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Sun ONE Communications Servers

Using Outlook With Sun™ ONE Communications Servers

Part Number 816-6730-10
April 1, 2003

This document describes how to use Microsoft Outlook to access the following Sun ONE Communications Servers:

Contents

This document contains the following information:

 

Required Software

To use the features described in this document, you need Outlook 98 or Outlook 2000.

No other Windows software is required to use the e-mail features described under Using Outlook With Sun ONE Messaging Server.

To use the features described under Using Outlook with Sun ONE Calendar Server, you must have the following software installed on your Windows computer:

Note

To use the features described in this document, your site must be running the Sun ONE Calendar Server 5.1.1 hf1.3 (or later) hotfix. If you have questions about Calendar Server, contact your system administrator.

 

Using Outlook With Sun ONE Messaging Server

You can use Outlook to connect to Sun ONE Messaging Server to read and send your e-mail. If you wish, you can also add an LDAP directory server for Outlook to search for recipients when you create an e-mail message, and you can access shared folders from other Messaging Server users.

 

Checking Your E-mail Configuration

Your Outlook e-mail configuration must be set to the Internet Only option. To determine which configuration you have, check the About Microsoft Outlook dialog from the Help menu. If this dialog indicates that you are in Corporate or Workgroup mode, follow these steps to reconfigure your e-mail option:

  1. From the Outlook Tools menu, click Options.
  2. Click the Mail Delivery (or Mail Services) tab and then Reconfigure Mail Support... .
  3. Select the Internet Only option and then click Next.
  4. On the Startup dialog box, click Yes. Outlook then shuts down.
  5. Restart Outlook. During the startup, Outlook may need to access its installation information (such as the Office installation CD) to configure the Internet Only option.

 

Configuring Outlook to Connect to Sun ONE Messaging Server

To configure Sun ONE Messaging Server, you must create an IMAP mail account:

  1. From the Outlook Tools menu, click Accounts.

    2. Outlook displays the Internet Accounts dialog, as shown in Figure 1:

    Figure 1  Outlook Internet Accounts Dialog for a Mail Server


    Outlook Internet Accounts Dialog for a Mail Server

  2. Click Add and then Mail... .
  3. Outlook starts the Internet Connection Wizard. Follow the steps in the wizard and provide this information:
    • Your Name dialog: Your display name. For example, John Smith
    • Internet E-Mail Address dialog: Your e-mail address for your Messaging Server account. For example, jsmith@sesta.com
    • E-Mail Server Names dialog (shown in Figure 2): Your incoming and outgoing e-mail servers. Enter the host name of your Sun ONE Messaging Server in both fields. For example, mail.sesta.com

      • Note In the drop-down list for the incoming mail server, you must select IMAP, as shown in Figure 2.

      Figure 2  Outlook E-mail Server Names Dialog


      Outlook E-Mail Server Names Dialog

    • Internet Mail Logon dialog: Your Account name and password. To have Outlook remember your password, check “Remember password”.
    • Connection Method dialog: The method you are using to connect to the internet.

      • If your computer is connected to a corporate network, you should usually select “Connect using my local area network (LAN)”. If you are not sure about the method, check with your system administrator.

  4. To complete the configuration, click Finish.
  5. If you are setting up an LDAP directory server, continue to the next section; otherwise, click Close in the Internet Accounts dialog.

 

Adding an LDAP Directory Server

You can add an LDAP directory server, such as the Sun ONE Directory Server, for Outlook to search for recipients when you create an e-mail message. When you create a message, Outlook first searches for a name in your Contacts list and then in the directory server.

