September 10, 2010
The Novell Data Synchronizer Connector for Mobility is the component of the Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack that connects your GroupWise system with mobile devices.
The Mobility Connector can also be used to connect mobile devices to other applications for which Data Synchronizer connectors are available.
For device-specific information, see the Novell Data Synchronizer Mobility Connector Wiki.
The general system requirements for the Mobility Connector are the same as for the Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack, as listed in the Novell Data Synchronizer Installation Guide.
Mobile device requirements for the Mobility Connector are listed in the Mobility Connector Installation and Configuration Guide.
The Mobility Connector is automatically installed as part of the Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack, as described in the Novell Data Synchronizer Installation Guide.
For device-specific setup instructions, see the Novell Data Synchronizer Mobility Connector Wiki
For general connector issues, see General Connector Issues
in the Novell Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack Readme.
During Mobility Pack installation, you can choose whether to use an SSL connection between the Mobility Connector and mobile devices. Using a non-secure connection can simplify initial testing, but using a secure SSL connection should be used in a production environment.
By default, the Mobility Connector accepts SSL connections using the SSL protocol in use on the mobile device. This includes SSLv2, which reportedly suffers from several cryptographic flaws and has been deprecated for several years. SSLv3 or TLSv1 is recommended for optimum security.
You can configure the Mobility Connector to require SSLv3 or TLSv1. For instructions, see Selecting a Specific Version of SSL
in Securing Your Synchronizer System
in the Novell Data Synchronizer Administration Guide.
Make sure that the GroupWise Connector is running before you start the Mobility Connector. The Mobility Connector needs to access the GroupWise Address Book through the GroupWise Connector in order to start successfully. If the GroupWise Connector is not already running, you see an error such as:
Couldn't sync GAL: None
Couldn't sync GAL: Connector currently unavailable: groupwise_connector_name
NOTE:GAL stands for Global Address List.
The Mobility Connector tries again in 30 minutes to contact the GroupWise Connector. If the GroupWise Connector is running at that time, the address book lookups begin.
If you delete a user from the Mobility Connector, then immediately re-add the same user, the user might not be successfully added to the Mobility Connector.
Deleted users are cleaned up in the Mobility Connector database every 30 seconds. If you re-add the user to the Mobility Connector in less than 30 seconds, the re-added user is deleted from the database, even though the user is still listed in Synchronizer Web Admin. As a result, mobile device synchronization fails, even though it looks like the user has been added to the Mobility Connector.
If this situation occurs, delete the user from the Mobility Connector in Synchronizer Web Admin, then wait at least 30 seconds before re-adding the user.
If initial synchronization fails for a user, the Mobility Connector automatically retries three times. Often, the retry process is successful. You can check the status of the retry process in the Mobility Connector log file (default.pipeline1.mobility-AppInterface.log) in the following directory:
/var/log/datasync/connectors
If the three automatic retries fail, you can try deleting and re-adding the user. If initial synchronization still fails, see Mobility Connector Troubleshooting
in the Mobility Connector Installation and Configuration Guide for assistance.
If a user’s LDAP password expires, the Mobility Connector does not allow the user’s mobile device to connect to the Synchronizer system until the user resets the LDAP password and configures the mobile device with the new password. This functionality prevents mobile devices from consuming grace logins and locking the user out.
In Synchronizer Web Admin, the Connector Monitor Information page might show that a user’s device has successfully completed initial synchronization, but the user is not seeing the expected results on the mobile device.
To verify synchronization status, click the username in the User Status box on the Connector Monitor Information page to display synchronization statistics for synchronized items, events, and folders. If initial synchronization has failed, see Mobility Connector Troubleshooting
in the Mobility Connector Installation and Configuration Guide for assistance.
When you configure the GroupWise Connector, you select the items to synchronize. For the option, even if you deselect , reminder notes are still included during initial synchronization, although they are not synchronized after initial synchronization.
To prevent reminder notes from being including during initial synchronization:
In Synchronizer Web Admin, click the Mobility Connector to display the Mobility Connector Settings page, then click .
Locate the following line:
<notes>1</notes>
IMPORTANT:If you see <Note>1</Note> rather than <notes>1</notes>, you are editing the XML for the GroupWise Connector, not the Mobility Connector. It is the Mobility Connector setting that is overriding your selection for the GroupWise Connector, so you need to make sure that you are editing the Mobility Connector XML to resolve the problem.
Change 1 to 0 (zero), the click .
Click to return to the main Synchronizer Web Admin page, then stop and start the Mobility Connector to put the change into effect.
This change affects users who are added to the GroupWise Connector and the Mobility Connector after you have changed the configuration of the Mobility Connector. When you add users during installation of the Mobility Pack, reminder notes are synchronized by default.
If you install the Mobility Pack and then install updates to the SLES operating system, you might see errors in the Mobility Connector log during the SLES update. After the update has finished, restart the server, then restart the Synchronizer services to successfully complete the update.
