Elastic Outlook connector reference

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Elastic Outlook connector reference

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The Elastic Outlook connector is built with the Elastic connector framework and is available as a self-managed connector client.

Availability and prerequisites

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This connector is available as a self-managed connector client. To use this connector, satisfy all connector client prerequisites.

This connector is in technical preview and is subject to change. The design and code is less mature than official GA features and is being provided as-is with no warranties. Technical preview features are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features.

Usage

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To use this connector as a connector client, use the Outlook tile from the connectors list OR Customized connector workflow.

For additional operations, see Using connectors.

Connecting to Outlook

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Outlook connector supports both cloud (Office365 Outlook) and on-premises (Exchange Server) platforms.

Connect to Exchange Server

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In order to connect to Exchange server, the connector fetches Active Directory users with the help of ldap3 python library.

Connect to Office365 Outlook (Outlook Cloud)

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To integrate with the Outlook connector using Azure, follow these steps to create and configure an Azure application:

  1. Navigate to the Azure Portal and log in using your credentials.
  2. Click on App registrations to register a new application.
  3. Navigate to the Overview tab. Make a note of the Client ID and Tenant ID.
  4. Click on the Certificates & secrets tab and create a new client secret. Keep this secret handy.
  5. Go to the API permissions tab.

    • Click on "Add permissions."
    • Choose "APIs my organization uses."
    • Search for and select "Office 365 Exchange Online."
    • Add the full_access_as_app application permission.

You can now use the Client ID, Tenant ID, and Client Secret you’ve noted to configure the Outlook connector.

Configuration

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Outlook data source
(required) Dropdown to determine Outlook platform type: outlook_cloud or outlook_server. Default value is outlook_cloud.
Tenant ID
(required if data source is outlook_cloud) The Tenant ID for the Azure account hosting the Outlook instance.
Client ID
(required if data source is outlook_cloud) The Client ID to authenticate with Outlook instance.
Client Secret Value
(required if data source is outlook_cloud) The Client Secret value to authenticate with Outlook instance.
Exchange Server
(required if data source is outlook_server) IP address to connect with Exchange server. Example: 127.0.0.1
Active Directory Server
(required if data source is outlook_server) IP address to fetch users from Exchange Active Directory to fetch data. Example: 127.0.0.1
Exchange server username
(required if data source is outlook_server) Username to authenticate with Exchange server.
Exchange server password
(required if data source is outlook_server) Password to authenticate with Exchange server.
Exchange server domain name
(required if data source is outlook_server) Domain name for Exchange server users such as gmail.com or exchange.local.
Maximum concurrent tasks
Number of tasks that run in parallel. It depends on the number of accounts in the Azure AD. Default value is 2000.
Enable SSL
Whether SSL verification will be enabled. Default value is False. Note: This configuration is applicable for Outlook Server only.
SSL certificate

(required if ssl is enabled) Content of SSL certificate. Example certificate:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIID+jCCAuKgAwIBAgIGAJJMzlxLMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMHoxCzAJBgNVBAYT
...
7RhLQyWn2u00L7/9Omw=
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Note: This configuration is applicable for Outlook Server only.

Deployment using Docker

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You can deploy the Outlook connector as a self-managed connector client using Docker. Follow these instructions.

Step 1: Download sample configuration file

Download the sample configuration file. You can either download it manually or run the following command:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/connectors/main/config.yml.example --output ~/connectors-config/config.yml

Remember to update the --output argument value if your directory name is different, or you want to use a different config file name.

Step 2: Update the configuration file for your self-managed connector

Update the configuration file with the following settings to match your environment:

  • elasticsearch.host
  • elasticsearch.api_key
  • connectors

If you’re running the connector service against a Dockerized version of Elasticsearch and Kibana, your config file will look like this:

# When connecting to your cloud deployment you should edit the host value
elasticsearch.host: http://host.docker.internal:9200
elasticsearch.api_key: <ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY>

connectors:
  -
    connector_id: <CONNECTOR_ID_FROM_KIBANA>
    service_type: outlook
    api_key: <CONNECTOR_API_KEY_FROM_KIBANA>

Using the elasticsearch.api_key is the recommended authentication method. However, you can also use elasticsearch.username and elasticsearch.password to authenticate with your Elasticsearch instance.

Note: You can change other default configurations by simply uncommenting specific settings in the configuration file and modifying their values.

Step 3: Run the Docker image

Run the Docker image with the Connector Service using the following command:

docker run \
-v ~/connectors-config:/config \
--network "elastic" \
--tty \
--rm \
docker.elastic.co/enterprise-search/elastic-connectors:8.11.4.0 \
/app/bin/elastic-ingest \
-c /config/config.yml

Refer to DOCKER.md in the elastic/connectors repo for more details.

Find all available Docker images in the official registry.

Content Extraction

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Refer to Content extraction in the official docs.

Documents and syncs

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The connector syncs the following objects and entities:

  • Mails

    • Inbox Mails
    • Sent Mails
    • Archive Mails
    • Junk Mails
  • Contacts
  • Calendar Events
  • Tasks
  • Attachments

    • Mail Attachments
    • Task Attachments
    • Calendar Attachments
  • Files bigger than 10 MB won’t be extracted.
  • Permissions are not synced. All documents indexed to an Elastic deployment will be visible to all users with access to that Elastic Deployment.

Sync rules

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Basic sync rules are identical for all connectors and are available by default.

Advanced Sync Rules

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Advanced sync rules are not available for this connector in the present version.

Connector Client operations

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End-to-end Testing

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Note: End-to-end testing is not available in the current version of the connector.

Known issues

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There are currently no known issues for this connector. Refer to Known issues for a list of known issues for all connectors.

Troubleshooting

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See Troubleshooting.

Security

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See Security.

Framework and source

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This connector is included in the Elastic connector framework.

View the source code for this connector (branch 8.11, compatible with Elastic 8.11).