Cisco Email Security Plug-In - New version 7.5.2 available

[Jason Meyer]

Just a FYI that Cisco released 7.5.2 of the Outlook Plugin software and if you have the default install done all of your end users will get a pop up telling them that a new version is available.

The Download link just takes them to a Cisco software download page, the user needs to login with a Cisco ID, have a contract number to download the software.    

Two complaints:

What's new in this Version isn't used for what's new in this version, just talks about the same link the 'Download' button has.

Most end users are not going to have a Cisco ID or a contract number to download the software.

Resolution:

Looks like this can be controlled with the C:\ProgramData\Cisco\Cisco IronPort Email Security Plug-In\username\CommonCompnentsConfig.xml file and setting

<checkForUpdates>

    <checkAutomatically display="hidden">true</checkAutomatically>

    <ignoredVersion>7.5.2</ignoredVersion>

    <serverURL>http://updates.res.cisco.com</serverURL>

  </checkForUpdates>

checkAutomatically to a false value.

[Robert Sherwin]

Also - this is included in the BCE XML setup --- so, it can be disabled as well from the original BCE_Config_signed.xml:

<!-- Check for update for the plugin -->
<checkForUpdates>
<checkAutomatically display="hidden">true</checkAutomatically>
<serverURL>http://updates.res.cisco.com</serverURL>
</checkForUpdates>

In order to turn the update notification feature off, this would have to be included and already loaded with the settings made to be:

<!-- Check for update for the plugin -->
<checkForUpdates>
<checkAutomatically display="hidden">false</checkAutomatically>
<serverURL>http://updates.res.cisco.com</serverURL>
</checkForUpdates>

-Robert

[Robert Sherwin]

In order to manually check for updates then... if you have surpressed based on above...

File > Options > Add-Ins > click Cisco Email Security Plug-in > Add-in Options...

Then click About...

Still will run the check.

I'll submit ENH into getting the "What's New" to actually match w/ what is new, in addition to "How-to" download...

As indicated from my announcement post:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/announcement/12918316/gd-availability-cisco-ironport-email-security-plug-version-752-009

[Jason Meyer]

Robert, a related question.  With the new plug-in users get a prompt:

Can this also be controlled with the signed XML file?  I don't find anything.

How do I control that setting for 20k users?

[Robert Sherwin]

I'll see what I can find out per this query/example...

[Andy.Mann]

This just hit us...it looks like a year after everyone else!  Is this still the fix?

[dkorell]

Add the following lines to your CommonComponentsConfig.xml file. I put right under the Java path line but I don't think the placement matters. The 7.5.1 documentation has a piece about this but not all the lines you need. The first line disables it completely so a person can't turn back on in the plug-in. The second line disables sending the data. Adding just the first line will stop it from prompting to begin with but I added the second line just to be safe since if you don't it's set to true in the user's final XML file.

  <callHome>
    <callHomeAdminEnabled>false</callHomeAdminEnabled>
    <callHomeEnabled>false</callHomeEnabled>
  </callHome>

[Robert Sherwin]

Yes, this is correct.  

From mine - I edited the C:\ProgramData\Cisco\Cisco IronPort Email Security Plug-In\<USERID>\CommonComponentsConfig:

<callHome>
<callHomeEnabled>false</callHomeEnabled>
<lastSendDate>2/18/2016</lastSendDate>
<lastSendPluginVersion>7.5.0.95</lastSendPluginVersion>
</callHome>

And then also:

edited the C:\ProgramData\Cisco\Cisco IronPort Email Security Plug-In\<USERID>\config_1:

<callHome>
<callHomeEnabled>False</callHomeEnabled>
</callHome>

This would correspond in the editing of the original BCE XML as well.

-Robert

[dkorell]

The only issue with the XML lines you posted is if you don't include "    <callHomeAdminEnabled>false</callHomeAdminEnabled>" in the CommonComponentsConfig.xml file when distributing with the client install then users are still prompted when launching Outlook the first time. The difference from a default install is the checkbox is unchecked if you have the <callHomeEnabled>False</callHomeEnabled> line in the file.

[jkshannon42]

I am trying to deploy 7.5.2.009 and I have added this to the CommonComponentsConfig.xml:

<callHome>
<callHomeAdminEnabled>false</callHomeAdminEnabled>
<callHomeEnabled>false</callHomeEnabled>
<lastSendDate />
<lastSendPluginVersion>7.5.2.9</lastSendPluginVersion>
</callHome>

I have also added this to the config_1.xml:

<callHome>
<callHomeEnabled>False</callHomeEnabled>
</callHome>

Deploying this through SCCM using an install script:

"%~dp0Source\CiscoEmailSecurity-7-5-2-009.exe" /exenoui /qn UseCustomConfig="%~dp0Source\config"

I am still receiving the anonymous usage prompt when Outlook first starts up shown in the above thread.

Any ideas on how to get this to work properly for deployment? I cannot seem to disable/remove the first time usage popup.

[dkorell]

My config XML files have "<checkAutomatically display="hidden">false</checkAutomatically>" in them, and always have, but the notification still appears. Very frustrating as I'm getting tons of calls about this today. In order to disable the update window I had to block access to http://updates.res.cisco.com in my WSA.

[Robert Sherwin]

From Cisco side - we have disabled the download option on the updates server side, this should prevent end-users from seeing pop-up notifications.  For future needs, only CRES admins will receive notification of new plug-in releases, in order to better plan and facilitate new version rollouts.

-Robert

[dkorell]

Thank you. Much better idea than having end users get a notification for a version that just came out a day earlier and had no release notes that day. The compatibility matrix had been updated so I at least had some idea of what was new.

[Robert Sherwin]

Changes to the CommonComponentsConfig file will revert to "true" with each Outlook stop/restart.  This is the overall app config...

This actually needs to be modified for the user profile in the config_1.xml:

C:\ProgramData\Cisco\Cisco IronPort Email Security Plug-In\<<<USER ID>>>

From within config_1.xml, should be edited to be:

This will remain persistent.

Or - you'll need to make the modification to the signed BCE XML and re-deploy that file to user(s) either via encrypted message & normal un-encrypt deployment, or manually copy the signed BCE to the user's config_1.xml path.  (Stop and restart of Outlook required.)

-Robert

[harryowfg]

I have a question related to the config_1.xml files.

How do you edit them for a large amount of users?

For example, we have made our own customized config_1 and CommonComponentsConfig files. 

And, we want to mass install the Outlook Plugin on many workstations.

How do we get the installer to make use of the updated config files?