[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

Re: Outlook Calendar?

On Mon, 15 Jan 2001 09:52:06 Walter Neuhaus (EAS) wrote:
>I'd like to integrate an LDAP-Server instead of Exchange (or Openmail from
>HP) because software-price is a very important argument for me. (And the
>customer...)
>
>The customer is already using Outlook 2000 and the tasks to be performed
>should be:

If the customer already owns a license for Exchange Server, why switch?

>- Adressbook with his customers shared on the server so that all employes
>(4 ;-) can access it. (Whith LDAP, no problem?)
>
>If I want to include some new fields in Outlook 2000 (like the name of the
>customers dog) can I set then the LDAP attributes myself?

Both of these are pretty straigtforward using OpenLDAP. If you want the
end-users to update the entries, a shared Outlook folder that contains
contacts would be easier than setting up LDAP and an update interface. If
the directory will only be updated by an admin, then LDAP is easy enough.

I've used both ldap-abook and a custom-written solution for end-user
updates. Both sers small scale in-house solutions. I don't consider them
adequate for customer use, although a custom solution that allows for
arbitrary addition of LDAP attributes might work. It still would not be
integrated with Outlook though.

>- Calendar must also be shared on the server. (Do I need a special
>calendar-server or can LDAP handle this?)

LDAP might be able to do this, but it was not designed for it. A relational
database or a real calendaring application (preferred) would be a much
better solution. The application logic required to make LDAP do calendaring
would not be worth the trouble. Additionally, LDAP optimized for reading. A
caledering app would involve a good percentage of writes. I you really want
to abandon Exchange server you might look into web-based calendering
solutions. Again, these will not be integrated into Outlook.

After a little looking around, I found a site that describes a way to shared
Outlook calendars via the Web:

  http://eatworms.swmed.edu/~leon/calendar/

Tony
-- 
Anthony E. Greene <agreene@pobox.com> <http://www.pobox.com/~agreene/>
PGP Key: 0x6C94239D/7B3D BD7D 7D91 1B44 BA26  C484 A42A 60DD 6C94 239D
Chat:  AOL/Yahoo: TonyG05    ICQ: 91183266
Linux. The choice of a GNU Generation. <http://www.linux.org/>