Database Users

AKU2 (push email) providers - experience

Anyone got any recommendations for push email providers. Or just names to compare.
So far I have tried:
4smartphone.net - good service but not cheap
mail2web.com - good and cheap
any other recommendations ?

colonel said:
Anyone got any recommendations for push email providers. Or just names to compare.
So far I have tried:
4smartphone.net - good service but not cheap
mail2web.com - good and cheap
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I've gathered so far, go with one of those two.

or register your own domain and build your own exchange server, works fine

adonker said:
or register your own domain and build your own exchange server, works fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just like that?

If you would like to have direct push mail from Microsoft on your Universal, it can be done with MS Exchange server SP2
having Echange SP2 on your own (Hosted) server, and building your own certificate on this server (domain) which you later can import on your Universal, you can use Direct Push mail (Https) fron the Universal to your Echange server.
I'm using it,..and the mobile active sync is constantly keeping the GPRS HTTPS connection allive and is syncronising constantly my inbox (agenda, contacts, email and tasks) Not the same as blackberry, but only several seconds delay (depends on gprs network, umts will be faster)

Download the latest rom with the AKU2 feature pack from MS build in, install it on your device and you can use the Direct Push function

adonker said:
If you would like to have direct push mail from Microsoft on your Universal, it can be done with MS Exchange server SP2
having Echange SP2 on your own (Hosted) server, and building your own certificate on this server (domain) which you later can import on your Universal, you can use Direct Push mail (Https) fron the Universal to your Echange server.
I'm using it,..and the mobile active sync is constantly keeping the GPRS HTTPS connection allive and is syncronising constantly my inbox (agenda, contacts, email and tasks) Not the same as blackberry, but only several seconds delay (depends on gprs network, umts will be faster)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes yes, I know all this... but you can get exactly the same thing for four pounds a month with 4smartphone.net and they take care of 90% of the hassle for you. Setting up an exchange server is beyond 95% of people with handhelds. And even then, I may be being charitable.
Even downloading a dodgy copy of Exchange via bittorrent is more hassle than getting 4smartphone.net to host it for you.

adonker said:
If you would like to have direct push mail from Microsoft on your Universal, it can be done with MS Exchange server SP2
having Echange SP2 on your own (Hosted) server, and building your own certificate on this server (domain) which you later can import on your Universal, you can use Direct Push mail (Https) fron the Universal to your Echange server.
I'm using it,..and the mobile active sync is constantly keeping the GPRS HTTPS connection allive and is syncronising constantly my inbox (agenda, contacts, email and tasks) Not the same as blackberry, but only several seconds delay (depends on gprs network, umts will be faster)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would rather look for a personal assistant at the cost of your solution

haha,....sorry. Im a system engineer.

I've been using mail2web with my XDA Exec for the last few days and it works really well. Pretty good for a free service!

Been using 4smartphone.net trial for a few days now... My Exec's mail keeps de-syncing with the Exchange server.
I figured that if I MOVE emails between folders a lot, I start getting ActiveSync problems with error code 0x80070008 and I can't sync anymore. After a soft reset, I can sync again, but the folders on my Exec are now out of sync with folders on the Exchange server. i.e. some mails that were moved are now in Inbox of Exchange, whereas they have been moved to another mail folder on my Exec.
Seems too unreliable for me :|

My take on 4smartphone.net is that its a bit more professional then mail2web. It also ensures that emails sent are stamped with the email address you want to use (i.e. the one fwded/pop3ed to 4smartphone).
mail2web is a little more DIY, however the FAQ is good.
Ultimately I have opted to use mail2web as its only $1.99 a month vs $3.99 a month for 4smartphone (also have to keep up my IGN subscription
rgds

I found 4smartphone.net quite reliable.
did you setup manually - ? I did, maybe the autosetup has an issue.
are you syncing over wifi ? this has to be done manually
have 4smartphone.net given any reason why folder moving should case a trouble ?

colonel said:
have 4smartphone.net given any reason why folder moving should case a trouble ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't actually contacted them yet... I've been googling 0x80070008 and found it to be memory related issues on the device. I'm thinking memory leak leading to lack of memory on my device -> ActiveSync dies.

yeah, could be too many things running as well.
I haven't rebooted for 2 weeks now (since the new O2 update) - famous last words !

