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Templafy Email Signature Server - Technical FAQ

This article details technical questions and answers regarding the Templafy Email Signature Server (ESS).

What is the Templafy Email Signature Server architecture?

Templafy relies on a Kubernetes architecture, and the native cloud service of Microsoft Azure Kubernetes service also known as AKS for the Email Signature Server. AKS allows for having orchestration layers on the server, load balancing emails between the servers, and offers a highly available environment. Templafy Email Signature Server solution supports the cluster auto-scaler in AKS to automatically create additional servers in the event of a high load.

Does the Email signature server work with third-party email processing services?
Yes. Customers may already have configured third-party email processing services performing virus scans or other services related to email processing in their email flow (e.g., Mimecast, Proofpoint, Sophos, Barracuda). To avoid any conflict and ensure deliverance of signatures, Templafy recommends setting the Templafy Email Signature Server mail flow rule to Priority 0, which means the first service to process the email.
Is the Email signature server disrupted by antivirus software on Desktop PCs?
No. Certain antivirus software add their own signatures to the emails they have processed (e.g., "This email was verified by ..."). The Email Signature Server is not affected by these as the signature is always appended at the end of the email after it has been sent.
Does the Email signature server update cause any downtime?
No. Templafy Email Signature Server updates are done on a hot system, meaning it can be done without causing any downtime since Kubernetes will orchestrate it internally.
What happens to an e-mail if there is an error during processing or an Email Signature Server pod crash?
If the email does not return to Exchange Online from the Email Signature Server cluster the email remains in the Exchange Online Pending Queue. Exchange Online will retry to send the email to the cluster for processing until successfully processed.
Does Templafy Email Signature Server support plain text format and rich text format emails?
Templafy Email Signature Server supports applying rendered HTML signatures to HTML, plain text format, and rich text format (RTF) emails. If a plain text or RTF email is received by the Email Signature Server, an HTML signature is applied to the email and the plain text/RTF email is converted to HTML format.
Does the Email Signature Server work with encrypted emails?

If the messages are encrypted before they reach the Email Signature Server, the emails will not be processed by the Email Signature Server and will be sent on to the final recipient without a signature being appended by the Email Signature Server.

If the email is encrypted by a mail flow rule configured in Exchange Online Admin Center, and Templafy Email Signature Server is the prioritized above it, the email signature will be attached before the email is encrypted by a subsequent mail flow rule processing.

  Note

This also applies for AIP and MIP labels as they rely on the email encryption mechanism.

Are the email transfers between Exchange Online and the Email Signature Server secure?

Exchange Online is configured with Outbound and Inbound connectors directing emails from and to your specific Email Signature Server.

  • The Outbound connector is configured for Mandatory TLS negotiation. Emails will always be sent to the Email Signature Server after a secure TLS connection is negotiated using the certificates configured during the implementation.
  • The Inbound connector is configured, by Microsoft default and as used by the Email Signature Server, to use Opportunistic TLS negotiation. The Email Signature Server will endeavor to establish a secure TLS connection to Exchange Online with this connector to send the processed emails back using the certificates configured during the implementation.
How does Templafy Email Signature Server integrate with Exchange Online?
Templafy integrates with Exchange Online using Graph API through an Azure application. This allows the Email Signature Server to append the signature to the processed email in the Sent Items.The communication is entirely secure, relying on the TLS certificate configured during implementation.
What if Templafy Email signature server rejects messages with attachments larger than size limit?

Templafy Signature Server doesn't have any size limit for messages, but it is recommended to set an exception rule to omit message size >150MB to comply with the size limit of Exchange Online.

If users can send large attachments while bypassing Templafy Email Signature Server but cannot otherwise, then it is likely that there is a connector limit in place.

  Note

For any message size limit, the value needs to be 33% larger than the actual size enforced because of the Base64 encoding usage for sending e-mail attachments.

  • Example: if the maximum message size value of 64 MB, you can expect a realistic maximum message size of approximately 48 MB.
Why there are two entries on the Message trace for emails routed through Templafy ESS?

If your emails were routed through Templafy ESS, they will appear twice on the Message trace search results list. This happens because a message is first sent to the Templafy ESS via the outbound connector (this is indicated by the first entry in the report). Then, after being processed by ESS, the message is sent back to Exchange Online via the inbound connector and finally sent to the recipient (this is indicated by the second entry in the report).



What if emails are not being sent?

The Email Signature Server is optimized for high load. If incidents occur and the connection to the Email Signature Server is not available or the server is unable to process requests, emails will defer in the Exchange Online queue. Exchange Online retries sending these queued emails starting at 15 minutes, for up to 24 hours. The emails will be sent as soon as the service is restored to the Email Signature Server, alternatively the sender will receive a Non-Delivery Receipt after 24 hours.

You are encouraged to review the Microsoft Service Health for any reported incidents for your subscription that involve Exchange Online. These incidents may involve impact to mail flow and delivery not necessarily related to the Templafy Email Signature Server.

Troubleshooting steps:

  • Check the message trace for one of the e-mails in the Microsoft 365 Exchange Admin Center.
  • Check that the connectors in the Exchange Admin Center are still valid and active.
  • Check the Resource Health for the Email Signature Server AKS cluster in the Azure Portal
  • Bypass the Email Signature Server by disabling the mail flow rule in the Exchange Admin Center.
What if Templafy Email signatures are not getting attached from Salesloft?
Emails sent out from Salesloft might not get a Templafy signature accordingly. If an email sent from Salesloft does not generate a Templafy email signature, make sure to verify that there is not an existing signature or any text, including blank spaces, configured in Salesloft. If there is any existing text configured in Salesloft, Templafy Email Signature Servers will interpret that the email signature already exists and will not attach a Templafy email signature.
Do email signatures get appended to Out of Office (Automatic Reply) emails?
No. Email Signature Server does not process Out of Office emails and therefore does not append a signature to these messages.
Does the Email Signature Server work for Dynamic Distribution Groups?

When sending an email to a dynamic distribution group, a sender may receive an NDR that looks like this: 550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied

Dynamic distribution groups do not sync to Azure and are therefore treated as external recipients by Microsoft's default DBEB mechanism. This is a Microsoft limitation and is true regardless of Email Signaure Server.

ESS Graph API tech_role
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