So here I am in CRM 4.0 land and have a very unique setup as follows:

  • 2x windowws Server 2008 DCs
  • 1 MS Exchange 2003 server
  • 1 MS CRM 4.0 Enterprise Server
  • 1 MS SQL 2005 Server
  • 1 gmail account

Note that the gmail account is on the public web and all my CRM infrastructure (CRM, AD, etc.)  is behind at least 3 routers and a pretty well locked down firewall.  I need to get inbound email into the CRM system by a copy/paste (I know not the best... but old software requires a bit of hackery-dackery-doc).  So here's what I've got:

* each user set to no email in CRM

* a queue called "Case Sink"

* an external gmail account

How I've made them all talk to each other is:

1.  Email comes in

2.  I respond to email

3.  I copy/past the initial email (see step 1) to an email activity From "Case Sink" to <User> Regarding: <Case>

4.  Add any attachments

5.  Send email

6.  repeat steps 3-5 in reverse to get my sent email into the system. thus the email activity looks like Sender: me, recipient: customer, regarding: Case, add attachments.

Is the above process the best way to get external email into CRM or is there a better way given how tight I have to do security?