To add a directory server, follow these steps:

  1. If necessary, open the Internet Accounts dialog by selecting Accounts... from the Outlook Tools menu.
  2. Click Add and then Directory Service... .
  3. Outlook starts the Internet Connection Wizard. Follow the steps in the wizard and provide this information:
    • Internet Directory Server Name dialog: Name of the Internet directory (LDAP) server. Enter the host name of your Sun ONE Directory Server or LDAP server. For example, ldap.sesta.com

      • Figure 3  Outlook Internet Directory Server Name Dialog


      Outlook Internet Directory Server Name Dialog

    • Check E-mail Addresses dialog: Select Yes to “Do you want to check addresses using this directory service?”
  4. To complete the configuration, click Finish.
  5. After you add the directory service, select it and click Properties.
    1. On the General tab, select “Check names against this server when sending mail”.
    2. On the Advanced tab, type the Search base for the directory server. For example, dc=sesta,dc=com

      3. If you don’t know this value, request it from your system administrator.

    3. Click OK to dismiss the Properties dialog.
  6. When you are finished, click Close and then restart Outlook.

If you add more than one directory service, you can set the order in which Outlook searches them for e-mail addresses by clicking the Set Order... button on the Internet Accounts dialog and moving the servers up or down.

 

Using Shared Folders

Sharing folders between Outlook and Sun ONE Messaging Server involves designating a folder to be shared in Messenger Express and then accessing it from Outlook.

Messenger Express is the Web interface to Sun ONE Messaging Server. To access Messenger Express, enter the URL for Messaging Server in your browser’s address or location field. For example, http://mail.sesta.com

You can then login to Messenger Express using your LDAP user name and password.

  1. In Messenger Express, a user designates a folder to be shared and sets the permissions for access to the folder.

    2. See Sharing a Folder in Messenger Express.

  2. After you have been given permission to access a shared folder, you can access that folder in Outlook using either of these methods:
    • Small Number of Users: If your site has a relatively small number of e-mail users with shared folders, you can view all of the shared folders in Outlook and access only the ones that interest you.

      • See Accessing All Shared Folders in Outlook

    • Large Number of Users: If your site has a large number of users with shared folders, this list can be very long. You can limit the number of folders you see in Outlook by first subscribing to the folders that interest you in Messenger Express and then displaying only those folders in Outlook.

      • See Accessing Only Subscribed Shared Folders in Outlook

      Note

      In the current release, to access another user’s shared folder or to share a folder with another user, you must both be on the same e-mail server.

 

Sharing a Folder in Messenger Express

To share a folder in Messenger Express, follow these steps:

  1. Login to Messenger Express.
  2. Click the Folders tab.
  3. Select the folder you want to share by clicking the radio button to the left of the folder.
  4. From the Folder tab menu, click the Share icon.


    5. Messenger Express Share Selected Folder Icon

  5. On the Share Folder dialog, set the Permissions List and Permissions for the folder:
    1. Select “Enable direct delivery of e-mail to folder” check box to deliver messages directly to the user’s shared folder.
    2. Enter the User ID of the person with whom you want to share the folder and click Add.

      3. If you are not sure of a user ID, click the Search... button and search for the user by name, e-mail, user ID, or phone number. After you find a user, click OK (or Apply to add the user and keep searching for other users).

    3. After you have added all users you plan to share folders with, set the appropriate permissions from the drop-down list for each user:
      • Read Only. User can only view the messages in the shared folder.
      • Read and Write. User can read and edit the messages in the shared folder and can delete subfolders.
      • Read, Write and Manage Access. User can read and edit the messages in the shared folder, create subfolders under each shared folder, delete the subfolder, and share the folders with others.

        • Note The User ID indicated by “anyone” has Permissions set to “None”. You can reset these Permissions if you wish. For example, you might want to give anyone Read Only access to a folder.

        For more information about, refer to the Messenger Express online Help.

  6. When you are finished adding users and setting permissions, click OK.

    7. The shared folder is indicated by the Shared Folder icon (shown in Step 4).

 

Accessing All Shared Folders in Outlook

To access all shared folders in Outlook, follow these steps:

  1. On the Outlook Bar, click the icon for the Messaging Server Inbox. For example:


    2. Example Icon for the Messaging Server Inbox

  2. If the Folder List is not displayed, click the View menu and then Folder List.
  3. On the Tools menu, click IMAP Folders... .
  4. If the “When displaying hierarchy in Outlook, show only subscribed folders” check box is selected on the IMAP Folders dialog, de-select it, and click OK.
  5. Restart Outlook.

