When does iCal server send email invitations?
We've upgraded from OS X Server 10.5 to 10.6 and are testing the new iCal Server features.
See my main 3 questions at the bottom of this post.
*The manual iCal Server_Adminv10.6.pdf says:*
+Mail notifications:+
+Event attendees without calendar accounts can now receive a+
+mail message that provides event invitation information.+
Brief:
This is the problem. Email invitations are not sent.
*Info about current settings and system versions:*
Server version: OS X 10.6.5
My client version: OS X 10.6.5 and iCal Version 4.0.4 (1395)
Other client versions: Mixed 10.5 and 10.6 with latest iCal version for their systems.
Only myself and one colleague are set to be allowed access to iCal in Server Admin under Access.
We host our work email with an external host.
Mail is running on our own server, but we do not use it for anything other than email invitations.
+Note: I've tested email invitations both with the servers own email service and with our external email host. The result is the same.+
Server domain: server.myserver.net
Externally hosted email: @mycompany.dk
Internally hosted email: @mycompany.org
We own all domains and email is tested and working fine both on external .dk host and our servers .org email host.
Our work email @mycompany.dk is entered nowhere in iCal, Mail or DNS settings on the server. The only place the users emails are sometimes entered on the server, is under info in Workgroup manager.
Email invitations are in every test case sent to users with gmails, hotmails and other private emails. No problem there. I also get their replys to events i my desktop iCal.
+So I guess the settings on the server for sending and receiving email invitations seem to be ok?+
*Main problems:*
1. Mails are not always sent to users with a company email address like mycolleague@mycompany.dk
In one occasion an invitation was sent by email to a user, when I used the users alternative login name for the externally hosted email.
Users alias email is: colleague@mycompany.dk
Users real email login is colleagueusername@mycompany.dk
Sending an iCal invitation to colleagueusername@mycompany.dk worked. I haven't testet this with other users.
2. When a colleague in our company invites me to a meeting via his desktop iCal, I get the invitation. But they never get my answer. Not silently via the servers push notification nor via a 10.5-style email. In my own iCal my status is ticked off as green.
*Extra problems:*
3. Syncing a calendar with meetings with the server.
I have several calendars in my desktop iCal. And all but one sync perfectly with the server and my iPhone. I have one separate calendar for meetings. And that calendar often has problems syncing. This is the only calendar that has invitations in it.
When automatical syncing occurs, I get an error saying:
The server responded with
"HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error"
to operation CalDAVWriteEntityQueueableOperation.
As far as I remenber I sometimes get other errors too.
It sometimes looks like when there are too many new things to sync, I get an error. Reverting to server will delete the event. And when I recreate it exactly they way it was before, can often fix the problem. But with this bug, we can't implement iCal server to other than expert users.
4. When I'm inviting colleagues to a meeting, why do I see when they are available, when they are not enabled to acces iCal in Server Admin?
Log:
iCal servers log level is set to debug. I see no erros in the log. But then again, I'm no expert in reading logs. Any hint on what I should look for?
*The iCal Server_Adminv10.6.pdf manual also says:*
+Enabling Mail Notifications to Attendees:+
+Attendees can be invited via email if they don’t have an iCal Server account. Mail+
+notification is not available for users with iCal Server access on the calendar service.+
+When an event attendee is added by email address and the host name of the email+
+address is not the same host name as the calendar server, iCal Server can send a+
+message to the attendee with the event information. iCal Server must have its mail+
+account in the mail system.+
*But to sum up:* Even though users are not enables to have acces to iCal on the server, they do not receive an invitation by email.
Questions:
1. When does iCal server send email invitations?
2. How do I control when an email invitation is sent?
3. Is there a way to ensure that an email invitation is sent every time, no matter who the invited person is and what email they use.
See my main 3 questions at the bottom of this post.
*The manual iCal Server_Adminv10.6.pdf says:*
+Mail notifications:+
+Event attendees without calendar accounts can now receive a+
+mail message that provides event invitation information.+
Brief:
This is the problem. Email invitations are not sent.
*Info about current settings and system versions:*
Server version: OS X 10.6.5
My client version: OS X 10.6.5 and iCal Version 4.0.4 (1395)
Other client versions: Mixed 10.5 and 10.6 with latest iCal version for their systems.
Only myself and one colleague are set to be allowed access to iCal in Server Admin under Access.
We host our work email with an external host.
Mail is running on our own server, but we do not use it for anything other than email invitations.
+Note: I've tested email invitations both with the servers own email service and with our external email host. The result is the same.+
Server domain: server.myserver.net
Externally hosted email: @mycompany.dk
Internally hosted email: @mycompany.org
We own all domains and email is tested and working fine both on external .dk host and our servers .org email host.
Our work email @mycompany.dk is entered nowhere in iCal, Mail or DNS settings on the server. The only place the users emails are sometimes entered on the server, is under info in Workgroup manager.
Email invitations are in every test case sent to users with gmails, hotmails and other private emails. No problem there. I also get their replys to events i my desktop iCal.
+So I guess the settings on the server for sending and receiving email invitations seem to be ok?+
*Main problems:*
1. Mails are not always sent to users with a company email address like mycolleague@mycompany.dk
In one occasion an invitation was sent by email to a user, when I used the users alternative login name for the externally hosted email.
Users alias email is: colleague@mycompany.dk
Users real email login is colleagueusername@mycompany.dk
Sending an iCal invitation to colleagueusername@mycompany.dk worked. I haven't testet this with other users.
2. When a colleague in our company invites me to a meeting via his desktop iCal, I get the invitation. But they never get my answer. Not silently via the servers push notification nor via a 10.5-style email. In my own iCal my status is ticked off as green.
*Extra problems:*
3. Syncing a calendar with meetings with the server.
I have several calendars in my desktop iCal. And all but one sync perfectly with the server and my iPhone. I have one separate calendar for meetings. And that calendar often has problems syncing. This is the only calendar that has invitations in it.
When automatical syncing occurs, I get an error saying:
The server responded with
"HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error"
to operation CalDAVWriteEntityQueueableOperation.
As far as I remenber I sometimes get other errors too.
It sometimes looks like when there are too many new things to sync, I get an error. Reverting to server will delete the event. And when I recreate it exactly they way it was before, can often fix the problem. But with this bug, we can't implement iCal server to other than expert users.
4. When I'm inviting colleagues to a meeting, why do I see when they are available, when they are not enabled to acces iCal in Server Admin?
Log:
iCal servers log level is set to debug. I see no erros in the log. But then again, I'm no expert in reading logs. Any hint on what I should look for?
*The iCal Server_Adminv10.6.pdf manual also says:*
+Enabling Mail Notifications to Attendees:+
+Attendees can be invited via email if they don’t have an iCal Server account. Mail+
+notification is not available for users with iCal Server access on the calendar service.+
+When an event attendee is added by email address and the host name of the email+
+address is not the same host name as the calendar server, iCal Server can send a+
+message to the attendee with the event information. iCal Server must have its mail+
+account in the mail system.+
*But to sum up:* Even though users are not enables to have acces to iCal on the server, they do not receive an invitation by email.
Questions:
1. When does iCal server send email invitations?
2. How do I control when an email invitation is sent?
3. Is there a way to ensure that an email invitation is sent every time, no matter who the invited person is and what email they use.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.5)