what is that aku2 thing and can I use push mail on WM2003se? thnx

no. u can use activesync over a GPRS/3G with wm 2003se. look at mail2web.com FAQs.
however this is not push, its periodic activesync.
push email is where your device gets email as soon as its delivered.
this means that you get the email straight away. the technical difference is that push (in WM5) is server driven and not device driven.
I presume you don't have a universal as they are all WM5.
rgds

colonel said:
the technical difference is that push (in WM5) is server driven and not device driven.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a question: does this mean that you don't pay for the data required to send the e-mail to your device? The one thing that's held me back from diving into push e-mail so far is the worry of going over my data limit (5mb/month on O2 - I can't afford any extra...) and paying too much on my contract.
If MMS messages are free to receive, is it the same for push e-mail messages because the server is initiating the connection? Or do we still have to pay? If you could answer this for me I'd really appreciate it, so thanks in advance
Mach

You'd still have to pay.

thanks for answer colonel. I will look at mail2web.com.

Newbie Question... What is push email?

Hello,
Just got my Cingular 8125 as I have a need to check email on the road. I will be using wifi for connectivity to the internet and hopefully to check email.
I'm very new to this and don't understand the concept of email to smartphones. I keep coming across the term push email when researching upgraded roms. I think I want it but I'm not sure what it is. I'm assuming it allows my phone to just get email without having to connect to GPRS or wifi. Sort of like text messages. But really I have no clue and don't know if I need exchange server or not.
Here is what I am looking for... I have about 5 different POP3 accounts for my own domain names. I would like to be able to check these 5 accounts from my phone. I would also like to check my gmail account. I did find some instructions for this on these forums. Ideally, they would just go to the phone as they arrive. Another option would be for me to manually check email occassionally throughout the day through GPRS or Wifi. Would I be able to receive a phone call if I'm downloading emails?
These email accounts are from my websites on shared servers with a hosting provider. I do not have an Exchange Server. Looked into a company called web2email but not sure if I need that either.
Basically, what is the best solution for me to get my emails in a quick and reliable manner. Also, if anyone has any advice on syncing with Outlook that would be great... for instance, if I check email with my phone, is it removed from the server so when I check on my laptop it will show no emails? Then when I sync, will the phone emails be added to my laptop? Vice versa?
Appreciate any advice you might have. I tried to search and couldn't really find anything. If you would rather post a link to another thread or site tutorial that would be fine as well.

Yes i think you guessed right, push email is email that is sent to your device as soon as it arrives to your email account, but you will need a push email account and your gprs will need to be on continously. Some have reported higher costs with push email as it has a higher data use the ordinary pop email. Choice is yours!
When you check emails with your phone, the email stays on the server, and you can set your laptop to do likewise under your pop email account settings.

Thank you. That makes sense.
I plan on getting an unlimited plan (either medianet or dataplan) so I don't think it would be a problem for GPRS to always stay on.
I read something about some setting that will default to wifi if available.
Sounds like this "push email" is exactly what I was looking for. And to think I almost got a Blackberry.
Thanks again.

The push e-mail system on Microsoft Windows Mobile devices requires an active cellular data connection. The device at periodic intervals issues a "heartbeat" to an Exchange server (belong to either your company, yourself, or an e-mail provider). The Exchange server checks the account, sees if you have new mail, and then pushes it back onto the device.
The battery drain is minimal compared to setting up Pocket Outlook to check for messages every X minutes, but it is slightly more than a true push system such as RIM's Blackberry devices. This is because RIM uses true push e-mail, where the network wakes up your device when you receive a new e-mail.
There's a free e-mail provider out there that supports Microsoft Exchange and Direct Push with ActiveSync. Check out the Mail2Web live service, at:
http://live.mail2web.com/

GliTCH82 said:
The push e-mail system on Microsoft Windows Mobile devices requires an active cellular data connection. The device at periodic intervals issues a "heartbeat" to an Exchange server (belong to either your company, yourself, or an e-mail provider). The Exchange server checks the account, sees if you have new mail, and then pushes it back onto the device.
The battery drain is minimal compared to setting up Pocket Outlook to check for messages every X minutes, but it is slightly more than a true push system such as RIM's Blackberry devices. This is because RIM uses true push e-mail, where the network wakes up your device when you receive a new e-mail.
There's a free e-mail provider out there that supports Microsoft Exchange and Direct Push with ActiveSync. Check out the Mail2Web live service, at:
http://live.mail2web.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it sounds like I will need an exchange server which I don't have. I just have a standard POP3 account with my site hosting...
I like the push idea and will checkout mail2web. I will email them some questions as their site is somewhat confusing for me. It says the free account does not support POP3. I'm pretty sure I would need that. Their business accounts will work but I'm not sure if the pricing per user would allow me to use all 5 email accounts. That said though, if the free version won't work for me the paid accounts are very reasonably priced.

