Opening other user's mailbox in outlook does not work

[les]

So I have a new scalix 11.4.6 installation on a new sles 10 installation and I cannot open other user’s mailboxes. I disabled all active addins, so that the only active addins is the scalix one. It is the same issue one new clean installed win xp pro pc with outlook 2007 and scalix outlook connector 11.4.6 and old win xp pro pcs with outlook 2007 and scalix outlook connector 11.4.6 on which it works fine with scalix 11.4.3 before.

I have a fine working 11.4.3 which it works fine, the only impotant difference I see, is the scalix version. So I am worried about upgrade this server to version 11.4.6.

Has somebody an idea to solve the issue on version 11.4.6?

Can you clarify the following please:

When you say the pc works fine with 11.4.3 before what environment is that with?

how many scalix servers do you have? an existing 11.4.3 and a new testing environment 11.4.6?
then, on your xp pc, are you using 11.4.3 scalix connector to connect to the 11.4.3 server and it works?
and then if you install 11.4.6 on that same pc to connect to the 11.4.6 server it doesn't work? does the profile have the same data etc?

Is that how you've got things setup? or is it different?

[Jeremy James]

i have seen a few reasons in the past for this to happen. first of all is, sometimes it does not work if the name of the scalix server is not entered in c:\windows\system32\drivers \etc\hosts

that helped quite often. and the other main solution is to shut down outlook and delete all files in or even better the complete folder in

C:\Users\$USER\AppData\Local\Temp\~OMMAPI

that example is for vista, xp will be different. after i delete that folder and start outlook if often works then

third thing is: sometimes even if the users allow others to view his inbox it simply does not work, but what often works in these cases is, if the user defines that person as delegate (in deinem Fall: Stellvertreter). don't ask me why, in my case it simply works quite often like that. on the other hand on some pcs the delegating does not work but the other method.

all in all: very frustrating. buggy, crappy. scalix must improve on that. in exchange it simply works!

until now i did not manage to allow one user to be able to look into a other users mailbox/calender if that one is on a different scalix server (we have enterprise edition). it never worked. very frustrating.

[ls-al]

I really love those posts where people say "it simply works on Exchange..." without asking themselves "why does it work there"...
We all should know that a Microsoft based product stack works, because theres just a Microsoft product stack. Exchange and other products will simply not install if there is no AD with all its dependencies. If we try to use Linux in the infrastructure we usually have more degrees of freedom and probably more areas to make mistakes that will lead into problems sooner or later.
The last post mentioned that it is necessary to insert the hostname and ip into the hosts file on the client. It is not if there is a consolidated DNS and the client can resolve the hostname of the server as it is used by the server itself.
Sometimes people complain that the scalix-installer is too fussy about the IP and DNS environment. It is because of problems like this.

At first we should understand how a delegate session in Outlook is designed to work.

- the delegate enters the X.400 name (not the SMTP-address) of the principals mailbox in the "open other users folder" or "add additional mailbox" dialog.
- a command is send to the delegates Scalix server, asking for the Scalix server of the principal based on the mailnode of the provided X.400 address
- if the destination server is already known in the mailnode mapping table (-> omshowmnmp) the result is provided directly, if the destination is unknown, the 1st server will try to resolve by using the directory relay server (DRS). In a multi-server environment it is necessary that the DNS-data is consistent throughout the involved systems, especially as used in the SMINTFC routes and the systems are able to connect to the Scalix specific ports (5729 and so on) to build the mailnode mapping table
- once the Connector got a hostname for the other mailbox it will try to open it directly by establishing an additional UAL session

Of course, it is still possible that there are some flaws with specific OS/Outlook/Connector combinations. But my general statement is: "It is known that it simply works."

[daniel]

Hi Jeremy,
Sorry for the log delay.

I updated my scalx 11.4.3 server with sles 10 os to scalix 11.4.6. Here it works fine with 11.4.3 and current with updated 11.4.6. I can use every windows xp client I want with outlook 2007 and it works. But, I installed at the customer similar a new scalix 11.4.6 on a new installed sles 10, and I test it with the fine working xp clients, which working fine with my server, but not with this server. I test your suggestion, but unfortunately it doesn’t helps. I can do what I want, but nothing helps. I completely agree with you it is very frustrating. I installed for test purposes my first ms exchange server and it works immediately fine.
Have you any other idea to solve this bug?

If not, I must agree with my customer and reinstall him an ms exchange server. So the scalix active sync core function bugs were solved for him too. But he would be annoyed, because about the money which he has invested for the scalix product and time for installation and configuration.

I must say it again, it is very frustrating.

Thanks for your help

Daniel

@ls-al I would thankful to you for constructive suggestions to solve this bug.