The Messaging Server includes support for the Microsoft Outlook "free/busy" calendar feature. When scheduling a meeting or other activity, this feature allows the person who is scheduling the meeting to see when others are free or busy.
Note: This feature is provided for Microsoft Outlook clients but not Outlook Express.
If you require more extensive calendar services, the Messaging Server is compatible with commercial calendar server products. See the current list of supported calendar software packages in the Late News document on the Messaging Server documentation website:
http://www.caldera.com/support/docs/volution/msg/
Microsoft Outlook has the ability to distribute calendar data by storing an individual's "free/busy" information in a publicly shared directory. The shared directory is specified in Outlook as an http:// or ftp:// reference. When an individual publishes their "free/busy" information, it is written into a file (identified by the user's account name) in the referenced directory. When the same individual re-publishes updated "free/busy" information, their file in the shared directory is overwritten.
Note: Before Outlook "free/busy" information can be published, the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web Publishing Wizard add-on component must be installed on the client system. For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q291/6/21.ASP
The Messaging Server provides a pre-configured protected shared directory for use with the Outlook "free/busy" feature. It is configured by default when the Outlook Configuration Tool is run (see "Enabling Outlook Client Users"). The Outlook Configuration Tool configures these "free/busy" parameters:
Publish at this URL | ftp://userid:password@hostname/pub/calendar/%NAME%.vfb | |
Search at this URL | http://hostname/calendar/%NAME%.vfb |
userid is the user's Messaging Server login name
password is their Messaging Server password
hostname is the Messaging Server IP hostname
%NAME% is a macro used by Outlook to substitute for the name portion of the user's email address (everything up to but not including the @ character) when publishing or searching for "free/busy" files:
The first occurence of %NAME% in the publication URL is used to publish to the shared directory on the Messaging Server using ftp. The ftp service is configured to validate user access using the Messaging Server's LDAP directory, which ensures that only valid mail users have access to this directory.
The second occurence of %NAME% in the publication URL is used to form the filename in which the user's "free/busy" data is stored. For example, if the mail user Tom has enabled the publication of his "free/busy" information, it will be written to the filename of Tom.vfb. Since the local name part of the email address is required to be unique across all mail domains within the Messaging Server, this avoids namespace conflicts of user "free/busy" data.
The occurence of %NAME% in the search URL is used to locate "free/busy" information for a user that has been invited to a meeting. For example, Tom invites Betty to a meeting. Outlook would then search for the file Betty.vfb, which contains the "free/busy" information for Betty.
Although the "free/busy" publication and search URL's are set by default, the actual publication of an individual's "free/busy" information is not enabled. This decision has been left to the individual user. If the user wishes to enable publication of their "free/busy" information, they can do so within the Outlook Free/Busy configuration dialog:
In the Outlook Tools, click on Options, then Calendar Options.
In the Free/Busy Options dialog box, check Publish my free/busy information.
Enter your Messaging Server password in the ftp://URL in place of the string password_for_yourname_here.
Click on Apply to complete the procedure.