So can someone post a easy walkthru to getting functioning push on a 8125?

To anble Direct Push, you shd hv AKU2 ROm installed on yr device.Then u can very well use it...also you can visit www.mail2web.com for live mail..

Well, when you use a provider like Mail2Web you don't need to setup your own Exchange server, they let you use theirs. And unfortunately, Mail2Web's free live service which lets you use Direct Push doesn't let you use POP3. However, their Outlook Mobile Access is a web based e-mail system that is absolutely great, it mimics Microsoft Outlook's interface and for all intents and purposes eliminates the need for you to use POP3 to check e-mail from your account. When you sign up with them, your e-mail address is [email protected].
As you may have already noticed, for a fee you can upgrade to POP3 access and other e-mail solutions including using your own domain (such as [email protected]) but I have yet to find a need for this. I just forward all my e-mail accounts to my mail2Web account with one drawback: When people get my e-mail it says it's from [email protected].
But with 1 GB of free storage, and a 10 MB (if i remember correctly) message limit and free Direct Push, I'm not one to complain.

IdeaDirect said:
So it sounds like I will need an exchange server which I don't have. I just have a standard POP3 account with my site hosting...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some hosting sites (running on Linux usually) will run something like Procmail that allows you to set up filtering and forwarding rules. You might be able to get your hosting POP3 accounts to forward copies of new mail to your mail2web account.
Alternatively, you could poll the POP3 accounts from your PC at home, and have an Inbox rule that forwards relevant (ie non junk/spam) to your mail2web account. That just means having your email client running all the time to do the forwarding...
Final thought is, as you said, to set up Exchange at home, poll your POP accounts (which I believe you can do with the version of Exchange in the Small Business Server) and then set up Push with your own server.
Regards,
Dox

Dox said:
IdeaDirect said:
So it sounds like I will need an exchange server which I don't have. I just have a standard POP3 account with my site hosting...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some hosting sites (running on Linux usually) will run something like Procmail that allows you to set up filtering and forwarding rules. You might be able to get your hosting POP3 accounts to forward copies of new mail to your mail2web account.
Alternatively, you could poll the POP3 accounts from your PC at home, and have an Inbox rule that forwards relevant (ie non junk/spam) to your mail2web account. That just means having your email client running all the time to do the forwarding...
Final thought is, as you said, to set up Exchange at home, poll your POP accounts (which I believe you can do with the version of Exchange in the Small Business Server) and then set up Push with your own server.
Regards,
Dox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good suggestions. Yes, I can set up all sorts of forwards on my hosting server but I like keeping things separate as they are all different businesses. I like to reply from the different emails as well. I also don't want to rely on my home email client and setting up an Exchange server seems complicated (to someone that didn't even know what push email was :wink: )
It does seem that the paid version at web2email will do the trick. It is only a couple bucks a month. I need to see if I can have multiple pop3 accounts though. I don't mind paying a few bucks each month for this service as it is quite important to me. It is the primary reason I got this phone.

Push Email with Exchange Server?

Hi all, im kind of new to this but i just read about push email with exchange server and i was wondering how i could use it with my mda vario. I've already installed an updated rom with push email but i dont know how to use it. can any one fill me in on this? thanks for any help.

You need a Exchange 2003 server with at least SP2 installed. Also a UMTS/GPRS connection because is not working over WIFI.
Bitfrotter 8)

Go to www.mail2web.com, sign up there. Than put the settings from the website in the Exchange Server settings in Active Sync on your PPC. Set your current email address to automatically forward your email to your mail2web email address. Enable GPRS and enable push email from the Comm Manager and bingo, push email is yours.

Ok, ive already signed up with mail2web but i want to automatically retrieve hotmail emails. i don't see an option on hotmail to forward all my emails to mail2web. am i missing something here? sorry, im inexperienced and all and these are probably lame questions and all. but please help me out. after reading that article i got hyped up in doing this. thanks for any replies.

Bitfrotter said:
You need a Exchange 2003 server with at least SP2 installed. Also a UMTS/GPRS connection because is not working over WIFI.
Bitfrotter 8)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've gotten DirectPush to work over WiFi... Maybe that was an earlier ROM version though... I don't recall the circumstances under which I got it to work.