The Mobility Connector does not support BlackBerry devices. Instead, you can use BlackBerry Enterprise Server for GroupWise. ActiveSync clients for BlackBerry devices are not supported for use with the Mobility Connector.
If a GroupWise user has multiple devices, multiple synchronization solutions can access the same GroupWise account without causing any conflicts.
S/MIME is not currently supported by the Mobility Connector. You can open encrypted messages in GroupWise, but not on your mobile device.
On some mobile devices, when you create a new contact on the device, it does not synchronize to the same address book in GroupWise where you created it on the mobile device. It might synchronize to the GroupWise Frequent Contacts address book, or it might synchronize to the first GroupWise personal address book listed on the User Options page for your Synchronizer user account. Synchronization behavior for new contacts depends on the functionality of your mobile device.
If you copy a contact from one GroupWise address book to another, the contact is not synchronized to your mobile device in the destination address book. The GroupWise client links the original contact into the destination address book. Such links are not currently synchronized to your mobile device. However, on some mobile devices, you can search for contacts, regardless of which address book they are located in.
If the original contact is in an address book that is not synchronized to your mobile device, such as the Frequent Contacts address book, the copied contact does not appear on your mobile device, even when you are synchronizing the address book that it was copied into. If you want a copied contact to appear on your mobile device, delete the original contact from the original address book. This creates the contact as a normal contact in the address book that is being synchronized.
On some mobile devices, contacts with categories appear to be duplicated. If this is a problem, remove the category from the contacts.
If you create a contact on your mobile device and add a picture to it, the contact might not synchronize to GroupWise, if the picture that you added to the contact on your mobile device exceeds the GroupWise picture size limit. For more information, see Section 5.26, Picture Quality.
When your default personal address book synchronizes to your mobile device, it is named Contacts rather than the name that you see in GroupWise.
Shared address books are synchronized to the owner’s mobile device, but not to the mobile devices of those with whom the address book has been shared.
If you create a draft item on your mobile device, it does not synchronize to your Work in Progress folder in the GroupWise client. If you create a draft item in the GroupWise client, it does synchronize to your mobile device, but you cannot modify it on your mobile device.
On some mobile devices, items that are forwarded as attachments in GroupWise are not accessible.
If you move an item from one folder to another in the GroupWise client, it might not immediately move from the original folder to the destination folder on your mobile device. If the moved item still appears in the original folder, or it does not appear in the destination folder, manually refresh the folder on your mobile device. Use the mobile device’s Sync or Refresh option to see that the item has successfully moved from the original folder to the destination folder on your mobile device.
If you move an item from a folder that is not synchronized into a folder that is synchronized, the move does not cause the item to synchronize.
If you have rules to move selected items from your Junk Mail folder to your Mailbox folder, they are not synchronized to mobile devices. Messages that are placed in the Junk Mail folder are never synchronized. Messages that are moved from the Junk Mail folder to the Mailbox folder by rules are not detected as new messages and therefore are not synchronized to mobile devices.
Messages that display with HTML formatting in GroupWise are synchronized as text-only messages to your mobile device. The Mobility Connector currently uses ActiveSync version 2.5, which does not support HTML formatting. A future version of the Mobility Connector will support a more recent version of ActiveSync.
If you send an appointment to multiple users in the GroupWise client, then modify the appointment on your mobile device by changing the time, subject, location, or message text, your changes are not synchronized back to GroupWise.
For some mobile devices, when you modify an appointment on your mobile device, the modified appointment synchronizes correctly to GroupWise, but the original appointment is not removed from GroupWise, resulting in duplicate appointments in GroupWise.
If you reschedule an appointment into the future in the GroupWise Calendar, it also reschedules to the new date on your mobile device. However, the original appointment on the original date remains as a duplicate on your mobile device. On some devices, subsequent synchronizations update both appointments. On other devices, subsequent synchronizations cause both appointments to disappear from the mobile device.
If you decline an appointment and include a comment, the comment does not synchronize to the appointment sender’s mobile device.
In the GroupWise client, you can select the personal calendars from which you want appointments displayed in the main GroupWise Calendar. However, when calendar data is synchronized to your mobile device, all appointments are synchronized into the main calendar on the mobile device, regardless of which personal calendars you have selected in GroupWise. This is working as designed at present.
Shared calendars are synchronized to the owner’s mobile device, but not to the mobile devices of those with whom the calendar has been shared. If shared calendars are important to users, shared calendar owners can post them to the Internet using the GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host, as described in Publishing Personal Calendars on the Internet
in Calendar
in the GroupWise 8 Windows Client User Guide. After the owner publishes the calendar, other users can view the calendar URL in the Web browser on their mobile devices.
Shared folders synchronize to your mobile device if you are the folder owner. Users which whom the folders are shared do not see the shared folders on their mobile devices.
Find Results folders do not synchronize to your mobile device. A Find Results folder is a view of search results, not an actual folder in GroupWise.
