[KONSEC Konnektor Users] General info request (repost, sorry about previous HTML posts)

[Pieter Vanmeerbeek]

Hi,

I’m part of a company (www.able.be) in Belgium which creates an 
all-in-one solution ( web acess/firewall/Mail/Fail over/ ....) based on 
a linux system. Currently one of the few solutions we are missing is the 
Groupware functionality. I’m currently researching on this after we 
already tried the Bynari solutions and investigated the opengroupware 
solution. Both of them were not sufficient for our customers. Bynari is 
very unstable, opengroupware is perfect although the outlook connector 
is not fully functional (administer write access, resources,…) and it 
concept is complicated due to the difference in working concept of the 
opengroupware suite (data is stored in a DB and views are generated by 
queries) and an Exchange solution were a users calendar is shared.

I found a German website 
(http://www.udslinux.de/consulting_linux_groupware.html#kolab) which did 
a research on workgroup solution, which is were I found the Kolab 
solution as a winner together with the Konsec Konnektor. So I started to 
investigate all documentation I could find about Kolab and Konsec. 
Although a lot of information is available I still have some very 
important questions to which I need an answer before I start testing 
this setup. Apologies for being so suspicious but until now we had 
nothing but troubles with workgroup systems previously used. I’ll try to 
order them into categories.

First a general technical question:

It is not clear to me how the IMAP/POP and, something new to me, the 
Disconnected IMAP protocol work together in a Kolab setup. Until now I 
only encountered solution with only IMAP (Bynari) which caused errors in 
mail handling due to errors in the calendar system (explaining part of 
the instability of Bynari) and a imap + Database solution (Zidelook) 
which kept the mail system intact and solved the calendar system using a 
database backend.

 From what I understood the Kolab system uses IMAP to store workgroup 
folders (calendar, notes,..) into the cyrus mailserver into special 
folders like calendar.

Then the confusion comes, the Kolab docs state the use of a Disconnected 
IMAP to configure the mailclient, you use the pop protocol to fetch new 
mails. Can you explain me the Disconnected IMAP protocol? And why do you 
use the POP protocol in your connector? Doesn’t it mean mail will be 
removed from the server and stored into the client? I suppose the Konsec 
Data file referred to in the Konsec installation manual serves to map 
the special IMAP workgroup folders on the server to the workgroup 
folders in the Client using IMAP and in the reverse way too? Perhaps 
this system also takes care of a copy left on the server for all mail 
messages and possible user created subfolder? So you see this part is 
unclear to me and I couldn’t find any clear docs given an overview about 
this.

I suppose this setup with pop and imap allows connections to a Konsec 
account from non workgroup connectors using IMAP or POP or more general 
a mixed environment of Konsec workgroup users and only mail users?

This is also a confusing point In the research of the german website 
(see above) the following is stated :

‘The Konsec Connector offers full MAPI functionality in contrast to the 
Toltec Connector. I.e. you can use the IMAP server of the Kolab 
completely for your Mails and approved files. Additionally the Konsec 
Connector offers also off-line functionality (for laptop users). The 
version 1.0 makes a very stable impression. The manual is detailed and 
explains the installation and configuration. UDS Linux recommends the 
combination of Konsec Connector and Kolab2-Server.‘

In other words why are you explaining the use of a POP account in your 
manuals or is their investigation wrong? Note: based on statements in 
your mailinglist archive of users who switched from the Toltec connector 
to your connector because they were unhappy and the conclusions of the 
German site I directly investigated your product without investigated 
the Toltec product any further

Then some general questions not only related to konsec implementation

1. First of all the Kolab documentation continuously refers to your 
concurrent ( Toltec connector) as his partner. But from different 
sources I hear your connector is better. So basically my question is how 
are your contacts with the Kolab development team regarding support and 
new features?
2. What about performance? The bynari connector was terrible slow due to 
the use of IMAP and a client side DB file. The opengroupware solution 
was fast using a DB backend. How many users has the biggest site the 
Konsec connector is installed and how long is it running? Or more 
general how many sites do you currently have using the Konsec connector? 
Do you have customers/dealers in Belgium?
3. Does Kolab and your connector support all possible handheld device 
(PALM/PDA/ GSM) syncing? I found on the Kolab website that they support 
the hotsync protocol for syncing. But my knowledge on this territory is 
almost unexisting. Does it also support handheld devices using the 
Windows CE OS? And the same question for your connector.


And finally some connector related question

1. your manual state that users have to subscribe to shared 
folders(p26), does this also applies for calendars? In a environment 
with 100 users it would be nice to have the shared/folder/calendar added 
in the connector automatically once it is shared by the owner. I found a 
posting in your mailing list somehow related to this 
(http://lists.konsec.com/pipermail/konnektor-users/2005-September/000003.html)
2. your mailinglist archives state that the Connector is not supported 
for French outlooks 
(http://lists.konsec.com/pipermail/konnektor-users/2005-November/000018.htm) 
and that a solution will be developed soon? Can you give an ETA? And 
does it support Dutch Outlooks?
3. What about multiple accounts in the same profile as the Konsec 
profile? Bynari had major problems with that. A typical setup would be a 
normal workgroup account + some pop and imap accounts only for mail. 
Mulitple groupware accounts would be even better of course but not critical.
4. How did you implement your off-line mode in the outlook client? Is it 
the exchange way, i.e. only user info available ? Or do you have a full 
copy of all information available for the user? This local DB thing for 
offline mode was another major bug creator for the Bynari system as it 
needs to be in sync.
5. I suppose resources from the kolab system are available in the 
connector the same way as users can be added to an appointment?
6. Another very important question. What about planning a meeting for 
someone else. I was thinking about a secretary creating an appointment 
for her boss. This could be a private appointment or a meeting to which 
invitations are send. I’ve got some confusing info from the kolab docs. 
The kolab docs state that modifying events of another is not possible 
and only the creator of the event may modify (p15 in Kolab Free Software 
Groupware Project version 1.9.x Draft). They also explain a delegate 
story by which another user may borrow the identity of someone else to 
create and appointment, allowing modification by the other person like 
with the secretary and the boss. How is this incorporated in the 
connector as I cannot find anything in the manual? It is also not clear 
why the secretary may not modify events of her boss if she got write 
access to his calendar? Why this difference between write access and 
creator of an appointment? Isn’t this making things more complex?
7. Kolab supports groups. In their documentation on the linux client a 
complex setup with different accounts is needed. How is this implemented 
in the connector as this is not stated in the docs?


That’s about it. Sorry for the long post but I need to know these things 
to avoid problems and mistakes as we had with previous workgroup 
systems. I hope all my questions are clear.


Kind regards,
Pieter
Able

PS I used the following docs/info. Any other source is welcome:
-freebusy.txt doc from kolabs CVS
- Proko docs 2, doc 3 and doc 5
- Kolab Free Software Groupware Project version 1.9.x
- Konsec Konnector Handbook
- http://www.kolab.org/
- http://wiki.kolab.org/index.php/Kolab2_FAQ
- http://www.konsec.com
- mailing archives of knosec and kolab