MS says that Direct Push does not work over WiFi. WiFi does not allow disconnected connections (in other words, a connection that allows for the data stream to be suspended). If WiFi did it, it would require a continuous connection that would drain the batteries at a very rapid pace.
Setting up Exchange for Direct Push is pretty easy. I set up ours in about 5 minutes.
One of the coolest things you can do with a correctly configured Exchange 2003 system is with the Mobile Admin pack (free download from MS). It allows you to tell the PDA that it needs to "self-destruct" in case the phone is stolen. A remote wipe will do a hard-reset on the phone, deleting all data not stored on an external SD.
I usually get my email on the MDA faster than Outlook on my desktop.
If any Exchange admins are out there, I can post how to set it up if anyone needs help.

exchange/activesync
Yes please!

Hotmail has deleted the possibility of forwarding mail automatically a few years ago in the free version, only Hotmail Plus subscribers can use this option. With gmail however it is still free. So a basic hotmail account will not be able to use Push over Exchange. You can however sign in to MSN Messenger on your device and will then be notified as soon as an email arrives on the hotmail server. This will cost you extra data charges though, since contacts coming online will also result in data transfer to your device.

Romp said:
MS says that Direct Push does not work over WiFi. WiFi does not allow disconnected connections (in other words, a connection that allows for the data stream to be suspended). If WiFi did it, it would require a continuous connection that would drain the batteries at a very rapid pace.
Setting up Exchange for Direct Push is pretty easy. I set up ours in about 5 minutes.
One of the coolest things you can do with a correctly configured Exchange 2003 system is with the Mobile Admin pack (free download from MS). It allows you to tell the PDA that it needs to "self-destruct" in case the phone is stolen. A remote wipe will do a hard-reset on the phone, deleting all data not stored on an external SD.
I usually get my email on the MDA faster than Outlook on my desktop.
If any Exchange admins are out there, I can post how to set it up if anyone needs help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that would be awesome if you know of a tutorial anywhere on this..

so by creating an exchange server as romp said, you can sync any email including hotmail? well that's really a bummer that microsoft disabled forwarding on hotmail. Its mainly my primary email which all my friends/family know. so it would be a miracle if anyone knew how to sync hotmail without subscribing to their hotmail plus.

Well, getting outside emails are a bit more complex. This is usually for a business, but there are plenty of POP-to-Exchange plug ins that would allow getting Hotmail emails. Of course, you would need the Hotmail Plus for the POP.
http://www.slipstick.com/exs/popconnect.htm
My answer was more concerning the Exchange Direct push question, not the hotmail one.
Where I work (yes, I did set up the Exchange system) we have GFI spam filtering and virus filtering (www.gfi.com) and they have a POP2Exchange bridge included. It just checks the account, downloads any POP emails, and drops it in the right mailbox.
Exchange is a complete system, not just mail. It has webmail, Windows Mobile direct push, calendar, contacts, and more. Unless you are in a company with Exchange or Small Business Server, its not a cheap thing to do for a home network.
If you DO have Exchange at your office, run to the IT guy and hurt him until he sets your phone up on it. Its all the functionality of Blackberry and more, built into Exchange.
I'll write that tutorial, g0nk.

ok so if we go the mail2web route... i dont need to install exchange 2003 on a pc myself? does it only work on windows server 2003?
im interested in doing this at my job but i want to make sure it is not too difficult
edit.. well we have our own domain email addresses so the [email protected] is not an option..
any suggestions?

Romp said:
Exchange is a complete system, not just mail. It has webmail, Windows Mobile direct push, calendar, contacts, and more.
If you DO have Exchange at your office, run to the IT guy and hurt him until he sets your phone up on it. Its all the functionality of Blackberry and more, built into Exchange.
I'll write that tutorial, g0nk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Agreed
2) I am the IT guy and it don't work on our server - the rootcertificate won't install to the PPC - an MS acknowledged problem............
3) Please forward ASAP !! Thanks !! :lol:

Is it a self published cert? Because you CAN get any externally issued cert to work just fine. We use a $15 GoDaddy cert with no problems.
The big screw up most people have with the cert (myself included) is that the cert is not correctly installed, even though it says it is.
Cheaper certs are called "Chained" certs. All certs need a path back to one of the big cert companies. So, companies like GoDaddy get approved to be second level cert issuers. IE on the PC will look at the cert and track it back to the main cert issuer. For example, the cert on GoDaddy goes from GoDaddy, to Starfield, to VeriCert. The VeriCert certificate is installed on all PCs.
Anyway, the problem is that the PC can follow an undefined cert path, the PPC can't. If you install the cert on the server, IE on the PC can figure out the whole path, PPC can't. So, the big thing is to make sure the MIDDLE CERTS are installed on the server. Even though everything seems fine, chances are that the middle ones are not (in this case STARFIELD)
The easiest way to find out if the cert is valid or not is try to get to your webmail on PIE. If you get a message about the cert, your server is not set up completely.
For my server, I had no luck until I found the Intermediary Cert and installed it. https://certificates.starfieldtech.com/Repository.go
Once that was done, my GoDaddy cert worked on the PPC and syncs went perfectly. Once the server has all the certs in the cert path installed, the PPC can validate each level. Until then, its clueless. Most people think you need to install the cert on the PPC. Its the server that needs it.

