17.1 GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host Overview

Reference these sections for an overview of GroupWise Calendar Publishing functionality, components, and security requirements.

17.1.1 GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host Functionality

The CalPub Host enables Internet users to view GroupWise users’ published calendars and to retrieve free/busy information from their calendars to assist with scheduling available appointment times. Internet users do not need login access to the GroupWise system in order to view published calendars and obtain free/busy status. Information provided by the CalPub Host is publicly available to Internet users everywhere.

For Calendar Publishing user functionality details, see the GroupWise Calendar Publishing Quick Start.

17.1.2 GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host Components

The CalPub Host includes three components: the CalPub Host Application, which connects to the Internet through a web server, the Post Office Agent (POA), which connects to your GroupWise system, and the GroupWise Administration Service, which provides authentication to the CalPub Host Administration console.

GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host Components

  • Calendar Publishing Host Application: The CalPub Host Application, which resides on the web server, provides the browser interface for users across the Internet. As users request calendar and free/busy information from GroupWise users, the CalPub Host Application passes the information between the web browser and the POA.

  • Post Office Agent: The POA receives user requests from the CalPub Host Application, accesses post offices and mailboxes to process the requests, and then passes information back to the CalPub Host Application in the form of ICS (Internet Calendaring and Scheduling) files and IFB (Internet Free Busy) files. These files can be imported into GroupWise, Outlook, and Macintosh iCal calendaring applications.

  • GroupWise Admin Service: The CalPub Host has an Administration console for configuration and management tasks. You can authenticate to the CalPub Host Administration console by using the user name and password of any GroupWise administrator user.

17.1.3 GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host Security Requirements

The CalPub Host Application can be configured to support the level of security you have established for your Internet/intranet communication.

If you are not concerned about security issues (for example, you only plan to use the CalPub Host Application on a secured intranet), you can install the CalPub Host Application to any web server that provides access for your users and meets the requirements listed in GroupWise Calendar Publishing Host System Requirements.

If you plan to use the CalPub Host Application to provide calendar and free/busy information to users anywhere on the Internet (rather than simply within a secured intranet), and you already have a firewall in place to provide security, you have the following options for configuring the CalPub Host Application:

Calendar Publishing Host with a Proxy Service

If your firewall includes a proxy service, you can install the CalPub Host Application to a web server inside your firewall. The POA is located on a post office server, which is also located inside the firewall.

In this configuration, only the firewall server with the proxy service is located outside the firewall, as shown in the following illustration.

Calendar Publishing Host Installed inside the Firewall

Calendar Publishing Host without a Proxy Service

If your firewall does not provide a proxy service, you need to install the CalPub Host Application to a web server that is outside the firewall. The POA is located on a post office server, which is located the firewall.

In this configuration, both the web server and the firewall server are located outside the firewall, as shown in the following illustration.

Calendar Publishing Host Installed outside the Firewall

The firewall must allow inbound IP packets to be sent from the web server to the POA’s internal or external IP address and the Calendar Publishing port for the POA (for example, 172.16.5.18:7171). If you are using an external IP address, all POAs that support Calendar Publishing must be configured to use the same external IP address. For more information about external POA IP addresses, see Securing Client Access through an External Proxy Server in the GroupWise Administration Guide.

In addition, the firewall must allow outbound IP packets to be sent from the POA to the web server.