    6. In Shared Folders in the Folder List, Outlook displays all of the shared folders on your e-mail server that you have permission to access.

 

Accessing Only Subscribed Shared Folders in Outlook

To access only subscribed shared folders in Outlook, you must first subscribe to each folders in Messenger Express:

  1. Login to Messenger Express.
  2. On the Folders tab, click the Subscribe icon to search for shared folders in the Corporate Directory that you have permission to access.


    3. Subscribe Icon

  3. In the Subscribe to Shared Folders dialog box, enter the search criteria for the owner of the shared folder you want to subscribe to and click the Search button.
  4. From the list of users, select the user who owns the shared folder you want to subscribe to and click OK.
  5. From the list of folders for the owner, select the folder(s) you want to subscribe to and click Subscribe.
  6. On the Folders tab, Shared Folders shows the owner’s name and the subscribed folder name.
  7. Logout of Messenger Express.

 

You can now access the subscribed shared folders in Outlook:

  1. On the Outlook Bar, click the icon for the Messaging Server Inbox. For example:


    2. Example Icon for the Messaging Server Inbox

  2. If the Folder List is not displayed, click the View menu and then Folder List.
  3. On the Tools menu, click IMAP Folders... .
  4. If the “When displaying hierarchy in Outlook, show only subscribed folders” check box is not selected on the IMAP Folders dialog, select it, restart Outlook, and return to Step 1.
  5. On the IMAP Folders dialog, click the Query button and then OK.

In Shared Folders in the Folder List, Outlook displays only the shared folders on your e-mail server that you have subscribed to using Messenger Express.

 

Using Outlook with Sun ONE Calendar Server

You can use Sun™ ONE Synchronization 1.1 to publish information from your Outlook calendar so that other users can determine if you are available or busy before inviting you to a meeting. The Outlook Free/Busy option also allows you to check the availability of Calendar Server users when you schedule a meeting or appointment in Outlook. In addition, if you give them permission, other Calendar Server users who use Calendar Express can view your calendar.

Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1 can sync calendar events and tasks between Outlook and Calendar Server. Information is updated when you initiate a synchronization from Outlook by clicking Synchronize Now on the Synchronize menu or by clicking the Synchronize icon in the Outlook tool bar.

Privacy, of course, is important, and you can control who has access to your Calendar Server information. For information about controlling the access to your calendar, refer to the Calendar Express online help. To access this help, click the Help button from Calendar Express.

Web Publishing Wizard

To use the Outlook Free/Busy option, you must have the Microsoft Web Publishing Wizard installed on your computer. The Web Publishing Wizard allows you to easily publish Web pages and files to a server. It is included with various versions of Microsoft Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer. For example, if you are using Windows XP, you should already have the Web Publishing Wizard.

If you are using Windows 98 or 2000, check for the Wpwiz.exe program file to determine if you have the Web Publishing Wizard installed on your computer. For example, if your programs are installed on your C drive, check the following location:

C:\Program Files\Web Publish\Wpwiz.exe

Or, search for the Wpwiz.exe file using the Find or Search command from the Start button.

If you don’t have the Web Publishing Wizard on your Windows 98 or 2000 computer, you can download it free from Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=22658&area=search&ordinal=2

 

Installing Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1 Patch 1

You first need to install Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1 Patch 1 on your Windows computer. If you don’t have the installation program, request it from your system administrator.

Before you install Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1 Patch 1, you must first:

Installation Steps

To install Sun ONE Synchronization, follow these steps:

  1. Close all open programs, if you have not already done so.
  2. Start the Sun ONE Synchronization installation program.
  3. Follow the instructions in the series of installation screens:
    • Welcome
    • License Agreement
    • Get Registration Information
    • Choose Destination Location
    • Select Components, as shown in Figure 4. On this screen,
      make sure you check Microsoft Outlook 98 / 2000.

      • Figure 4  Sun ONE Synchronization Installation Select Components Screen


      Sun ONE Synchronization Installation Select Components Screen

    • Start Installation
  4. When the installation is complete, click Finish.