Does the self published cert only cause problems with direct push? I've got the "old" polling method working. I created a root CA on my server to sign the cert created for the web server and then turned that root CA into a CAB which was installed on the PPC. I should say that my phone doesn't have an AKU 2.xx rom on yet so I've not tested push mail.
This is all outlined in the following doc :
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/mobile/deploy/msfpdepguide.mspx
Also look at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817379 if you are running a non sbs2003 exchange server in a configuration that doesn't have a front end/back end exchange server configuration. As there are some minor tweeks needed to the registry and to the default web server setup.

If you can do a remote Activesync, then DirectPush will work just fine.

A newbie Direct Push question:
I upgraded my 8125 ROM to the official Cingular June 19 version, and direct push SEEMS to be working great my my Hosted Exchange provider. When new email comes in to my Exchange server and/or a task / calendar / contact is changed on the desktop Outlook client, those get pushed quickly to the 8125.
Problem is, it doesn't seem to work in reverse. For example, IF I get an email pushed to me on my PDA, I read it and delete it on my PDA.....that deletion action is NOT getting syncronized back to my Exchange server. Is that by design, or is indeed something wrong?
Thanks in advance!

not sure if it helps, but you can change when pocket outlook deletes mail, there are 3 options:
on connect/disconnect
immediately
manually
I dunno if changing that will help you at all, but its in the pocket outlook options.
I'll shut up now, in case I misunderstood

jmel said:
not sure if it helps, but you can change when pocket outlook deletes mail, there are 3 options:
on connect/disconnect
immediately
manually
I dunno if changing that will help you at all, but its in the pocket outlook options.
I'll shut up now, in case I misunderstood
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate your reply, but my question is beyond that......it centers around Driect Push.....my thinking is, regardless of that setting you referred to, once the email is deleted on the PDA, the PDA should "reverse-push" that deletion to the Exchange server, and mine does not seem to be doing that.
I hope that is a little clearer?

No, his answer was right. The reverse of the Push is not the same. You have to set the options as Jmel suggested. Its basically to save data.
This allows you to go through your mail, delete all your spam and crap, then update the server. Doing so immediately would be a waste. Recieving/sending emails is considered vital, deleting them...not so much.

directpush protocol questions (exchange replacement possible?)

I am using mail2web free service to have my mail pushed to my WM5 device, but I don't like the idea of forwarding my private email to a company I don't know and I don't trust.
Normally I have my email at a home mail server running linux, and I was wondering if there's any open/free solution compatible with directpush technology to replace the need for an exchange 2003 server.
If it does not exist (i have been searching and couldn't find it), what is preventing someone of writing a free replacement? patent issues? authentication issues? I haven't sniffed the protocol yet, but I think it's impossible that no one has thought about it before... wouldn't you like to have your home imap server pushing your inbox to your PocketPC phone? If the protocol is not very obscure it should be easy to write a daemon that does it...
any thoughts or experiences?

Kerio Mail Server has the push compatibility.
Not free though, but it is an alternative to Exchange.
Their latest beta supports it. I reported a bug to them re: contacts getting corrupted but they say they fixed that in the latest build.
Can't retest now since that server is at another site I won't be visiting for a while.

Hmm the directpush "protocol" is pretty trivial it shouldn't be impossible to implement an open alternative.