If an attached e-mail message (for example, a message forwarded as an attachment) is larger that 400 KB, it is not synchronized to your mobile device. This limitation on attached e-mail messages applies even when the general attachment size limit is set above 400 KB. The default general attachment size limit is 500 KB, but attached e-mail messages are still restricted to 400 KB.
On some mobile devices, items that have attachments are available on your mobile device before the attachments themselves have synchronized. When this happens, you might see the item on your mobile device without attachments, then the item disappears briefly and reappears complete with attachments. This is working as designed.
If the filename of an attachment includes more than one period (.), the attachment does not synchronize to your mobile device.
Reminder notes are synchronized to your device as all day events. If you create an all day event on your mobile device, it synchronizes to GroupWise as an all day event. If you create a note on your mobile device, it does not synchronize to GroupWise.
Tasks are not currently synchronized to your mobile device. The supported ActiveSync protocol does not support tasks.
Phone messages are not currently synchronized to your mobile device.
If you reply to or forward an item on your mobile device, the typical or icon does not display when you view the item in a GroupWise client. The mobile device does not provide the necessary indicator to cause the GroupWise client to display the appropriate icon.
GroupWise personal address books limit contact pictures to 64x64 pixels and less than 2K in size. Mobile devices often handle pictures with more pixels and a larger file size.
When pictures are synchronized from your mobile device to GroupWise, GroupWise makes two attempts to optimize the picture to fit within the GroupWise limits of 64x64 pixels and 2K file size. The resulting picture might not display as well as expected in the GroupWise personal address book. You can use an image editing program to manually adjust the original picture to fit within the GroupWise limits, then synchronize it from your mobile device to GroupWise.
When pictures are synchronized from GroupWise to your mobile device, they might not display as well as expected on the mobile device because the GroupWise limit is retained on the mobile device.
See the Novell Data Synchronizer Mobility Connector Wiki to check for issues related to your particular mobile device.
The Mobility Connector depends on the GroupWise Connector and a GroupWise POA for much of its functionality. GroupWise 8.0.2 is required for use with the Mobility Pack. However, GroupWise 8.0.2 was released with some issues that impact Mobility Pack functionality. Fixes for these issues will be available as hot patches or in the next GroupWise release. For a list of GroupWise 8.0.2 issues, see the GroupWise Connector Readme.
The representation of extended characters in event IDs has changed between GroupWise 8.0.1 and 8.0.2. The change affects GroupWise mobile device users in domains and post offices where the domain or post office name includes extended characters. It affects these users regardless of the synchronization application they have been using (GroupWise Mobile Server, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, or the Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack).
Perform the following procedure when updating to GroupWise 8.0.2 in order to accommodate the change in the representation of external characters:
Identify the users who have been synchronizing data using GroupWise Mobile Server, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, or Novell Data Synchronizer, and who belong to domains or post offices whose names include extended characters.
Remove the affected users from the synchronization applications.
Run GWCheck for each user to see if the user database currently contains any event records:
In the field, browse to and select the path to the user’s post office.
In the box, select , then specify the user’s GroupWise user ID.
The action is selected by default, as well as the and options.
Select and .
On the tab, select .
On the tab, specify any users in addition to the GroupWise administrator that you want the log file sent to.
The log file is created in the post_office_directory\wpcsout\ofs directory, then e-mail to the specified users.
Click to check the user database and generate the log file.
Review the log file for lines similar to the following:
Starting scan of EVENT (and EVENT configuration) records
Located EVENT configuration record (drn=58517; key='string')
Finished scan of EVENT (and EVENT configuration) records
The key string varies depending on the synchronization application. For example, if the user has been synchronizing through Synchronizer, the key string would look similar to:
default.pipeline1.gw_Trusted App_C29AC0403_userid
If the user has been using multiple synchronization applications, there might be multiple event records, each with a different key string.
(Conditional) If the log file shows no event records for the user, repeat Step 3 and Step 4 for the next affected user.
For each affected user:
Identify the key string for the user’s synchronization application.
Rerun GWCheck as described in Step 3, and on the tab, specify the following option in the field:
cleanupgwevntskey=string
This removes all event records for the associated synchronization application.
(Conditional) If the user has been using multiple synchronization applications, repeat Step 6 for each synchronization application.
After all event records have been removed for all affected users, stop the POA.
Update the POA to GroupWise 8.0.2.
Add the affected users back to their synchronization applications.
This process is necessary because item IDs include domain and post office names. Because extended characters are represented differently in GroupWise 8.0.2, event records for items that contain the old representations of extended characters must be removed, so that subsequent synchronization of events for existing items can function correctly.
Novell Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack documentation is available at the Novell Data Synchronizer Documentation Web site:
Novell Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack Readme
Novell Data Synchronizer installation and administration guides
Novell Data Synchronizer connector documentation is available at the Novell Data Synchronizer Connector Documentation Web site
Connector Readmes
Connector Quick Starts
Connector installation and configuration guides
In addition to the Data Synchronizer product documentation, the following resources provide additional information about Data Synchronizer and connectors:
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