 

Configuring Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1

After you install Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1, you need to configure it to sync Outlook calendar data with Sun ONE Calendar Server 5.1.1.

To configure Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1:

  1. Start Outlook.
  2. From the Synchronize menu, choose Synchronize...
  3. In the left pane, click Sun ONE and then Configure.

    4. Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1 displays the Sun ONE Translator Settings dialog, as shown in Figure 5.

    Figure 5  Sun ONE Translator Settings Dialog


    Sun ONE Translator Settings Screen

  4. On the Sun ONE Translator Settings dialog, enter the following information:

    5. Network Settings

    • Server: The name of your Sun ONE Calendar Server. Check with your system administrator if you don’t know this name.
    • Port: The port number used by Calendar Server to send and receive Sun ONE Synchronization commands and data. Check with your Calendar Server administrator if you don’t know the port number. To use the default port number (80), click Default.
    • Use secure connection (SSL): Check this box if you want your data sent across a secure connection to Calendar Server. Do not check this option unless your are told to do so by your Calendar Server administrator.

      • Account Settings

    • User name: The user name for your Calendar Server account.
    • Password: The password for your Calendar Server account.
    • Remember password: Click this box if you want Sun ONE Synchronization to remember your user name and password in subsequent syncs.

      • Other Settings

    • Reminder E-mail address: The e-mail address you want Calendar Server reminders sent to. Reminders are not sent by e-mail if you do not enter an e-mail address. If you are using Outlook as your master (or main) calendar, see Outlook as a Master Calendar.

 

Synchronizing With Outlook in Quiet Mode

In quiet mode, Sun ONE Synchronization syncs data between Outlook and your Sun ONE Calendar without displaying synchronization screens and dialogs. Most error and warning messages are also suppressed.

Required Patch

To use quiet mode, you must have Sun ONE Synchronization 1.1 Patch 1 installed on your Windows computer. To determine if you have this version, click:

Start, Programs, Sun ONE Synchronization, About Sun ONE Synchronization

The About Sun ONE Synchronization window should display “Version 1.1 (Patch 1)”. If you do not have this version, contact your system administrator.

Exceptions to Quiet Mode

In the following situations, Sun ONE Synchronization is forced to display a dialog or error message:

Figure 6  Sun ONE Synchronization Full Synchronization Dialog

Sun ONE Synchronization full synchronization dialog

 

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution dialogs are also suppressed. Conflicts are resolved depending on the settings you have selected in the Conflict Settings dialog:

“Prompt for which record to use” is the default setting. This setting uses Outlook records to resolve any conflicts. If you prefer to have conflicts resolved using Sun ONE records, follow these steps to reconfigure the Synchronize with Outlook settings:

  1. Start Sun ONE Synchronization by clicking:

    2. Start, Programs, Sun ONE Synchronization, Synchronize with Outlook

  2. Click the Settings button and then the Conflicts tab.
  3. Check “Automatically resolve conflict” and then for Use the record in, choose Sun ONE in the drop-down list.
  4. Click OK and then Exit.

 

Quiet Mode Synchronization

To synchronize with Outlook in quiet mode, use one or both of the following methods:

 

Add Synchronize with Outlook as a Scheduled Task

To automatically synchronize in quiet mode, you can add a Synchronize with Outlook task to your list of Windows Scheduled Tasks list. For example, you might want to synchronize every hour during each workday.

The steps to add a task to your list of Scheduled Tasks can vary depending on the version of Windows you are running. If you are running Windows 2000, follow these steps:

  1. In the Windows Control Panel, double-click the Scheduled Tasks icon.
  2. Double-click the Add Scheduled Task icon. Windows 2000 displays the first window of the Scheduled Task Wizard. Click Next to continue.

