Zimbra Network Edition Trial (5.0.9) and ZCO+Outlook2k3

[jobsoftinc]

Hello,

We are beginning a trial of ZCS and I have downloaded and installed ZCO on a user with Outlook 2K3 and an Outlook.pst that is close to 2gb in size (though i am not sure its size is even a factor here). What the installation documentation indicates is that when I install the ZCO .msi, and then run outlook for the first time after that, it will prompt for Zimbra server info. OK, it does that fine. The docs also indiciate that it should begin a sync of all the user's original, primary outlook.pst profile. what happens is that it immediately sets up the new Zimbra profile and the syncs with what was already on the zimbra server for that user, but then does NOTHING with ANY of the original Outlook profile stuff. I know i can use the PST import wizard, but, isn't it supposed to blend the original profile into the new Zimbra profile?????

Thanks,

Mark

[travisb]

Mark,

When you run the pst import wizard against the users original pst it will blend or import all of their messages, contacts and calendar data into your new profile.

[jobsoftinc]

well, i had sort of decuced that. but, to be honest (and I am a 23yr veteran of unix, linux, usenet, internet, etc), reading the install guide for ZCO does *NOT* mention this extra step AT ALL:

.....(excerpt from ZCO install PDF (page 2 of 10).....

Synchronizing with the Zimbra Server

The first time you open Outlook after ZCO is installed, your Outlook mailbox
must synchronize with your account on the Zimbra server. If the sync does not automatically start, click Send/Receive on the Outlook toolbar. The initial sync can take some time as all your messages, tags, folders, contacts, and
calendar schedules must be synchronized. Subsequent synchronizations are
fast.

Important: If you created Notes and Journal in Outlook, these items will be
lost when an initial sync is performed. Before you perform the initial sync, save these Outlook items in pst format and then import the pst file after the initial sync is performed. See the Outlook Help for information about how to create a new data file (.pst) and how to reload the data files with the notes and journal entries.

.....(end excerpt).....

and that is all it says. So, since I don't have Notes or Journal entries, I did not think anything about it. And, subsequently, I expended a good deal of time trying to figure out why nothing imported during the initial sync.

So, had the document(s) jusr explained this, then, OK, we would be fine with that. But, it is very misleading as it is written. And perhaps the ZCO install is intended to do this but does not currently. I realize technical document writer and programmers get disconnected from time to time and that is to be expected.

Anyways, I may search the Bugzilla later next time I have some time. We are only trialing Zimbra right now and I do not think this discrepancy is a show stopper, but, while I can deal with this, some other decision makers on the whole project are also dealing with it and I cannot say if this will sway them away or not. They are non-technical, but savvy enough to follow the documentation. This all started when I got a panic call that the ZCO had wiped out their whole Outlook! :-) Needless to say, my heart leaped up in my throat! :-)

Mark

[jobsoftinc]

oh yeah, we DID make extra Outlook backups before beginning to try out ZCO! :-) :-) That much was a given! :-)

[jobsoftinc]

Oh yeah #2. When this first happened, I attributed it to something about that particular user's Outlook setup (POP3, large .pst, yada yada). It wasn't until a 2nd, fairly savvy Outlook 2K3 user had exactly the same result that I became very concerned. I am a consultant (not an employee) and you can imagine the risk a consultant takes when proposing that this is the best way to go and then these types of things begin to happen right out of the gate.

which begs the question to some Zimbra employee or tech person. Is ZCO *supposed* to automatically import the PREVIOUS default profile;s .pst/.ost??? What is the definitive behavioral goal?!?!?

[seachnasaigh]

Given our experience with the Zimbra suite thus far and its interaction with the Redmond programs, I'd suggest the following as a migration path:

1) Create your Zimbra server, provision your COS's, set up your user accounts ahead of time.

2) Freeze your Outlook users at a given date/time. Advise them that this is going to happen. Take their .pst files (I'm assuming here that you're not backed into Exchange; if that's the case and you're using Outlook to POP something else, this should be fine. If you're backed into Exchange, please ignore this part) and use the .pst import wizard to populate their information into the already-created accounts you have on Zimbra.

3) Get them a new Outlook instance, and point it to your Zimbra server using the Outlook>Zimbra connector. This works very well, really.

What you're doing here is not making any tool act out of its happyspace; Zimbra is doing things the way the designers created it (and they do a lot of things right!) and Outlook, the poor fool, doesn't ever have to do anything it wasn't designed to. Your end users get a good experience, and you get some very clean, easy management of the process. No overlapping emails, no lost emails, no duplications. A clean transition.

Just a thought, but we've done this in lab several times and using Outlook (if you must!) this is the cleanest and most straightforward of transitions.

Best of luck.

--ckr