1.3 Mobility Pack System Requirements

Before you install the Mobility Pack, ensure that the Synchronizer server meets Synchronizer system requirements, so that your Synchronizer system can function successfully.

1.3.1 Data Synchronizer Server Requirements

  • Hardware requirements for the Synchronizer server:

    • x86-64 processor

    • 2.2 GHz processor; multi-processor system recommended

    • Adequate server memory depending on the number of devices supported by the Synchronizer server

    • 45 MB of disk space for the Synchronizer software

    • 200 GB of disk space recommended for data storage during system operation

      Data storage disk space varies widely depending on the amount of data being synchronized, the number of devices participating in synchronization, the logging level for Synchronizer log files, and other variables specific to your Synchronizer system implementation.

      The largest consumers of disk space are the Synchronizer database (/var/lib/pgsql) and Synchronizer log files (/var/log/datasync). You might want to configure the Synchronizer server so that /var is on a separate partition to allow for convenient expansion.

      Another large consumer of disk space is attachment storage in the /var/lib/datasync/syncengine/attachments directory.

      NOTE:The 200 GB recommendation is appropriate for a large Synchronizer system that has the maximum recommended number of devices. A Synchronizer system with substantially fewer devices requires substantially less disk space.

    • Static IP address

  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 (64-bit), plus Service Pack 2

  • PostgreSQL

    If PostgreSQL is not already installed on the Synchronizer server, the Mobility Pack Installation program installs it for you.

  • Time synchronization among servers

    For the most reliable synchronization of time-sensitive items such as appointments, the Synchronizer server and GroupWise servers should have their time synchronized as closely as possible. This is especially important on virtual machines.

1.3.2 Directory Service Requirement

  • Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) v3

    Any version of Novell eDirectory fills this requirement. Other LDAP directories are not currently supported.

1.3.3 Web Browser Requirements for Synchronizer Web Admin

Any of the following Web browsers:

  • Mozilla FireFox 3 or later

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or later

  • Safari 3 or later

  • Google Chrome

1.3.4 GroupWise Requirements

In order for the GroupWise Connector to interact successfully with your GroupWise system, your GroupWise system must meet the following requirements:

1.3.5 Mobile Device Requirements

The Mobility Connector communicates with mobile devices by using the Microsoft ActiveSync protocol version 2.5. If a mobile device uses a later version of ActiveSync, the device can still successfully communicate with the Mobility Connector because later versions of ActiveSync are backward compatible with version 2.5.

Supported mobile device operating systems include:

  • Android 2.x, 3.x, and 4.1.x

  • Apple iOS 4.x, 5.x, and 6.0

  • Palm webOS

  • Symbian 9.x

  • Windows Mobile 6.x

  • Windows Phone 7

  • Windows 8 (Phone, Tablet, and Desktop)

Your mobile device communicates directly with the Mobility Connector to synchronize data. Some mobile devices require a data plan to accomplish this. Others work successfully with a Wi-Fi connection. Some mobile devices can be configured to use either method to communicate with the Mobility Connector. Your mobile device carrier is not involved in the synchronization process.

NOTE:The Mobility Connector does not work with POP, IMAP, SMTP, or other message transfer protocols. The Mobility Connector does not support BlackBerry devices. Instead, you must use BlackBerry Enterprise Server for GroupWise, as described in BlackBerry Enterprise Server in Mobile Devices in the GroupWise 2012 Interoperability Guide.

A user can synchronize data to multiple mobile devices as needed and can use multiple synchronization solutions as needed. For example, the Mobility Connector and BlackBerry Enterprise Server can both synchronize data from the same GroupWise mailbox without conflict.

For the latest information about supported mobile devices, see the Data Synchronizer Mobility Connector Devices Wiki.

1.3.6 Recommended Number of Devices

A single Synchronizer server can comfortably support approximately 750 devices.

The performance of your Synchronizer system depends on many variables including server configuration, system configuration, and the level of user activity, both in GroupWise and on their mobile devices. This statement of support is based on the following testing parameters:

Server Configuration

  • Virtual machine

  • 2.8 GHz processor

  • 4 CPUs

  • 8 GB RAM

Synchronizer System Configuration

  • 500 users

  • 750 devices

User/Device Traffic

  • Average of 181 GroupWise events/minute

    • Email send / read/ move to folder / delete

    • Appointment send / accept / decline / delete

    • Folder create

  • Average of 474 events/user in a 24-hour period

  • Average of 165 device requests/minute

    • Email send / read

  • Average of 427 emails from devices in a 24-hour period

  • Average of 2479 KB/minute of attachment data transfer

    • 97% under 1MB

    • 2% between 1MB and 2 MB

    • 1% above 2 MB

NOTE:You can observe some of these statistics for your own Synchronizer system using the Global Status Monitor, as described in Monitoring Your Synchronizer System in Synchronizer System Management in the Mobility Pack Administration Guide.

Device Profile:

  • 60% Apple devices

  • 37% Android devices

  • 10% Windows Mobile devices

  • 3% Other

Hardware Performance for Four Days:

  • 24% average CPU usage

  • 17% average disk busy usage

  • 26% average memory usage, with 32% maximum and 24% minimum