    3. The Scheduled Task Wizard then displays a series of windows that prompts you for information about the new task:

    1. For Application, choose Synchronize with Outlook. (You might need to scroll down to find this application.) Click Next to continue.
    2. If you prefer a task name other than Synchronize with Outlook, type the new name. Then choose when the task should run. For example, if you want to run the program each day, check Daily. You can refine this value later. Click Next to continue.
    3. Select a Start time and Start date for the task. For example, to have the task run on Monday through Friday, check Weekdays. Click Next to continue.
    4. Specify the User name and Password of the person who will run the task (which is probably you). Click Next to continue.
    5. Check Open advanced properties for this task when I click finish and then Finish. Windows displays the Advanced Properties window for the task.
    6. On the Advanced Properties Task tab, add the /Q parameter to the command in Run. For example:

      7. C:\Program Files\Sun ONE Synchronization\xtndpc.exe /S /AN iPlanet /PN MSOl /Q

    7. Optionally, to run the task at specific times during the day, on the Advanced Properties Schedule tab, click Advanced... . Then on the next dialog, click Repeat task and provide values for Every and Until. For example:

      Every: 2 hours
      Until: Time: 5:00 PM

      or

      Every: 1 hours
      Until: Duration: 8 hours

  3. Click OK (twice) to finish the task. Your new task will now run automatically at the times you have specified.

 

After you create the Synchronize with Outlook task, you can revise its properties by following these steps.

  1. In the Windows Control Panel, double-click the Scheduled Tasks icon.
  2. Either double-click the Synchronize with Outlook icon, or right-click the Synchronize with Outlook icon and then click Properties.
  3. Make the changes to the task’s properties.
  4. Click OK to save the changes.

 

Create a Synchronize with Outlook Shortcut on Your Desktop

To create and configure a Synchronize with Outlook shortcut on your desktop, follow these steps:

  1. Locate the Synchronize with Outlook shortcut (shown below):
    1. Right click the Start Menu and click Open All Users.
    2. Click Programs and then Sun ONE Synchronization.
    3. Right click the new Synchronize with Outlook shortcut and then click Send To Desktop (create shortcut).


      4. Synchronize with Outlook shortcut

  2. On your desktop, right click the new Synchronize with Outlook shortcut and then click Properties.
  3. On the Synchronize with Outlook Properties dialog, click the Shortcut tab and add the /Q parameter to the xtndpc.exe Target command. For example:

    4. "C:\Program Files\Sun ONE Synchronization\xtndpc.exe" /S /AN iPlanet /PN MSOl /Q

    Note If you type this command, for MSOl, the MSO letters are uppercase, but the l letter is lowercase.

  4. Click OK.

Now, to synchronize in quiet mode between Outlook and your Sun ONE Calendar, double-click the Synchronize with Outlook shortcut on your desktop.

Note Synchronize Now on the Outlook Synchronize menu and the Synchronization Icon on the Outlook tool bar do not initiate synchronization in quiet mode.

 

Configuring Outlook Free/Busy Options

The Outlook Free/Busy option also allows you to check the availability of Calendar Server users when you schedule a meeting or appointment in Outlook. To configure this option, you will need the following information:

 

To configure the Outlook Free/Busy Options, follow these steps:

  1. Start Outlook.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options... and then click the Calendar Options... button on the Preferences tab.
  3. Click the Free/Busy Options button.
  4. In the Search at this URL box, enter the following URL:

    5. http://server-name/get_freebusy.wcap?fmt-out=text/calendar&tzid=timezone&mail=%NAME%@%SERVER%

    where:

    http://server-name is the fully qualified URL where Sun ONE Calendar Server 5.1.1 is running. If Calendar Server is running on a port other than the default port number (80), you must also specify the port number after the server-name field. For example: server-name:8080.

    tzid=timezone specifies your specific time zone. For example: tzid=America/Chicago. For more information, see Determining a Time Zone (timezone) Value.

    If you do not include the tzid parameter, the time for an all day event is shown in Zulu time, which is also known as Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

    For example (shown in Figure 7):

    http://calendar.sesta.com/get_freebusy.wcap?fmt-out=text/calendar&tzid=America/Chicago&mail=%NAME%@%SERVER%

    where http://calendar.sesta.com/ specifies the URL where Sun ONE Calendar Server 5.1.1 is running.

