Mail for Exchange

Contents

Mail For Exchange (MfE)

For general informatipon on synchronising your N900 with a mail or calendar server, please see the sync page

This page answers questions which are commonly asked by new N900 MfE users. It is mostly based on the analysis of the MfE support thread.

The current version of the page addresses two versions of MfE:

See How can I check what version of the software is installed in my N900? for steps to check what version of the software is installed in your device.

If you use PR1.0 (sales release) it is hardly advised to update to PR1.1. See PR1.1 summary for additional details and update instructions.

Compatibility

What server versions are supported by N900 MfE client?

PR 1.0

Microsoft Exchange 2007 with service packs on top. MS Exchange 2010 also works fine according to users reports.

In more technical terms, only EAS protocol 12.1 is supported and implementation is tested against MS Exchange 2007 servers. See How can I check what versions of EAS protocol are supported by my server? to check what EAS protocols are supported by your server.

PR 1.1

  • Microsoft Exchange 2007 with and without service packs on top. MS Exchange 2010 also works fine according to users reports.
  • Microsoft Exchange 2003.

In more technical terms, EAS protocols 2.5, 12.0 and 12.1 are supported and implementation is tested against MS Exchange 2003 and 2007 servers. See How can I check what versions of EAS protocol are supported by my server? to check what EAS protocols are supported by your server.

What server versions are NOT supported by N900 MfE client?

PR 1.0

  • Microsoft Exchange 2003 is not supported.
  • Microsoft Exchange 2007 without service packs is not supported.

The only way to get MfE working with these servers is to install PR.1.1 update which is highly recommended.

PR 1.1

  • All non-MS services, although there has been reported success synchronizing with Google and other non-MS services.

Why is feature XXX present in MfE for S60 but not for the N900?

S60 and Maemo MfE are different implementations.

The table below tries to summarize the most important differences between S60 and Maemo MfE implementations.

Feature S60 status Maemo status
E-Mail YES, subfolders are not synced YES, subfolders are synced
Calendar YES YES
Tasks YES YES
Meeting invitations replying YES NO
Corporate address book (GAL) YES YES (*)
Exchange servers support 2003, 2007 2003, 2007
Autodiscover YES YES
Provisioning support Partly YES NO

(*) This feature is supported in PR1.1 release but not in PR1.0 (sales release).

Lack of provisioning support in MfE for the N900 is the most common cause of problems with corporate Exchange servers in North America. See Provisioning for additional details.

Known issues

Provisioning

N900 is considered to be "non provisioning device" from Exchange server point of view. It basically means that it can not be managed from Exchange server - administrator can not wipe your device, request you to use autolock and so on. Basically, all the provisioning data received from the server is ignored and the server is informed that N900 MfE does not support this feature.

Exchange administrator can configure the server in 2 ways - he/she can allow to use non-provisioning devices or disallow. In the second case N900 MfE will not work as server will reject the connection.

Post with Exchange server 2003 management console

SSL-related errors

The error message is displayed "Exchange server requires secure connection or account is disabled".

This infamous error message is caused by the fact that server certificate is untrusted from Maemo MfE client PoV.

Possible root causes and workarounds:

Server certificate is either self-signed or signed by the non-trusted authority (root certificate is not visible in N900 "Certificates" application).

In this case, the server certificate shall be added to N900 certificate storage. Check this message and the thread after it for additional details.

Keep in mind - self-signed certificate shall have "CA" field. Otherwise, N900 certificate manager will not allow to install it.

Unfortunately, there is no way to disable certificates check at the client side in the current MfE releases (both PR1.0 and PR1.1).

PR1.0-specific issues

Another important hint about importing certificates which is applicable only for sales release (PR1.0). If you use sales release it is highly recommended to upgrade the software to PR1.1 instead.

Server certificate is valid and trusted but MfE fails to sync

Check this bug.

Troubleshooting

How can I check what version of the software is installed in my N900?

  • Open "Settings" view
  • Scroll to the "General" section
  • Open "About product" applet
  • Check the "Version" string

Versions strings versus releases:

Version Release
1.2009.42-11 PR 1.0 (sales)
2.2009.51-1 PR 1.1


If you use PR1.0 (sales release) it is hardly advised to update to PR1.1. See PR1.1 summary for additional details and update instructions.

How can I check what versions of EAS protocol are supported by my server?

  1. Take the logs following the steps described in the section How can I turn the logging ON or OFF?
  2. Grep (search) for "MS-ASProtocolVersions:" in the logs. It will contain the EAS protocol versions supported by your server.

How can I turn the logging ON or OFF?

In order to turn the logs ON:

  1. Install syslog and reboot the device
  2. open terminal
  3. Execute the command: sudo gainroot
  4. Execute the command: cat /dev/null > /var/log/syslog
  5. Execute the following commands:
    1. gconftool-2 -s --type=int /apps/activesync/AsDaemon/Syslog/MinLogLevel 0
    2. gconftool-2 -s --type=int /apps/activesync/modest/Syslog/MinLogLevel 0
    3. gconftool-2 -s --type=int /apps/activesync/AsProvider/Syslog/MinLogLevel 0
    4. gconftool-2 -s --type=int /apps/activesync/AsBackup/Syslog/MinLogLevel 0
    5. gconftool-2 -s --type=int /apps/activesync/asapplet/Syslog/MinLogLevel 0
    6. gconftool-2 -s --type=int /apps/activesync/AsStatusApplet/Syslog/MinLogLevel 0
  6. Reboot the device
  7. Initiate the synchronization session

/var/log/syslog will contain the logs. In order to filter only activesync-specific logs the following command can be used: 

     grep activesync /var/log/syslog

In order to turn the logs OFF, execute the following commands from xterm: 

    gconftool-2 -u /apps/activesync/AsDaemon/Syslog/MinLogLevel
    gconftool-2 -u /apps/activesync/modest/Syslog/MinLogLevel
    gconftool-2 -u /apps/activesync/AsProvider/Syslog/MinLogLevel
    gconftool-2 -u /apps/activesync/AsBackup/Syslog/MinLogLevel
    gconftool-2 -u /apps/activesync/asapplet/Syslog/MinLogLevel
    gconftool-2 -u /apps/activesync/AsStatusApplet/Syslog/MinLogLevel

After device reboot the logs will not be collected.

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