Problem receiving appointment from Outlook Clients

[Rnimb]

Hi!

We are using groupwise for our email. We upgraded to groupwise 8 Release 8.0.2 1/20/2011 Build Number 92739.

One of our users is having issues receiving Appointments from an Outlook client. She receives the appointment like a normal email not the usual format with Accept / Decline options.

This is the weird part, problem only happens when the Appointment / meeting request came from that particular company. All others are good. I talked to the IT dept of that company and they said they have the newest Exchange and client softwares.. Another weird thing is, when I asked them to send a test to 2 of our users. Both of them received the Appointment. But only one received the appointment perfectly normal.

Is this a groupwise client issue? If it is, I can't pinpoint which setting is causing this? I mirrored my gw settings to her and even my IE settings... still having the issue.

help!

 

[goombawaho]

Any more updated GW client or even a BETA client to try??

Then you'll have to start looking at GWIA updates in case it's at the point where mail enters your system.

I'm doubting it has anything to do with the POA or MTA.

 

[Rnimb]

thanks I will look for GWIA updates.. keep you posted when I have the results.

 

[goombawaho]

This is one of those things where trial and error may be your friend.

But if the problem happens consistently when the other company sends a similar email to ANY of your users/workstations, it's not a fluke with one user/workstation.

I wouldn't rule out that it is something inside the other company. It's not ALWAYS "my fault". Sometimes you can find fault outside yourself and not just for the sake of passing blame. It's real.

 

[Rnimb]

Yeah, so far, in our company, there's only one having an issue. Others would seem to receive them with the correct format.

The company sending a meeting request / appointment has 2 locations. They are in separate provinces. When location A sends a meeting request, no problems receiving it; we have the accept / decline options. When the meeting request comes from Location B, then there's the problem; there's no accept / decline option, it's just like a normal plain text email.

 

[goombawaho]

Clarify this for me - does this behavior happen when sent to only one particular user or any user in your company?

It sounds more like it's on their end if they have one location that can send it properly and you can receive it properly, but it fails with their other location.

But..... do you know for a fact that mail is being sent from two separate mail servers correpsonding to the two different provinces?? I worked at a company where all the internet email from U.S., Canada, Mexico came/went from one server and distributed after arriving at the GWIA to the 5 post offices.

 

[marvhuffaker]

The GWIA handles incoming appointments and determines how to process them / either as a message or appointment. You have to have the iCAL option enabled. I don't believe it's enabled by default. That would be the best place to start. In consoleone, it's on the SMTP settings tab, the same pages as the send / receive threads and the SMTP service.

Marvin

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
A Novell Platinum Partner

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[goombawaho]

But Marv - it works in some circumstances so it can't be turned OFF.

 

[Rnimb]

@goombawaho - so far there's only one particular user complaining. I made a test. i asked that other company to send an appointment to 2 different users in our company. And just 1 of them received the appointment with teh correct format..
I can't get a hold of their mail admin yet.. I will try again on Monday.

@marvhuffaker - i believe it is enabled. But I will double check.

 

[goombawaho]

The correct test is as follows:

User at other company location 1 send to two or more users at your company.

User at other company location 2 sent to two or more users at your company.

Report results. This will evaluate both company locations and more than one user in your company.

 

[Rnimb]

here's what I got so far from one of the senior analysts of the other company:

"The Accept/Decline button is typically missing if the email client is not Outlook and cannot accept meeting requests in “iCalendar” format.

We do have two email environments currently because we haven’t merged everything into one yet since the merger. Everyone in Location 1 is on Exchange 2003 and the majority of people in Location 2 (wer the problem appointments come from) are on Exchange 2007.

There is a check mark in Outlook to say whether or not to send meeting requests in iCalendar format so in theory it should be easy to test. If unchecked, I believe it sends it in vCalendar format."

I haven't done the tests yet... I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all the inputs.

 

[goombawaho]

Ah yes - the joy of different systems, different versions, different locations, different countries, etc. In IT, a homogeneous world is a calmer place, all other things being equal.

 

[marvhuffaker]

So... Can you confirm whether the problems are exclusive to Exchange 2007?

Also, in GroupWise, it's a system level setting, not a client setting. I don't know Exchange but want to believe that you would need to confirm at a system level that it is sending appointments correctly.




Marvin Huffaker, MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
A Novell Platinum Partner

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[Rnimb]

June 22, I got a message from the Exchange Admin of the other company. he thought that the issue is that they have a Contact Card for her (the user who's having a problem) in their Global Address List. I asked him to remove it.. issue resolved!

Not sure how that caused the issue. It could be a bug on Microsoft's part or it's just how it works.

Thanks everyone!