Toltec Connector problem

[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