I installed the latest Kerio MailServer yesterday. It works great!
Especially nice is that it runs on XP as well as Linux. Too bad about the price!

pof, have you had the chance to sniff the protocol?

not yet ivorh, been too busy with many other things, but this is still on the queue

sniffed
Heh, got bored so I setup an exchange account and sniffed the packets.
I'll go through them and post some details when I get a chance.

great ivorh!
Can you attach a capture in pcap format?

update and thoughts
Pof,
Hmm, ok a bit more thinking and digging and I'm not sure implementing an open alternative directly is that useful. Let me explain why:
The direct push only works with the outlook exchange active sync. When the device gets a "direct push" byte, it triggers a sync with exchange - the functionality is tightly bound together, and as far as I can tell you cant dip in and get it to do something else. So to get it working you would need a server providing the exchange http interface. This wouldn't be impossible but would need a lot of effort for little benefit.
I took a look at the open-exchange but that doesn't seem like an ideal solution since it would require a completely different server installed rather than IMAP or POP and as far as I can tell the Outlook connector isn't one of the open-source components anyway.
Now what I'm currently thinking would be a neat workaround would be to implement a custom "direct-push" to basically do exactly the same, have a client app on the device open an http connection to a server running, er, "OpenPush" if you like... use exactly the same technique of a keep-alive connection and occasional heartbeats, but on a message notification on the client get the client to trigger an IMAP pull.
Now this is where I need some advice.... I haven't done any Windows Mobile development yet, so can anyone tell me what sort of API is available to the messaging app? Can you/how do you trigger a mail pull? (oh someone please tell me it's not the same horrible old MAPI interface??).
PS I've just been capturing the data using a simple http proxy actually, I'll make some samples and upload them with descriptions.
Cheers,
Ivor.
http://www.ivor.it

Hi pof,
try funambol. It was formerly known as Sync4j. I once found it when I searched a complete sync solution that I could implement in the mailserver of my company. We are using kolab so I only tried the old Sync4j cause there is a kolab connector available for v2.3.
v3.0 implements (real) Push-Mail. Microsoft Active Push works with a http connection that is opened by the client. Funambol Push-Mail connects to a port the client opens. I didn't want to test any further cause I'm using a Wapflat and thus only get an internal IP and have to use a proxy.
http://www.funambol.com/opensource/
Perhaps this is what you are searching for
What I forgot to say: For funambol you install a java program on your phone wich will insert the received mails in your Pocket Outlook

Yay!
Pof,
Ha! Ok I've whipped up a version 0.0.0 of OpenPush. and it works rather nicely!
Basically it consists of two parts one is an app that runs on the mobile and operates in the same manner as DirectPush. It opens up a socket connection to the server and waits for a notification byte. If it recieves a byte it kicks off a mail retrieval.
The other is a daemon that runs on the server and watches for a change in the users mailbox if it changes (i.e. a mail has arrived) then it pops a byte down the socket.
It just needs finishing now...
Currently the daemon is just an app that listens on a dedicated socket. I plan on turning it into a mod_perl module and using http keep-alive in the same fashion as directpush.
Regards,
Ivor

ivorh, that sounds cool!!
I had a look at funambol but seems too 'bloated' for my needs, I think your OpenPush will be more tight to what I was looking for, so if you want a beta tester just send a link to it
Is there any specific server configuration? I am running a Gentoo server with courier-imap, sendmail and apache2.

Any chance you could extend the daemon so other programs can tie into your new-item notification? It would be cool to write a program that can keep files synchronized over-the-air with a desktop machine using push sychronization.

Pof,
Yeah it's just a prototype at the moment. So I need to write it properly next. At the moment the requirements are simply "perl". It's independent of mail system, it simply monitors a directory/file you give it for changes.
I'm going to write it to be a mod_perl module for various reasons, so the requirements will be just apache and mod_perl.
I'll hack some more tonight and try and get a 0.0.1 ready.
aatreya,
Well I'll keep it simple for now and just doing one job well.

Sound interesting to me.
I am new to this. Pardon me for some questions.
Do I need to buy a server at home?
This server can be any OS?

I am really happy to see some people trying to do just about the same I intended to. Today I started experimenting with Open-Xchange. I also have a Gentoo server that provides an ebuild for Open-Xchange, but after a bit of browsing it just seems like the thing MS Exchange and OX have in common is the similarity of their names. So installing OX and doing all the Exchange stuff with it does not seem to be an option.
So I looked into Funambol - sort of again. About a year ago I already tried to get Sync4J running to sync my SyncML phone. I did not succeed, but that just makes me eager to try it harder this time.
I also have to use a Proxy-Server for my GPRS connection but I want to have it working via WLAN, too, hence without proxy and the whole tunneling disco.
PS: Ivor, I am glad to meet You once again. When our roads crossed the last time, You just figured out how to get the CLE266 MPEG2 stuff working, respect!

