6.1 GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host Overview

6.1.1 Calendar Publishing Host Introduction

The GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host enables Internet users to view GroupWise users’ published calendars and to retrieve free/busy information from their calendars to assist with scheduling available appointment times. Internet users do not need access to the GroupWise system in order to view published calendars and obtain free/busy status.

Figure 6-1 No Login Required for the Calendar Publishing Host

As shown above, users at Web browsers can access the Calendar Publishing Host across the Internet without needing to log in. Information provided by the Calendar Publishing Host is publicly available to Internet users everywhere.

6.1.2 Calendar Publishing Host Components

The GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host includes two components: the Calendar Publishing Host itself, which connects to the Internet through a Web server, and the Post Office Agent (POA), which connects to your GroupWise system:

Figure 6-2 GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host Components

Calendar Publishing Host: The Calendar Publishing Host, which resides on the Web server, provides the browser interface for users across the Internet. As users request calendar and free/busy information from GroupWise users, the Calendar Publishing Host passes the information between the Web browser and the POA.

Post Office Agent: The POA receives user requests from the Calendar Publishing Host, accesses post offices and mailboxes to process the requests, and then passes information back to the Calendar Publishing Host in the form of ICS (Internet Calendaring and Scheduling) files and IFB (Internet Free Busy) files. These files can be imported into GroupWise, Outlook, and Mac iCal calendaring applications.

6.1.3 Calendar Publishing Host Security Requirements

The GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host can be configured to support the level of security you have established for your Internet/intranet communication.

If you are not concerned about security issues (for example, you only plan to use the Calendar Publishing Host on a secured intranet), you can install the Calendar Publishing Host to any server that provides access for your users and meets the requirements listed in Section 6.2, Calendar Publishing Host System Requirements.

If you plan to use the Calendar Publishing Host to provide calendar and free/busy information to users anywhere on the Internet (rather than simply within a secured intranet), and you already have a firewall in place to provide security, you have the following options for configuring the Calendar Publishing Host:

  • Install the Calendar Publishing Host inside your firewall and use a proxy service, as described in Configuration with a Proxy Service. This is the recommended configuration.

  • Install the Calendar Publishing Host on a Web server outside your firewall and have it communicate with a POA through your firewall, as described in Configuration without a Proxy Service.

Configuration with a Proxy Service

If your firewall includes a proxy service, you can install the Calendar Publishing Host to a Web server inside your firewall, and it can communicate with a POA that is also inside the firewall, as shown in the following illustration:

Figure 6-3 Calendar Publishing Host Installed inside the Firewall

Configuration without a Proxy Service

If your firewall does not provide a proxy service, you need to install the Calendar Publishing Host to a Web server that is outside the firewall. Because the POA requires direct access (mapped drive or UNC path) to a GroupWise post office directory, the POA needs to be installed to a server that is inside your firewall.

Figure 6-4 Calendar Publishing Host Installed outside the Firewall

The firewall must allow inbound IP packets to be sent from the Web server to the IP address and calendar publishing port number of the POA (for example, 172.16.5.18:7171).

In addition, the firewall must allow outbound IP packets to be sent from the POA to the Web server. This requires all high ports (above 1023) to be open to outbound IP packets.