Toltec Connector problem

[Andreas Gungl]

Joon, thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll tell our users to be 
carefull when restarting OL.

If I get any further news on how to reproduce the problem in another way 
than described by you, I'll rise this issue again. For the moment I can't 
provide any more information, os I take it for solved when being carefull 
with quick restarts of OL.

Andreas

Am Freitag, 27. Januar 2006 13:01 schrieb Joon Radley:
> Hi all,
>
> This is from the replay to Koen:
>
> <------>
>
> The Toltec Connector can be disabled by Outlook when Outlook starts up
> and the connector fails to load. There are two conditions under which
> this happens, a) the Toltec Connector returns and error when the
> operating system is out of memory, b) an instance of Outlook is already
> open.
>
> Now I do not think that (a) will be the problems as a lot of other things
> will be going wrong at the same time.
>
> (b) on the other hand happens when someone closes Outlook and starts
> Outlook again immediately. The issue is that Outlook does not close
> immediately, even if the icons are removed from the task bar it does take
> a bit of time for the Outlook process to shutdown. In very rare cases it
> take a long time to shutdown.
>
> So when you open the Outlook again, it cannot start up and fails at one
> of the plug-ins. We have found this ourselves with both Toltec and other
> Outlook plugs-ins.
>
> There is no easy way to detect if the connector is disabled and the
> connector self cannot detect it as it does not get loaded at all. The
> plug-in information is kept in a file "extend.dat". All we know about
> this file is that it keeps a list of plug-ins and if they are disabled or
> not.
>
> Removing this file enables all the plug-ins again. Outlook recreates the
> file every time on start up, but by default all plug-ins are enabled.
>
> Now I can provide you with an application that will remove the file on
> every startup of Windows, but what may work now, my not work with future
> release and versions of Outlook as the use for this file may change. You
> will also have to uninstall any unwanted plug-ins as you will not be able
> to disable them.
>
> <------>
>
> This only happens in Outlook XP and Outlook 2003. Please note that on one
> system there may be multiple extend.dat files and they must all be
> removed.
>
> Best regards
>
> Joon Radley
> Radley Network Technologies CC
> Cell: +27 (0)83 368 8557
> Fax: +27 (0)12 998 4346
> E-mail: joon at radleys.co.za
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Andreas Gungl [mailto:Andreas.Gungl at osp-dd.de]
> > Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 2:25 PM
> > To: kolab-users at kolab.org
> > Cc: support at radleys.co.za
> > Subject: Re: Toltec Connector problem
> >
> > Am Donnerstag, 26. Januar 2006 12:21 schrieb Koen De Vos:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I've noticed the same behaviour, which apparently occurred when the
> > > workstations (Windows XP SP2 Dutch, Outlook 2003, Latest
> >
> > Toltec) had
> >
> > > gone into stand-by mode at night.
> >
> > I've to verify if this might be a reason.
> >
> > > I've signalled it to Toltec, but never got a response.
> > >
> > > Right now, we're considering abandoning the Kolab-server since this
> > > proved to be a serious problem (and there was no way to determine
> > > easily who had lost connection and who was still up-to-date, except
> > > telling users they had to verify the last synchronisation
> >
> > time on the
> >
> > > toltec-tab every time they used an agenda - hardly an elegant or
> > > user-friendly solution).
> >
> > Well, especially our secretary is upset. The OL connector is
> > critical for our installation, and it would be a pity to
> > abandon Kolab for that reason.
> >
> > It would be interesting if it is possible to at least add a
> > control to the plugin window which somehow resets the plugin
> > to put it into operation w/o restarting OL. Another
> > improvement might be a notification that the state hasn't
> > changed for let's say 3 minutes. So a user is at least warned
> > and can have a look at the plugin. Any comments about that
> > from the Toltec side?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Andreas
> >
> > > Kind Regards,
> > >
> > > Koen De Vos
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> > > Van: Andreas Gungl [mailto:Andreas.Gungl at osp-dd.de]
> > > Verzonden: donderdag 26 januari 2006 8:56
> > > Aan: kolab-users at kolab.org
> > > Onderwerp: Toltec Connector problem
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > we're using the latest Toltec connector on German Windows XP and
> > > Outlook XP.
> > >
> > > Sometimes the connector connection to the server get stuck and the
> > > queue for folders to be sync'ed is growing.
> > >
> > > If you don't look carefully you will wonder why you don't
> >
> > see events
> >
> > > in folders while others can see them. Hm, it's because your
> >
> > connector hangs.
> >
> > > Restarting Outlook does help, but it would be better if the problem
> > > would not happen.
> > >
> > > Well, I haven't found a pattern for why and when that
> >
> > problem happens.
> >
> > > So I just want to ask on this list if anybody else has this
> >
> > problem or
> >
> > > perhaps even knows a solution.
> > >
> > > TIA
> > > Andreas
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Kolab-users mailing list
> > > Kolab-users at kolab.org
> > > https://kolab.org/mailman/listinfo/kolab-users
>
> _______________________________________________
> Kolab-users mailing list
> Kolab-users at kolab.org
> https://kolab.org/mailman/listinfo/kolab-users

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Andreas Gungl
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