Treo 650 and ActiveSync

[webcortech]

Just to give everyone an FYI. I have been doing some research and found a couple things out that may lean you from moving to ActiveSync right away.

http://forums.palmone.com/pe/action...7111&returnExpertiseCode=__Corporate_em__USCA

Read that post and you will probably go.. "oh.. another Microsoft product.... " wait out the storm.

I have a client using the Good Server.. they love it, but are cheap.. and heard that ActiveSync is "free" and works with their new Exchange 2003 server. True, but remember the following:

- Active Sync only works with the Treo 650 no support for 600.

- Must have a front end server (small server to accept the Treo 650 connections)

- It is not live, must be schedule to sync

- Will not support subfolders, only inbox

- No access to Public folders

- SSL Certificate required

- Looks like Contacts, Notes, and some Calendar features will not work.

Anyways.. those looking for tips, tricks, etc for ActiveSync.... have fun.. I'm going to wait awhile and see what happens. I don't want 20 people calling me telling me how their Treo reboots randomly when checking email.. I'll stick to Goodlink!

cheers!
tc

 

[bran2235]

Great Post... it was actually just what I needed to know-

So, you say Good Server works well w/ Treo 600? Is there a Good server client that I can use or does my comapany need to purchase an Enterprise Good Server solution?

We are using Exchange 2003- A friend of mine has a Treo 650 and is using activesync and it works great... damn, I wish I would have know that it doesn't work w/ the 600 (just bought one)-

I can't seem to get any client to work on my Treo 600 (tried Snapper, and VersaMail)- The only thing that works w/out a glitch is Exchange/OMA- which really is not that great at all... Any suggestions??

Many Thanks,
Brandon

 

[webcortech]

As far as I know, you can not use the Treo 600 with Active Sync yet. I am sure someone will build an app that will work. You can use Snapper Mail on the Treo 600 and setup IMAP. That works like a champ, but to truely give your users wireless sync of Cal, Contacts, inbox, folders, notes, etc... Goodlink is the way to go for 600 and 650. If you just want email, Snapper Mail works very well and just syncs your Inbox, Sent and Deleted. (IMAP).

The 600 have dropped so much in price.. you can find refurbs or good deals almost anywhere now that everyone wants the 650... So far my 600 refurb from Sprint has been fine. The 650 is very nice, but not ready to drop the $$ for it.

Keep with Snapper and IMAP. Make sure your ports are opened up properly to Exchange and Exchange can talk on IMAP to you your device. You can Test IMAP internally with Outlook Express to Exchange to make sure IMAP is working, then go outside your firewall. you can narrow down what is wrong, or actually working.!

Let me know if have any questions.

 

[bran2235]

YES- lots of questions... (THANK YOU!)
I have snapper and Versamail... on my Sprint TREO 600. I noticed that our exchagne implementor did not enable Pop or IMAP on the box... so, I enabled the two services and started them... still can't connect/sync (?)

I can connect using OMA- which sucks- but would like to use something else!

Do you know if I have to enable/allow pop protocol on my PIX? (i'm new at the pix stuff)- and enable IMAP protocol on the pix? are the two related?

Treo Setup Question:
Chose POP as protocol;
Username: (?) Am I supposed to use Domain\username or just username?
Password- got that one;
Email address- got that one too;
Incoming Mail Server: I typed in the same address that I would to get oma and owa (webmail.companydomain.com)
Did the same for Outgoing;

Still can't sync?? Any ideas?

I know, lots of questions but I appreciate anything you can offer...

Brandon

 

[webcortech]

Just open up IMAP 143 TCP port on the PIX to your Exchange server. I would however, change the port number to something else and have exchange listen on that translation. Or use s-IMAP, which is SSL. But it to work first with 143, then go to the next level.

For your login, since your Treo is not a domain computer, you will need to use domain\username

Try using the IP address of the firewall that has the IMAP opening, rather than the OWA address. The OWA address may only have port 80 open or 443 for HTTPS to get to OWA.

I can't remember if you need POP open also for snapper to work, I don't think so. Just IMAP will take care of everything for you.

Again, test internally with Outlook Express to your server and see if IMAP works, then go to the handheld and try externally.

Yes, start the services on Exchange.
Check your Exchange account that you CAN use IMAP/POP. Sometimes someone may turn it on, but restric who can use it because dumb users will configure POP and then Dump their Exchange account to a local POP account and then ask questions like "where is my mail" ect.

Remember, Do not use POP for this, use IMAP only.

 

[bran2235]

Sweet- (thanks)
One more... As far as Good Server goes, is their just a download that I need? or is this a Server / Enterprise solution?

many thanks!
Brandon

 

[webcortech]

For Goodlink, you can call download it for free and try it out for 30 days. They will give a temporary licesne, etc. after that, it is about $350 per user per year, with 5 min I think it is.

You have to run it on another server. It does not have to be fancy or anything. But something with at least a P4 and a gig a RAM... The install goes pretty easy. Just follow the PRE-install reqs..(setting up permissions for an account, GoodAdmin, etc DO NOT USE ADMINISTRATOR, will not work)

Best part, no change in the firewall. Leave as is. I have been using Good for 2-3 years now, early adopter and it has been great and their support rocks

 

[bran2235]

Ok, so I'm going to add this:

access-list inbound-traffic permit tcp any host [public IP of mail server] eq ???

Not sure what to add here at the end (143? or IMAP) ??

 

[webcortech]

I'm a little rusty on the PIX

You might be able to go into PDM and configure through that interface easier...

https://pixip/pdm

I think that is it. But you would want to allow all public IP for IMAP to NAT mail server.

 

[bran2235]

Ok, (you rock)-
I got it to work (not using PDM)- Had to break out the old thinking cap for PIX bc I rarely touch it...

However, now that I got it to work via 143, I want to change that port number for the obvious reason... Do you know how I would do this? 143=>??

 

[webcortech]

Well, you could some obscure number in the TCP/UDP range like 8877 or something that is not used. Then on your Snapper, configure IMAP to point to the IP address of your firewall, with the IMAP port number of 8887.

You should probably have Exchange listen then on IMAP 8877 then. You should be able to configure this somewhere. off the top of my head, not sure

glad it works!

 

[GoodLinkGuy]

Some information regarding GoodLink:

The GoodLink Server sits behind your firewall and connects to Exchange via MAPI. The hardware requirements are minimal in that it only needs a P3, 512MB RAM and about 29 MB hard drive space. There is a client portion that resides on the device (Treo 600 or 650 and some PPC devices) that is provisioned over the air, so there is no cradling required.

The server portion is free and there is an annual subscription fee for the devices.

Hope this helps.