Connecting Evolution to a GroupWise 7.0 Server

Novell Cool Solutions: Trench
By Joe Harmon

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Posted: 4 Nov 2005

Applies To:

Novell Linux Desktop 9
SUSE Linux 10.0
Evolution 2.4.x

Preface

Evolution is a GNOME based application. Although it is developed for GNOME it can also be used under KDE if desired. The example given in this document was using Evolution 2.4.0 which shipped with SUSE Linux 10.0. If you want to use this on Novell Linux Desktop 9, then you will need to subscribe to http://red-carpet.ximian.com and use the evolution-snapshot channel to get your software. Note that on NLD this is beta software and not the shipping version.

Prerequisites

The communication between Evolution and the GroupWise 7.0 server is performed using the SOAP protocol. This needs to be setup on the server side before a connection can be made using the Evolution client. The SOAP interface is setup using ConsoleOne and is a setting in the PO object. There is a setting to enable SOAP as well as a setting to for having SOAP over SSL.

Setup

This setup is performed on the default Evolution that ships with SUSE Linux 10.0. If you are using Novell Linux Desktop 9, then you will need to subscribe to http://red-carpet.ximian.com within Red Carpet to get the latest version.

After launching Evolution, you should receive a welcome screen. Click Forward to continue.
Put in you name and email address. The other information in the list is optional. Since this is my main account, I also marked it as my default account.
Choose Novell GroupWise from the drop down list.
Put in the IP address or DNS name of your GroupWise mail server. Put in the username that you will be using for authentication. Choose the desire security, however, in order to use a secure connection, your SOAP interface must first be setup to use SSL. Leave the Authentication Type as Password and if you don't want to be prompted for your password, check the Remember password option.
The default interval for checking email is 10 minutes. In this example I am going to change it so that it checks for new mail more often. I also prefer to have all of the other options checked. Especially the option to Automatically synchronize account locally. Put in the SOAP port. **Attention ** The SOAP interface must be setup on the server side before you can use it though the client. It is not setup by default on a GroupWise Server. If you choose to use a secure connection in step 4, then make sure that you use the appropriate port here.
Either give your account a name or accept the default. Then click Forward to continue.
Choose your time zone and click Forward to continue.
Your finished. Click Apply to finish the task.