problem impacts all the users.
In a Server Group environment, the symptoms could affect one or more servers.
This problem impacts all notification and email types.

Diagnosing and reporting an issue

Task	Action	Steps	Reference
1	Review the documentation.	Review the steps about setting up email-based approvals.	See Configuring email-based approvals
2	Review the mailbox configuration.	Check the AR System Email Mailbox Configuration form for the following configurations: Make sure that the associated mailboxes are configured properly. Make sure that an associated mailbox is selected for the incoming and outgoing mailboxes that will handle the email approvals. Make sure that the associated mailboxes are not disabled. For the incoming mailbox, on the Advanced Configuration tab, make sure that the Email Action parameter is set to Parse and Enable Modify Actions parameter is set to Yes. For the outgoing mailbox, make sure that the Delete Outgoing Notification Messages parameter is set to No.	NA
3	Review the Email Engine configuration.	For each Email Engine server, on the AR System Configuration Generic UI, make sure that the com.bmc.arsys.emaildaemon.SaveSentItem parameter is set to True. Important: If the com.bmc.arsys.emaildaemon.DelayDelete parameter is set to True, the Email Engine checks the following settings before it deletes a message: The Delete Outgoing Messages setting in the AR System Email Mailbox Configuration form is set to True. The email message has a Modify action. The approval is complete.	NA
4	Confirm that the configuration adheres to the recommendation described in the documentation.	Review the steps about setting up email-based approvals and c ustomizing approval emails.	See Configuring email-based approvals and Customizing notification messages
5	Review the user data.	In the User form or People form, make sure that no records exist with duplicate email addresses. Duplicate email addresses can cause an issue with approval emails. You can export a report to a CSV file and use Microsoft Excel to find duplicates. You can also ask your database administrator to look for duplicates. For example: To check the User form duplicates: select email_address, count(email_address) from user_x group by email_address having count(email_address) >1 To check the CTM:People form duplicates: select internet_e_mail, count(internet_e_mail) from ctm_people group by internet_e_mail having count(internet_e_mail) >1	NA
6	Confirm the Modify Key.	Check whether the Modify Key exists in the outgoing email message to the end user. If yes, make sure that the Modify Key is the same for outgoing and incoming approval emails. If no, confirm if: The Action: Modify setting exists in the outgoing email. The outgoing message is sent to multiple recipients. The outgoing email from mailbox has an associated incoming mailbox. Make sure that the template being used is correct. If the template has been modified, test it with an out-of-the-box template.	NA
7	Check the error message.	Look for the following errors: Authentication error – Make sure that the authentication method is set correctly in the Incoming Mailbox Configuration form record. Make sure that the user name or email address exists in the User form depending on how you have configured mailbox security. Modify Key error: Perform the steps in Task 6 Proceed to Task 9 See the following articles for the steps to enable Debug Logging: (Windows) - Debugging the BMC Remedy Email Engine on Windows (UNIX) - Debugging the BMC Remedy Email Engine on UNIX Approval error – check the Approval Server log for related messages.	NA
8	Review for content issues.	Look for the following content issues: Missing field data - Make sure that the email recipient has permission to the Form field. Check the AR System Email Messages form for the outgoing message. Open Advanced options and confirm that the field properties are populated correctly. If the properties are not populated correctly, enable API/SQL.Filter logging and proceed to Task 9.	NA
9	Enable logs.	Perform the following steps to enable the logs: Enable Email Engine logs in FINEST mode and API Recording log. Enable SQL/API/Filter on the server that is ranked 1 for Email Engine. Restart the rank 1 Email Engine and observe the logs until a problem occurs.	See Remedy Email Engine - How to enable Email Engine Logs in 9.x (including DEBUG mode) and ARAPILOGGING - How to enable Client Side API logging for Mid-Tier / developer studio / Email engine.
10	Reproduce the problem.	Perform the following steps to reproduce the issue: Create an outgoing approval request. When an end user receives an email, approve or reject the request, and submit it. Wait for the Email Engine polling interval or until a response is received by the email client.	NA
11	Disable logging.	To disable logging: For the Email Engine, set the FINEST mode to SEVERE. Disable SQL/AP{I/Filter logging. Tip : The email.log is a huge file with a lot of log entries. Collect the logs only from the time you encounter the problem.	See Remedy Email Engine - How to enable Email Engine Logs in 9.x (including DEBUG mode) and ARAPILOGGING - How to enable Client Side API logging for Mid-Tier / developer studio / Email engine.
12	Collect the logs.	The Email Engine logs are available at the following locations: (Windows): C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\AREmail\Logs (UNIX): /opt/bmc/ARSystem/AREmail/Logs The log files are overwritten every time the Email Engine services are run. Copy the log files to another location to review them for any errors that you encounter.	See Resolutions for common issues.
13	Create a BMC Support Case.	Collect and send logs and detailed information when you create a case with BMC Support. Provide the following information as part of your case: The time you performed the testing. Any error messages that you received. All the screenshots starting from Task 2. The email or a screenshot of the approval email received by the email client. The ARX file exported from AR System Email Messages form, which includes incoming and outgoing messages related to this issue. Attach a ZIP file containing the email.log and SQL/API/Filter logs to your case. You can attach a ZIP file of size up to 2 GB. You can also upload the file on FTP.	NA
14	Analyze the logs.	Review the logs to identify error messages or unexpected behaviors.	See Resolutions for common issues.

Resolutions for common issues

Symptom	Where	Action	Reference
Authentication error	Email response to email client	Make sure that the Authentication method is set correctly in the Incoming Mailbox Configuration form record. Make sure that the user name or email address exists in the User form depending on how you have configured the mailbox security.
Modify Key error	Email response to email client	Perform the steps in Task 4. Proceed to Task 7. Set the Email Engine in DEBUG mode.	See the following topics for information about debugging the Email Engine: (Windows): Debugging the BMC Remedy Email Engine on Windows. (UNIX): Debugging the BMC Remedy Email Engine on UNIX.
Decrypt/Checksum error 4931, 4932, 4933, 4934.	Email response to email client	Make sure that the Modify Key, Request ID, Server Name, and all incoming approval email content match the content in the outgoing message shown in the AR System Email Messages form.