Smart Cache settings?

[russh]

Note: Scalix 11.4.3/Centos 5/Outlook 2003 / local lan environment / <10 users
Okay, maybe this is a daft question, but I have some queries about how smartcache settings relate to real world activities.

- work online?
I'm assuming that this maintains a constant connection to the scalix server - therefore you get instant notification for new mails, instant synchronisation if you move emails between folders etc.
Presumably okay to use for a local lan?

- work offline and synchronize to send/receive email?
This seems to be an offline mode - but unexpectedly the sync doesn't seem to follow the send/receive mail schedule in outlook. I can force the sync by clicking the options in the smartcache icon, but this isn't intuitive.
No instant notification of new emails - will have to wait until the scheduled sync?
Smartcache icon flashes green/grey somewhat worryingly despite forcing sync's.
I expect this is largely intended for remote workers on a VPN etc.

- work offline variant: synchronize for all folders.
Presumably still an offline mode but a sync will be initiated if you move any email within your local copy. Again, doesn't seem to initiate the sync as a result of the move. email moves just results in the smartcache reporting 'out of sync'..?


I'd appreciate some guidance, as I'd expect the online/offline behaviour to replicate outlook and/or Lotus Notes functionality which is far more intuitive than here. I'm not in front of a scalix-enabled PC right now therefore some of the error messages are from memory.

[Valerion]

I normally keep my client in online mode, works like a charm, even on remote links. On a local LAN you may actually have a faster response if you use a direct connection instead of SmartCache, but once SC is synchronized with all the new emails it needs very little bandwidth to keep going on remote links. Normally Scalix would also detect if you are not connected to the server and keep your mailstore offline, making it nice and transparent.

[russh]

Thanks - I thought as much about the benefits of staying online - I'll move them all back to being in online mode.

I've only installed the SmartCache as I want to start using public folders etc - but I'm not enabling any of that functionality until I'm happy that SC isn't going to break on a regular basis.

[florian]

This may be an interesting statement coming from my side, but...

I generally don't use Outlook all that much, I'm a Mac die-hard (and I'll convince anyone, if needed, that that's really the best way to stop worrying why your computer does certain things and get on with your life, turning it into what it's supposed to be, A Tool That Works [and is pretty at the same time ]) and Apple Mail, iCal, SWA (soon to be in Safari, we use that already, internally), plus a couple mobile devices (iPhone for sure, but I have a Blackberry as well) usually do the trick for me.

I did give SmartCache a couple of tries when it was brand-new (during the Beta and initial 11.0 deployment phase) and must say that it didn't work too well for me. Problems were partially the typical type of a new product in terms of stability and general bugginess, but also somehow bound to the size of my mailbox (probably was at around 6 GB at the time, adding about 1,5 GB/year, so go figure) leading to infinite pain in terms of hangs and issues, especially when doing bulk operations (like moving a couple 1000 messages at a time).

I understood that most customer's usecases were not as heavy and complex as mine, got feedback that it worked quite well (or OK++ for many people) and ... gave up on it.

Well, I'm happy to report that it's back on my desk now, at least during daytime working hours, as part of a Windows Vista/Outlook 2007/Internet Explorer 8 setup that I use to confirm the quality of our pure-Windows users user experience. The hardware this runs on is still a Mac (A Mini with Bootcamp on it, I just like the keyboards and screens and everything... ), but software-wise it's a genuine Wintel-Microsoft box, grounds up. And .... it works extremely well.

Granted, I really don't like Office 2007's UI (who does?) - although Outlook is probably the most "unharmed" product in the package, I really cannot get my head around what they did to mess with Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

But then.... it's fast, reliable, doesn't crash, search works now including Windows Desktop Search, Smartcache manages my line performanace and connection (my desk is in Frankfurt, Germany, the Scalix server I'm connected to is in Ottawa, Canada, around 250ms latency) and I can do things like moving 6000 message in one go from one folder to the other. It thinks for a short moment, displays a progress bar (that's Outlook's part, actually), then says it's done, thendo the sync magic at really low bandwidth in the background.

SmartCache works for me and I would recommend it for most people in most situations, unless you're really in a super-highspeed-lan-office, but even then, using it offloads the server and will give you significantly better scaleability, overall.

It's brilliant. (watched too much Top Gear recently...) I'm sold.

And you can quote me on all of the above....

Florian

P.S. I hate IE8. It doesn't seem to work with this forum page and I am typing this in a up-down-flickering text box. Maybe a way to make people keep their posts short so that they fit on a single screen. It sucks. I'll install Safari right now.