[SOLVED] Resources ...

[bofh]

So a biiig Question :-)


Can anyone tell me the difference between Resources and normal accounts
besides the following:

Resources do not have the normal account Tabs in the Admin UI but they seem to respond well on the common rulesets.
Second they do not need a license (in network edt.)



The Reson for my question is that i found out that i can actually login into that resource and use the webclient (ohter clients i didnt try yet)
i can send and recive mails and untill now i can do anything i can do with a normal account. only real difference is that i have to setup accountrules by a service class and cant see them directly in the resource tab


beside the fact that it doesnt need a license (which is important) and can be used to setup public folder (which is a killer feature too)
i dont like that behavior.

its like you have backdoor accounts youre not aware of

anyone anyclue why?
whats the different?
bug ?

[Krishopper]

Resources are just that, they're things that are able to be scheduled for their use; such as projectors, conference rooms, etc.

So you can create a resource for each conference room, and then include them in appointment invitations. That way you can ensure that conference rooms aren't double booked. Same with physical objects such as projectors or any other big ticket items that people need to "borrow" per-say.

[bofh]

Thats not true.

They work as a normal account. You can login, Send and Recive Mails and everything.
The only thing is set things like mailbox limits you have to use COS Rules

thats strange

[ewilen]

Resources need to be able to send and receive mails because that's how they receive and accept invitations.

I agree that they're like a backdoor account, but maybe Zimbra NE has some type of limitation on them (such as X resources per Y user account licenses)--however if there is a limitation, I haven't seen it documented.

The idea of using a resource to hold public folders is a great idea--it's a workaround for the problem posed by bugs 15855 and 18837.

Aside from that, there may be some other hidden limitations, as well as the general "ugliness" of using resources as regular accounts, which would probably inhibit NE customers from trying to cheat Zimbra, if the ethics of a business relationship aren't enough.

EDIT: I suppose that Zimbra could make it impossible to log into a resource account other than through the Admin GUI "View Mail" option.

[bofh]

I agree complete with you ewilen, spiecial with the uglyness thing :-)

My personal Problem with that now is the following:

First this behavior is undocumented. So iam afraid to use it for public folder storage. Simply it could be they turn off that "feature" and then what?
Not for my own company (i could eawsy handle that) but if i establish this workaround as standard solution for common mailboxes for customers i cuold wake up one day and face a issue no easiely to resolve.. and if with much expense of worktime and money maybe loosing customers and maybe endup of beeing forced to give them one account each for free so they can use it for storage

this is the one thing. second is ife no overview how much space is used there.
i also have to be carefull giving them the correct cos or i end up with trouble backdoors


its not that i want to spare a license - i dont wanna do 2 things:
enable a customer using his resource as an account so he cheat me :-)
taking at leasst one more license each customer for public folder (i dont think i can sell that to them or at least i dont want to since i think too public (internal public) mailaccount and folders are a must have specially when you argument that youre better than exchange hehe


My wish:
Resources as real resource type: without login (any login can be denie) but configureable so i can in the admin gui do the shares/config (please fuill config not only by cos - like days to delete mails etc)

i think this might be better to handle than one domain public thing. that way one domain can have several different resources with different configs and permissions - and its for an admin better grouped


okok i can do all that now with COS.
But im scared that this might no longer possible over night.
im still evaluating so ive the oportunity to plan right now the right way which problems to solve in which way if they occur...
so i dont want to start like ok try and pray this stays that way :-)

[ewilen]

I see your concern. I suppose what you really want is a solution in the form of bug 15855, although for my purposes I'd like bug 18837 as well. So you should consider voting for one or both. And in the meantime, you could also open an RFE for disallowing direct login to resources...and possibly another RFE to have the purpose and behavior of resource accounts better documented, that will CYA against arbitrary changes.

I can say that sharing of resource calendars is absolutely essential. It's how I allow managers to "bump" reservations in favor of higher-priority ones. (Unfortunately this also allows managers to create meetings where the resource itself is the organizer. I think I will open a bug for this...done!)

However, except as a workaround for the need to have public calendars or public mail folders, there's no reason a resource should be able to have multiple calendars, or folders aside from inbox, sent, trash, and junk. Nor can I see a reason to allow sharing of a resource's mail folders unless this is needed to actively manage accepting meetings.

[bofh]

I think we speaking about 2 types of resources.

first the one you mean, in term a physicall thing - which can be booked / shared
in that case youre right - cant see the reason for anything here :-)

second a resource in IT Terms. In that case a container for any kind of shareable stuff.

if you come new to zimbra and you are used to normal it terms you can see why i thought first its a container :-)

this is what i do not understand in zimbras design.
i would use here resources as container only - but it can contain another object which manage physical resources ...

that way some other kind of object - representing real world things coul be used and managed .... ahh okok im thinking to wide..

first we should get basics done like connon folders :-)