A very rough pre-alpha version should be ready this weekend. I can only apologise in advance for the quality of my WM5 app!
But it's "working for me".
CWKJ,
At the moment the "server" is a simply perl app that watches for changes to a directory or file so its pretty portable. I run it on linux since that's what my mailserver is on.
As for needing a server at home... well its entirely up to you, really you want the server running wherever your mail is retrieved from.
If the app/system gets a bit more polished and advanced you might even find independent ISP's willing to add it as a service.
rabinath,
Heh! Small world.

I'd also like to be considered for Beta testing when available,
I run Ubuntu 5.10 Server at home, hosting 5 domains for myself, and would Love to not have to forward them through mail2web anymore as I don't like to reply because it will go through Mail2Web. I know I can create a separate "account" in Pocket Outlook but you can only have 5. I need more than that...

with direct push over the o2 wap proxy all https conections are closed after 2 min. this is becausse all 2 minutes a new sync is needed. This eats much battery. So why is it nnot possible to mak e a ppc client that just sends the current ip adsress to the client on the server. and the server just push the email to the known ip adress. The client on ppc just has to send a new ip in case it changes. this wouldt be much better for battery life.

Thats the reason Exchange-Activesync works the way that it does. The server sends out a text message that is handled at the system level on the PPC, and this is basically an instruction to sync with the server. No unneeded traffic just to check if there is anything new.
Most Celllar service providers are using NAT technology so reporting your IP address to a server and telling it to make a connection to that IP, would just be telling the server to connect to the "gateway" back into the Cellular network. A text message sent to what is called the "SMTP Gateway" for each service provider will get to the phone no matter if the phones IP changes.

Outlook sync via Outlook Web Access without using web browser?

Hi
I used to be able sync to my work Outlook email via ActiveSync / Outlook Mobile Access (OMA). However, yesterday my work IT department disabled OMA on my Exchange server as they do not support anything other than the blackberry. Despite my protestation they are refusing to re-enable OMA. This leaves me with a big issue!
Does anyone on here know of a third party application that can sync outlook emails and calander using Outlook Web Access (OWA)?
I have found an application called Chronobis which is able to sync from OWA but only one way i.e. deleted items on Chronobis will not delete from my Outlook inbox and calendar appointments added won't sync to my outlook calander (or so I believe). Whilst this is a good start it really doesn't get me to where I need to be.
I am desperate to sync my work outlook emails to my new HTC HD2 (its the main reason I got it)!
Anyone got any other ideas / know of any other applications?
Would really appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

Yes, you can use a service called Seven.

Thanks for your response.
I've had a look and it seems this could do the job! Seems that the only way to get it was to join the beta programme which I've done but when I put my the vendor in it doesnt give me the HD2 as an option.
Any ideas what handset I should choose that will work with the HD2?!
I've also read compatibility issues with Manilla 2.5 in their forums. Has anyone managed to get this working successfully on an HD2? Also, are you able to move emails to your different folders using this app and have them sync with the exchange?
Is this the best / only app out there for my requirement?
Sorry for all the qus!
Thanks again.

ActiveSync uses OWA. Put in webmail server, username, password and works.

OWA still works, like afterburn said, i got my calendar, email and tsks to synch. lol now all my contacts are on my university email accounts, pretty cool tho.
no need for thirdparty, active sync does it.
dont know what OMA is. but what you want is exactly what OWA gives you.

dont set your owa using HCT SENSE/MANILA SETTINGS. do it through normal out look ad account way. HTC tick boxes for tasks, calendar and other stuff are greyed out and only email is available.
but on the standard outlook mobile all the settings are there.
need a run through of how to set it up?

Thanks for your responses guys.
OMA is office mobile outlook. It is a setting within the exchange server which either allows or disallows a mobile device to access emails through the mail app. Having OWA does not mean that you will be able to access your emails from a mobile device (except through the mobile browser).
Activesync uses OMA rather than OWA so at the moment I'm stuck!
As a result I need an app that syncs via OWA.
Seven seems to be able to do it but I could do with any answers to my qus above.
Happy to be proved wrong on this but one day it was all working fine and the next my exchage server settings had been changed and it stopped working.
Any exchange server admins on here who can confirm my thinking is correct?

Gooner4_1998 said:
I've also read compatibility issues with Manilla 2.5 in their forums. Has anyone managed to get this working successfully on an HD2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Seven on HD2. There were compatibility problems with custom ROMs on other devices based on leaked Leo Manila.

Why don't you use Blackberry Connect on your Wm device? That way, you can sync the same way as Blackberry devices. Of course that requires you to have BB access rights, but since they are so BB happy, you may be able to get that.
You can get it here: http://www.htc.com/us/mobile/connect/8925/install/default.html
Of course it is not specific for the HD2, and I have no idea if it'll work, but it is worth a try.

