The Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange allows Ximian Evolution clients to access accounts on Microsoft Exchange 2000 servers. It is available through Ximian Red Carpet in its own channel, but cannot be used without a license file. The license file may be purchased from the Ximian online store at store.ximian.com. Unlike the regular Ximian Evolution client, the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange is proprietary software and source code is not available. The Ximian Connector offers a significant price advantage over other Exchange access methods for Linux and UNIX systems: Dual Computer Installation: The purchase of a second computer for each client imposes a very heavy expense burden and is exceptionally inconvenient. Dual Boot or Virtual Machine: Installation of multiple operating systems in a dual boot or virtual machine configuration (such as VMWare) also increases licensing and administration costs. Users often complain that such a system is inconvenient, slow, and not integrated with the rest of their operating system. Outlook Web Access: Outlook Web Access is a web interface for Exchange servers, but works best in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Outlook Web Access also is not integrated with the rest of the host operating system and offers only limited groupware functionality. The Ximian Connector offers a low cost, fully integrated, option for Exchange 2000 server access in heterogeneous client networks. This chapter will explain how to install, configure, and use it. Each user will need a valid Microsoft Exchange2000 server account and license. Ximian Connector supports the most often used features of Microsoft Exchange: General Remote Exchange Information Store Allows you to access mail, address book (including Global Address List folder), and calendars, and task folders on an Exchange 2000 server from Evolution. Palm synchronization Supported for Contacts and Calendars on Exchange. Mail Viewing Mail in ExchangeFolder Sending Email via Exchange Protocols You may use the Microsoft Exchange mail transport protocol to send email. Make sure that the address you have entered as your email address is exactly the one that the Exchange server has on file. This may be "yourname@exchange-server.ximian.com" rather than "yourname@ximian.com.a" Calendar Meeting Request/Proposal Allows Evolution users to schedule meetings and view attendee availability for other users (Evolution or Outlook users) on Exchange. Adding iCalendar Meeting Requests to Calendar If you receive an iCalendar meeting request and add it to your calendar, it will be saved to your Exchange calendar. Contacts Address Completion Supported for your Exchange Contacts folder. Not yet supported for the Global Address List. Adding vCards to Address Book If you receive a vCard attachment and click Save in Address Book, it will be saved to your Exchangeaddress book. New Address Book entries can be created on Exchange from received email messages with a single click There are, however, some features which are not available: Access to shared and public folders is not available, although the Global Address List is available. Journal and Notes components are not available. Work Offline (disconnected mode) support is not functional. "Recall Message" function does not work yet. Creation of an automatic "out-of-office" reply messages is not available. To install the Ximian Connector, run Ximian Red Carpet by selecting SystemGet Software. Subscribe to the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange channel, select the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange2000, and click the Install button. You can also install the Connector by downloading the individual packages from ftp.ximian.com if you wish. Once you have installed the software, you will also need to install a license file. The license file is the verification that you have paid for a license to use the Ximian Connector. You can get the license file from the the Ximian online store at store.ximian.com. You will need a browser with strong (128-bit or greater) encryption to access the store. When you purchase a Ximian Connector license, the store will mail you the license file with instructions for installation. Once installed, the license file unlocks the Ximian Connector functionality and you may connect to an Exchangeserver. Once you have installed the Connector, you need to set up access for your Exchangeaccount on both the Exchangeserver and within Evolution. Check with your system administrator to ensure that: You have a valid account on the Exchangeserver. You are permitted to access the account with WebDAV. This is the default setting for the Exchangeserver, so unless your system administrator has specifically turned it off, no changes should be necessary. The Ximian website knowledge base, at support.ximian.com, has additional information about checking to make sure that your Exchangeserver will accept connections from Ximian Evolution. Once you know that your server is ready for you to connect, start Ximian Evolution and select Tools Mail Settings from any mail view. If you have an existing account, and want to convert it to use for Exchange, do the following: Select the account you want to convert and click the Edit button. Under the Receiving Mail tab, select Microsoft Exchange as your server type. Enter your name of your server next to Host, and the user name for your account next to Username. If your server supports SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption, it you can check the Use SSL box to take advantage of more secure data transfers. If you would like to create and use the Global Address List maintained on your Exchange server, click the tab labelled Receiving Options and check the box labelled Create a Global Address List folder. The Global Address List (GAL) is maintained by your system administrator and you cannot add, change, or remove items from it using Ximian Evolution. However, you can use it to invite people to meetings and to look up addresses and other information. Under the Sending Mail tab, select Microsoft Exchange as your server type, and enter the server name as the Host. You do not need to use the Exchangeserver to send mail if you prefer to use another server or server type. Click the OK button. Make sure the account is active. It should have a check mark in the Enabled column of your accounts list. If it doesn't, select the account and click the Enable button. Once you have made these changes, quit Evolution, then start it up again. Changes to the Ximian Connector accounts configuration are not active until you have restarted the application. If you would like to create a new account for your Exchange server, click the Add button in the accounts list. The account creation assistant will guide you through the process, which is described in . Like IMAP and LDAP data, information for Exchangeaccounts is stored on the server, not on your desktop computer. This means that you can access it from multiple locations. It also means that your Microsoft Exchangeaccount information is in a seperate folder tree from the Local tree in your folder bar. You'll see it below the local tree, with the name you gave the account. If you have multiple accounts, you will have multiple folder trees. Click on any of the folder tree items to visit them; you may have to enter your server password. You can now create contact cards, send and receive email as you would normally. If there are items in your local calendar or addressbook that you'd like to add to your Exchangestores, you can copy and paste them over, or just drag items from one folder to another as you would with two local stores. If you are using both an Exchange account and a local mail account, you should be aware that whenever you save an email address or appointment from an email message, it will be saved in your Exchange contacts list or calendar, rather than in your local account. The same is true of synchronization with Palm-OS devices: tasks, appointments, and addresses from your Palm-OS device will be synchronized with those in the Exchange folders rather than local folders. To avoid unnecessary strain on the server, the GAL will appear empty until you have searched for something in it. If you want to display all the cards in the list, click in the search box and press Enter. This enters a blank search: since every card contains a blank in it, every card will appear. When you schedule a meeting with your calendar on the Exchangeserver, you can check when other local Exchange users are busy according to their Exchangecalendars. To do so: Open a new appointment in the calendar. Choose Actions Schedule Meeting in the meeting editor window. Add attendees, either by entering their email addresses into the list, or by clicking the Invite Others button. If you choose to so, it's best to use the Global Address List (GAL). Choose the GAL from the drop-down list of address sources at the top of the dialog box. Choose Options and then Update Free/Busy to check participant schedules and, if possible, update the meeting in all participants' calendars. If meeting attendees are not available during the times you have scheduled a meeting, you can "nudge" the meeting forward or backward to the nearest available time. To do so, just click the arrows to the left or right of the Autopick button. The autopick tool will move the meeting to the nearest time during which all attendees are available. If you aren't satisfied with those results, you can drag the edges of the meeting time to the hours that you want to select.