Setting up a remote free/busy server

[Chuck Bohling]

I'd like to setup up an exchange system at a remote site. I've created a new
administrative group for the site, added all the remote exchange servers and
now would like to assign a dedicated free/busy server at that site. The
default seems to be that the remote site uses my local free/busy server.
There's a slow network between the local and remote sites so free/busy
replication will have to do. What do I need to do to get the remote exchange
system to use the free/busy server at the remote site?

[Mark Arnold [MVP]]

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 17:20:19 -0800, "Chuck Bohling"

Post by Chuck Bohling
I'd like to setup up an exchange system at a remote site. I've created a new
administrative group for the site, added all the remote exchange servers and
now would like to assign a dedicated free/busy server at that site. The
default seems to be that the remote site uses my local free/busy server.
There's a slow network between the local and remote sites so free/busy
replication will have to do. What do I need to do to get the remote exchange
system to use the free/busy server at the remote site?

From your existing Exchange server just select the remote server as
having a replica. In the public folders view in ESM select View System
Folders and then you'll see the F/B appear. Set a replica just like
you would any normal PF.

[Chuck Bohling]

For ordinary, non-free/busy public folders, replication behaves as expected.
Create a new folder and it takes 15 minutes to show up on other servers. But
with free/busy, users' info seems to appear "instantly" on all servers
rather than being delayed by 15 minutes. Any idea why that might be
happening.

Post by Mark Arnold [MVP]
On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 17:20:19 -0800, "Chuck Bohling"

Post by Chuck Bohling
I'd like to setup up an exchange system at a remote site. I've created a new
administrative group for the site, added all the remote exchange servers and
now would like to assign a dedicated free/busy server at that site. The
default seems to be that the remote site uses my local free/busy server.
There's a slow network between the local and remote sites so free/busy
replication will have to do. What do I need to do to get the remote exchange
system to use the free/busy server at the remote site?

From your existing Exchange server just select the remote server as
having a replica. In the public folders view in ESM select View System
Folders and then you'll see the F/B appear. Set a replica just like
you would any normal PF.

[Mark Arnold [MVP]]

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 12:44:48 -0800, "Chuck Bohling"

Post by Chuck Bohling
For ordinary, non-free/busy public folders, replication behaves as expected.
Create a new folder and it takes 15 minutes to show up on other servers. But
with free/busy, users' info seems to appear "instantly" on all servers
rather than being delayed by 15 minutes. Any idea why that might be
happening.

I do have an idea why that's happening.
It's designed to happen like that. If you had a complex environment
you'd see an increasing amount of delay but only up to a point. On a
two server environment you're going to see it immediately.

Exactly what is your problem here? Are the appointments showing up
wrong or something?

[Chuck Bohling]

The problem is that messages in a free/busy folder will sometimes show up
immediately and I expect them to be delayed for up to 15 minutes. If it were
just one message then it might be explained by submitting the message at
precisely when replication occurs. But it can be multiple messages over some
amount of time. However, sometimes it can see the replication behaving as
expected. My concern is that I don't really have replication setup correctly
and that requesting/publishing free/busy will be done in "real-time". Over a
slow network, that's not good (for free/busy).

Post by Mark Arnold [MVP]
On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 12:44:48 -0800, "Chuck Bohling"

Post by Chuck Bohling
For ordinary, non-free/busy public folders, replication behaves as expected.
Create a new folder and it takes 15 minutes to show up on other servers. But
with free/busy, users' info seems to appear "instantly" on all servers
rather than being delayed by 15 minutes. Any idea why that might be
happening.

I do have an idea why that's happening.
It's designed to happen like that. If you had a complex environment
you'd see an increasing amount of delay but only up to a point. On a
two server environment you're going to see it immediately.
Exactly what is your problem here? Are the appointments showing up
wrong or something?

[Chuck Bohling]

Got it. I hadn't setup replication 100% correctly. Now it's working as
expected.

Post by Chuck Bohling
The problem is that messages in a free/busy folder will sometimes show up
immediately and I expect them to be delayed for up to 15 minutes. If it
were just one message then it might be explained by submitting the message
at precisely when replication occurs. But it can be multiple messages over
some amount of time. However, sometimes it can see the replication
behaving as expected. My concern is that I don't really have replication
setup correctly and that requesting/publishing free/busy will be done in
"real-time". Over a slow network, that's not good (for free/busy).

Post by Mark Arnold [MVP]
On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 12:44:48 -0800, "Chuck Bohling"

Post by Chuck Bohling
For ordinary, non-free/busy public folders, replication behaves as expected.
Create a new folder and it takes 15 minutes to show up on other servers. But
with free/busy, users' info seems to appear "instantly" on all servers
rather than being delayed by 15 minutes. Any idea why that might be
happening.

I do have an idea why that's happening.
It's designed to happen like that. If you had a complex environment
you'd see an increasing amount of delay but only up to a point. On a
two server environment you're going to see it immediately.
Exactly what is your problem here? Are the appointments showing up
wrong or something?