BB connect sounds like a good idea, wasn't aware it was a possibility, thanks.
I actually have a BB from work so I know that I am set up for it. However, I work for a company that are very keen on security so there is no way they will give out the settings I would need (its set up by the IT department and then just given to you).
Is there any way to get the info / settings I need from my current blackberry? Ive had a look on it and can't see anything obvious.

Just checked through some documentation on BB connect and unfortunatley it requires that I install ActiveSync and BB Connect on a computer connected to my works network.
As I dont have admin rights on my work laptop I won't be able to do this (unless anyone knows how to install programs without being an administrator!).
Looks like Seven might be the bset solution!
Vangrieg, which handset did you choose to set up for the HD2?
Thanks

I admin an exchange server, the most common reason for OMA not working is if there isnt a valid ssl cert for the domain, but i can confirm that as you mentioned, it will deffo not work if mobile access is turned off on the user account (there are 2 seperate options for web and mobile access)
i dont see any decent reason why a server admin would disable it, he must be on a power trip or sommert!

Thanks lancemate.
Could the valid ssl cert be the reason even if others in my company are still able to access as before? Its only affecting me. I've set up one of my collegues mail accounts on my phone to see if it still worked and it did without any issues.
When I called IT they said they hadn't changed any of my settings so I had assumed that OMA was the issue. I asked them to check and to re-enable and they told me they were unwilling to even look at my settings!!! Our IT department has been moved to India which makes it even harder to get any help!
Could an ssl cert suddenly just expire?!
Is there anyway of me to get a valid ssl cert for the domain witout going through IT to see if this is the issue?!

Been doing some more research and want to see if getting an ssl certificate onto my phone will make it work. Absoloutely no idea if it will work but its the last thing I can think off!
Is it possible to download the SSL certificate from my OWA site?
If I double click on the padlock in the bottom left corner I can get the certificate details up on the "details" tab (although there are loads of files and I don't know what I'm looking at!). When I click "copy to file" the export wizard come up but I have no idea where to go from there!
Anyone able to offer any assistance please?
Also, I'm sure this is a stupid question but would I need to put this certificate on my phone or could I use a different one?!
Thanks

It cant be an SSL Cerificate issue if your Colleague's account works on your device.
It MUST be that OMA is disabled on your account or something else is horribly wrong. As mentioned above i cant see any reason why an Exchange administrator would disable OMA.
Can you connect to your account using activesync on a different device to check whether its the phone or settings on server side?
To help you with using Blackberry Connect as a possible solution here are some resources on how to run programs that require admin level on machines you havent been given admin rights to. Some methods cover your tracks completely and others simply let you create/amend and delete windows accounts and associated rights in whatever way you need.
i would suggest using the first link to create a bootable usb stick that loads a modified linux command prompt. You can then use this to give yourself local admin rights.
http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/
http://www.jms1.net/nt-unlock.shtml
http://internetbusinessdaily.net/how-to-hack-a-window-xp-admins-password/

I've tried to set up on 2 other phones, bith with no joy so I'm guessing its the server side rather than the phone.
Is there no way that its anything to do with the ssl certificate? Are they set up company rather than by user? Will my suggestion of putting a certificate on my phone definately not work (if I could even find out how to export it from OWA)?!
I also cant see why the OMA would have been diabled so thinking it must be something else!
Thanks

I share Gooner's concerns and look forward to finding a solution. 1) My company has not yet enabled mobile devices to sync via Outlook Web Access. 2) Blackberry Connect does not yet work on HD2. There is a thread for BBC on this very same forum.
I am confident that a solution will soon emerge for 1) and/or 2).

Audio Oblivion said:
It cant be an SSL Cerificate issue if your Colleague's account works on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, sometimes you need to install the certificate manually on your device to make it work. That's the case where I work - we use a self-signed certificate.

I use zarafa as a direct replacement for exchange, it syncs my emails,calendars, contacts etc.
It allows push email as well.

Hi JMes
After looking around I have found it appears that there are 2 services that will allow you to sync a mobile device using OWA, even if it is not set up for OMA.
Seven - Currently in beta but others have had success with this service on an HD2. I believe that it will sync Calendar, Tasks and Email.
Emoze - Also allows you to check outlook via OWA and offers a free service or a paid for service. Paid for service allows you to remove the "sent from emoze" tag allows attachemnts to be sent up to 2mb (rather than 100kb). Think it costs 10 euros a year.