Initially each account has an account address book and a personal address book for each mailbox account. Both address books are visible in the IMP4 web clients and in the LDAP only Squirrelmail web client on the beta test site. Personal address books are visible in the IMP4 and Squirrelmail clients on the production site and the beta site.
Personal address books are read/write in the IMP4 and Squirrelmail clients. Mailbox accounts configured for full management access have read/write access to the account book in the IMP4 clients and the LDAP only Squirrelmail client on the beta site. Mailbox accounts not configured for full management acess have read-only access to the account book. Desktop email clients implement read-only access to LDAP directories.
| Desktop client access parameters | |
|---|---|
| LDAP Server name |
ldap.mxes.net
|
|
Personal address book
|
|
| cn=mailbox_name,ou=auth,dc=mxes,dc=net |
Auth, Bind DN, (Account in Outlook)
|
| ou=mailbox_name,ou=ab,dc=mxes,dc=net |
Search base, Base DN, (Advanced tab in Outlook)
|
|
Account address book
|
|
| cn=account_name,ou=auth,dc=mxes,dc=net |
Auth, Bind DN, (Account in Outlook)
|
| ou=account_name,ou=ab,dc=mxes,dc=net |
Search base, Base DN, (Advanced tab in Outlook)
|
The LDAP password has to be set before you will be able to use LDAP from a desktop client. Mailbox account LDAP passwords can be set in the Manager on the mailbox management page. Choose LDAP Password in the Action select box. Choose Account -> LDAP Password to set the account LDAP password.
| Thunderbird and Seamonkey configuration | |
| Address Book -> File -> New -> LDAP directory | |
| Name: | Your Choice |
| Hostname: | ldap.mxes.net |
| Base DN: | ou=your_mailbox_name,ou=ab,dc=mxes,dc=net |
| Port number: | 389 |
| Bind DN: | cn=your_mailbox_name,ou=auth,dc=mxes,dc=net |
| Click OK | |
| Outlook and Outlook Express configuration | |
| Tools -> Accounts -> Add -> Directory Service | |
| Internet directory (LDAP) server: | ldap.mxes.net |
| My LDAP server requires me to log on: | Check this box |
| Click Next | |
| Accout name: | cn=your_mailbox_name,ou=auth,dc=mxes,dc=net |
| Password: | The LDAP password you set for your_mailbox_name |
| Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA): | DO NOT CHECK THIS BOX |
| Click Next | |
| Do you want to check addresses using this directory service: | Your choice, probably Yes. |
| Click Next | |
| Click Finish | |
| Click Properties | |
| Click Advanced | |
| Search Base: | ou=your_mailbox_name,ou=ab,dc=mxes,dc=net |
| Click OK | |
| Click Close | |
No Windows email client will update or write to an LDAP directory.
LDAP will not magically sync address books.
No Windows email client will display the contents of an LDAP directory.
LDAP directories are only searchable by Windows email clients.
Thunderbird has the option to download an LDAP directory but
Thunderbird attempts an anonymous bind to do the download and
that will not work.
Planned enhancements for second quarter 06.
- Additional account level address books
- Finer grain account book access control
- Better support for Thunderbird and Outlook data fields
Early in July the following changes are planned
- Access to the IMP4 Private Address Book will be removed. Currently this address book is visible only to mailbox accounts that have existing entries in that address book.
- The current Squirrelmail Personal Address Book will be removed. The LDAP address books will become the only address book available in the Squirrelmail clients.
SyncML beta test
SyncML is an acronym for "Synchronization Markup Language". The SyncML protocol shows promise in keeping data synchronized between desktop clients, web clients, PDAs/cell phones, and other SyncML servers. SyncML support in PDAs and current generation cell phones is widespread. Support in desktop clients is spotty.
Our SyncML server is very much beta and will be in that state for a while. Each SyncML client implements the protocol in a slightly different way leading to interoperability problems. SyncML is more of a concept right now than an established standard protocol. Hopefully that will change.
Please contact support if you are technically oriented and would like to help test SyncML.
