using gmail to send and receive invitations via iCal Server

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Level 1

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using gmail to send and receive invitations via iCal Server

I have an OS X Server running 10.7.5. I have turned on the iCal server and set the checkbox for 'allow invitations using email addresses'

In this section you can set up an email address to handle sending and receiving invites. I chose GMail because it supports 'Plus Addressing' (which is required) and my host doesn't. So far so good. Unfortunately, the server never seems to send invitations

Where is the log for this please?

I assume 'Authentication type' should be 'login' or plain'? (actually not so sure about plain)

Any hints please? This is driving me crazy

Mac mini, OS X Server

Posted on Jul 11, 2013 12:55 AM

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Answer 1

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,341 points

Jul 11, 2013 7:20 AM in response to Adam Connor

If this is the typical requirement with OS X Server email notifications and if you've not already done so, you'll want to configure and start the local mail server. (Which means getting local DNS correct as is typical of using most services on OS X Server, and using either an authenticated relay and mail hop service, or getting public static IP and establishing the expected public DNS configuration for a mail server; mail servers require a DNS A record.)

If you do have the mail server running, check your public DNS configuration as it's possible for that to be incorrectly configured, which means mail appears to work, but remote mail servers detect the DNS errors and assume the sending server (yours) is a spam engine and simply drop the arriving mail messages. In particular, your MX record must be the external name of your mail server, and your forward and reverse DNS translations for your mail server must match. (This is that DNS A record requirement that was mentioned earlier.)

If your mail server is running and your local and public DNS are correct, then you'll want to rummage around in the log files via Console.app and see what's happening with the invite messages.

If the above reads like techno-babble to you (and not the first time I will have heard that comment 😉 either), post up a response here and I'll send along the commands.

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Answer 2

Adam Connor Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 15, 2013 12:30 AM in response to MrHoffman

Thanks for your reply, but a working Mail Server (on the iCal server machine) is not required for this to work- iCal Server uses the included credentails to be a mail client in this scenario. For more information see

https://help.apple.com/advancedserveradmin/mac/10.7/#apd39E18CC8-14C3-4B99-87F8- A9651007DA8E

I have found a walkthrough here-

http://www.coresolutiongroup.com/wordpress/?p=27

but it is for v10.6. The best result I have been able to get so far on a test server is using an iCloud address as the send and receive emil address, with the following errors-

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] 2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [IMAP4DownloadProtocol,client] [twistedcaldav.mail.IMAP4DownloadProtocol#error] IMAP Error: [Failure instance: Traceback: <type 'exceptions.KeyError'>: 'RFC822'

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/twis ted/mail/imap4.py:2455:_defaultHandler

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/twis ted/mail/imap4.py:382:finish

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/twis ted/internet/defer.py:361:callback

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/twis ted/internet/defer.py:455:_startRunCallbacks

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] --- <exception caught here> ---

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/twis ted/internet/defer.py:542:_runCallbacks

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] /usr/share/caldavd/lib/python/twistedcaldav/mail.py:1870:cbGotMessage

2013-07-15 16:35:01+1000 [-] [mailgateway] ]

2013-07-15 16:35:07+1000 [-] [mailgateway] 2013-07-15 16:35:07+1000 [-] SMTP Client retrying server. Retry: 4

2013-07-15 16:35:37+1000 [-] [mailgateway] 2013-07-15 16:35:37+1000 [-] SMTP Client retrying server. Retry: 3

2013-07-15 16:36:07+1000 [-] [mailgateway] 2013-07-15 16:36:07+1000 [-] SMTP Client retrying server. Retry: 2

2013-07-15 16:36:37+1000 [-] [mailgateway] 2013-07-15 16:36:37+1000 [-] SMTP Client retrying server. Retry: 1

2013-07-15 16:37:07+1000 [-] [mailgateway] 2013-07-15 16:37:07+1000 [-] [twistedcaldav.mail.MailHandler#error] Mail gateway failed to send message <20130715063407.11326.510275375.0@mini.xxxsss.com.au> from adam.connor@xxxxxxx.com.au to mailto:Adamc@yyyyyyyy.net.au (Reason: User timeout caused connection failure.)

2013-07-15 16:37:07+1000 [-] [caldav-0] [AuthorizedHTTPGetter,client] [twistedcaldav.scheduling.imip#error] Could not do server-to-imip request : <twistedcaldav.scheduling.imip.ScheduleViaIMip object at 0x10ead8610> 400 Bad Request

2013-07-15 16:37:07+1000 [-] [caldav-0] [AuthorizedHTTPGetter,client] [twistedcaldav.scheduling.scheduler.ScheduleResponseQueue#error] Error during PUT for mailto:Adamc@yyyyyyyy.net.au: iMIP request failed

But unfortunately I don't really understand this error. it could be related to SMTP sending or be local (server) related. Thans for your reply, if you have any further help I would appreciate it!

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Answer 3

UptimeJeff

Level 4

3,479 points

Jul 16, 2013 6:40 PM in response to Adam Connor

You are correct in that you can use any imap service that support plus addressing.

You've obscured addresses, so its difficult to know how you are really setup... so a few general thoughts that might help.

- You don't have to use the same service for smtp and for imap.. so you might send (smtp) through your ISPs smtp server and receive through google. SPF could come into play, you can't send as user@gmail.com from a server other than google's or it could be suspicious (due to the SPF record for gmail). If you are using google apps with your own domain, you could send your outbound (smtp) through any relay (your ISP or smtp.gmail.com)

- look at all your iMIP settings with

sudo serveradmin settings calendar:Scheduling:iMIP

you can see the sending server, password, username, etc.

you can change settings with the form (as an example)

sudo serveradmin settings calendar:Scheduling:iMIP:Sending:UseSSL = yes

- you can change log levels

sudo serveradmin settings calendar:DefaultLogLevel = "debug"

then back to normal

sudo serveradmin settings calendar:DefaultLogLevel = "warn"

- where are the logs?

sudo serveradmin settings calendar | grep log

- sometimes google will lock out an IP, you may need to clear it

https://accounts.google.com/UnlockCaptcha

hope something there gets you on the right path

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Answer 4

Adam Connor Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 16, 2013 7:21 PM in response to UptimeJeff

Thanks I have now set up an iCloud address for send/ receive. I was also getting an error from the server

Could not create node /CalDAV/server.local/73E19E84-76CF-4A5E-BD14-1CC8DCF491B8/

which is the GUID that I was using, so now going back to first principles. Wish me luck, I will write this up when done as it is ostensibly easy but has been very bl**dy difficult!

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Answer 5

Adam Connor Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 23, 2013 6:24 PM in response to Adam Connor

this isn't quite solved, but I've written up what we've discovered in this blog post

http://servicemax.com.au/news/ical-server-sending-and-receiving-invites/

if we do get a final resolution I will post the full txt here rather than a link

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