Frequent outlook calendar sync failures

[fbongartz]

Hi,

One of our users manages multiple "medium sized" shared calendars with Outlook and is experiencing about two or three sync issues a day.

First, some general information:

• System: Windows XP Professional 32bit SP4 German on a Dell Latitude laptop
• Outlook: 2007 SP2.
• Zimbra Connector for Outlook Version 7.1.1.6324 as downloaded from the ZCS admin interface.
• Server: ZCS Version 7.1.1_GA_3213, ubuntu server running as a virtual machine on a local VMWare ESX 4 installation.

The problem seems to occur when the user does a drag and drop of an appointment in outlook (e.g. to change the start and end time). Outlook will "accept" the change and show the appointment at its new place without showing any immediate error messages.

However, after a "send and receive", a new mail is sent to the user, informing him that there was a sync issue:

Local Failures were detected.  No action is required.
This e-mail was generated for technical support purposes.

Sync Type: Delta Sync

Store: Zimbra - User Name

Computer Name: LAPTOP018

ZCO Version: 7.1.1.6324

Server Version: 7.1.1_GA_3213

Error ID:
80317

Error Code: -2147221240
Error Message: Unknown error 0x80040108

In Zimbra webmail, the appointment still has the old information.
Until now, all the appointments that produced these problems were recurring appointments.

I've logged the problem using ZCOLogCtl.exe, with http logging and verbose logging enabled. The excerpt can be found attached to this thread (I've replaced the user name with "Fristname Lastname"). The subject of the problematic appointment is "De Etalage Eijsden".

Any suggestions?

[fsiegel]

The relevant error in the log file is:

Recurrence stream format is invalid: ulChangeHighlightValue Reserved

We could have a bug here -- not sure.

Can you give me the exact steps? You say:

"The problem seems to occur when the user does a drag and drop of an appointment in outlook (e.g. to change the start and end time)."

From where and to where is he dragging? Also, does this happen for all appointments, or just certain ones? If it's only certain ones, can you post the .ics of an offending appt? If it's all of them, you probably don't have to do that -- it would probably repro here with any appt.

Thanks

[fbongartz]

Hey fsiegel,

I can't say for sure what exactly happened. afaik the user had an appointment on monday between 18:30 and 19:30 (can't remember the exact times). He then clicked on the appointment in outlook's calendar view and dragged it to 16:30 on the same day, so that the new start/end times should be monday 16:30 to 17:30.

I'm currently upgrading to the latest zcs and zco versions. I'll then try to get a reproducable test case for this problem. For this I'll have to import the calendar to my account. I'll post back as soon as I have news on this. Thanks for your interest.

Cheers,

Fabrice

[fbongartz]

So, the update was successfull and I also succeeded in reproducing the problem every time. Here's a guide on how to reproduce the problem...

About the calendar:
The calendar is used to plan printing of various newspaper products. The calendar was first created in outlook, then imported into google calendar. When we bought zimbra, we did an ics export in google calendar and finally imported the ics to zimbra using the import/export functionality of the webmail interface. Many of the products that are planned using this calendar are printed on a regular basis, so we have many reocuring appointments, but also many exceptions. Furthermore, the calendar user has a habit of attaching e-mails to individual appointments using drag & drop in outlook.

Versions used:
ZCS NE Server 7.1.3_GA_3374
Outlook 2007 SP2
ZCO 7.1.3.6348

To reproduce the problem:
To make things simple, I stripped the calendar down to just one product (De Etalage Eijsden) and exported this as ics ("deetalageonly.ics" in attached zip file).

1. In Zimbra Webmail, create a new calendar named testcal.
2. In Zimbra Webmail, go to Preferences -> Import/Export and import the ICS to the new testcal calendar. There should now be "De Etalage Eijsden" events each monday with some exceptions.
3. Open Outlook/ZCO with the same account. Go to the calendar testcal to the 5th of december 2011. Let the testcal calendar sync.
4. In Outlook, double click on the event "De Etalage Eijsden: 56p......", at 18:30 on the 5th of december 2011. Open the single event, don't open the whole series.
5. Drag an email from outlook's email list into the event details (see attached screenshot in zip file). What email you choose isn't important.
6. Save the event. Click on send and receive.
7. A "Local Failure Notice" email will inform you that the sync failed.

[fbongartz]

See Bug 68180 – Frequent Outlook calendar sync failures