    Figure 7  Outlook Free/Busy Options Dialog Box


    Outlook Free/Busy Options Dialog Box

  5. Click OK to close each of the three dialog boxes.

Usage Notes

Determining a Time Zone (timezone) Value

To determine your specific timezone value for the free/busy URL:

  1. Log into Sun ONE Calendar Express.
  2. Click the Options tab and then Settings.
  3. Under Time Zone, click the time-zone string after By default, display dates and times using the following time zone:. Calendar Express displays a window with the time-zone strings.
  4. Find the time-zone string for your area and copy it into the free/busy URL. For example, America/Chicago represents the central time zone in the United States.

 

Using the Free/Busy Option to Schedule a Meeting or Appointment

To schedule a meeting or appointment in Outlook and check the availability of users on Calendar Server, follow these steps:

  1. Start Outlook and click Calendar.
  2. On the File menu, Click New and then Appointment (or press Ctrl+N).
  3. Enter information such as the Subject, Location, Start time, and End time.
  4. Click the Attendee Availability tab. Outlook displays the Attendee Availability window, as shown in Figure 8.
  5. To check the availability of a Calendar Server user, enter the e-mail address of the user under All Attendees. For example: jsmith@sesta.com.

    6. Or, if you have previously entered the user’s e-mail address in your Contacts list, enter the user’s name. For example: John Smith.

    Outlook then queries Calendar Server and displays the availability of the user.

    By default, Outlook shows the availability of a user for 30 days before and after the current date. Your system administrator, however, can configure Calendar Server to return different values for the duration. If you have questions about the duration, contact your system administrator.

  6. When you have added all attendees and determined an acceptable time, click Send to add the appointment to your Outlook calendar and send an e-mail invitation to each attendee.

 

Figure 8  Outlook Attendee Availability Window

Outlook Attendee Availability Window

 

Syncing Outlook and Calendar Server Data

To synchronize calendar events and tasks between Outlook and Calendar Server, click Synchronize Now on the Synchronize menu or click the Synchronization Icon on the tool bar.

Synchronization Icon

Recommendation

To share the latest information with your colleagues, consider syncing calendar data between Outlook and Calendar Server when you first start Outlook and then before you exit. You might also want to sync after you have created events or appointments to keep calendar data up to date on both Outlook and Calendar Server.

Outlook and Calendar Server Usage Considerations

Considerations for using Outlook and Sun ONE Calendar Server include:

Calendar Server Default Calendar and the Free/Busy Option

The Outlook free/busy time option checks events in the user's default calendar only. If a Calendar Server user has other calendars, those calendars are not used when determining the free/busy time.

Configuring the Free/Busy Option for Sun ONE Calendar Events

To make free/busy information available for events created in Sun ONE Calendar, check Free/Busy Include this event in calculating availability for the event on the Calendar Express Edit Event window.

Note

To make the Free/Busy option available in Sun ONE Calendar Express, the following Calendar Server configuration parameter in the ics.conf file must be set to “yes”:

ui.eventdialog.opaque.enable = "yes"

Calendar Server Events and the Free/Busy Option

If you are using the Outlook free/busy option, Calendar Server events (both single and recurring) created using Calendar Express are shown on the Outlook Attendee Outlook Availability tab as follows:

Delay in Free/Busy Look-up for Calendar Server Events

Sometimes you might see free/busy information in Outlook that is inconsistent with Sun ONE Calendar. This discrepancy can occur because Outlook updates the free/busy information from Calendar Server only as follows:

Therefore, to get accurate free/busy information when you check the availability of a Sun ONE Calendar user, you can:

Outlook as a Master Calendar

If you use Outlook as your master (or main) calendar, consider the following items:

New Outlook Appointments by Dragging E-mail to Calendar Folder

Outlook allows users to create new a appointment by dragging an e-mail message to the Calendar folder. However, since the Sun ONE Notes field is mapped to the Outlook Notes field, extra characters are added to the appointment description during a subsequent synchronization. If an Outlook user then tries to delete the extra characters in the description, an e-mail message is generated saying the meeting has been changed.

To avoid this problem, do not create a new appointment by dragging an e-mail message to the Calendar folder.

 

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Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.