[Users] June 30, 2020 Zeta Alliance Conference Call Summary

[Randy Leiker]

Hello Zeta Alliance Community, 

Here is a summary of this last week’s conference call. A few brief reminders: 


    * Conference calls are every Tuesday and open to all using either the FreeConferenceCall.com VoIP app or via a dial-in number: [ https://www.freeconferencecall.com/wall/zetalliance | https://www.freeconferencecall.com/wall/zetalliance ] 
    * Each week’s call agenda can be found at: [ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uUUDJpwp2CAylU6lxtbEdVcUX_qSbciyes6gLTWw2fY/edit | https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uUUDJpwp2CAylU6lxtbEdVcUX_qSbciyes6gLTWw2fY/edit ] 
    * A copy of each week’s summary is also posted to the Zimbra Forums: 
        * April 2020 : [ https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68073 | https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68073 ] 
        * May 2020 : [ https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68214 ] [ https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68214 | https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68214 ] 
        * June 2020 : [ https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68342 | https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68342 ] 
    * Constructive feedback on these call summaries is always welcome. 

June 30, 2020 Conference Call Summary 

iOS Calendar Issues 
Gary C. reported that one of his customers is encountering a recurring issue on their iOS devices, configured with Exchange accounts for Zimbra, where calendar appointments are disappearing unexpectedly. Gary opened support case 01020341 on this issue. 

John W. and Randy L. said that after upgrading to 8.8.15 Patch 10, both are hearing from multiple customers reporting that calendar appointments on iOS devices, configured with Exchange accounts for Zimbra, are having an issue where accepted calendar invites appear on the invitee’s calendar on the wrong days or times. The days/times shown for a given calendar event seem to be random in nature and are not offset by the same number of hours, suggesting it is not an issue with an incorrect time zone. 

Cine commented that both issues might be solved by: 


    * Upgrading to 8.8.15 Patch 11 or 9.0 Patch 4, which contains a fix for a related calendar issue affecting NG Mobile 
    * Upgrading the affected mobile devices to ActiveSync version 16.1 in Zimbra, while leaving the Samsung Activesync version set at 2.5. 

As discussed in earlier Zeta Alliance calls, before changing the global ActiveSync version in Zimbra’s Mobile NG settings, testing should be done by upgrading the ActiveSync version of individual devices with EAS Filters ( [ https://zimbra.github.io/adminguide/latest/index.html#_eas_filters | https://zimbra.github.io/adminguide/latest/index.html#_eas_filters ] ) to ensure that devices are compatible with ActiveSync 16.1. Cine explained that iOS devices normally ask Zimbra servers for the supported ActiveSync versions once per 24 hours, so an EAS Filter or global ActiveSync version change may not immediately take effect. For Android devices, they may sometimes stop synchronizing, following an ActiveSync version change. The solution is to edit the Exchange profile on an Android device, simply by adding a space to any setting, such as the password field, then removing it, followed by saving the profile. Then, restart the Android device. This is reportedly enough to force affected Android devices to continue syncing, following an ActiveSync version change. 

Cine explained that EAS Filters are used in Zimbra, in the order they are listed in the “zxsuite mobile getAllEASFilters” command, so the list needs to be maintained by the Zimbra administrator over time. New filters are added to the bottom of the list. He also said that the first default filter cannot be changed or removed at this time, as it is designed for use by iOS devices. Cine recommended setting up a Mobile Account Logger ( [ https://zimbra.github.io/adminguide/latest/index.html#_mobile_account_loggers | https://zimbra.github.io/adminguide/latest/index.html#_mobile_account_loggers ] ) in debug mode to monitor when a mobile device re-negotiates the ActiveSync version in the Zimbra sync.log file. For devices that are having trouble completing a sync, Cine suggested using the “zxsuite mobile doAddAccountLogger” command with the window_size option set to 1. This forces a mobile device to sync each mailbox item one at a time, making it much easier to see in the sync.log which mailbox item is causing a sync to fail, so that the problematic item can be removed from the mailbox. 

Empty Zimbra Connect Buddy List 
Mark S. reported that after installing some OS updates on his Zimbra servers, Zimbra Support recommended that he un-deploy and re-deploy all of the Zimbra Zimlets. Thereafter customers reported that each time upon logging out and logging back in to the Zimbra Web Client, their Zimbra Connect buddy list side bar was empty, however the chat history remains. Mark said that this seemed to be affecting his customers that either presently, or at some point in the past, had Zimbra Connect Advanced features enabled in their COS (class of service). Cine suggested that Mark create a test mailbox to see if he could re-produce the issue, as it could be indicative of a database issue. 

Removing Buddies And Past Chats From The Zimbra Connect History 
Gary C. asked how to remove someone from the Zimbra Connect chat history. Cine said that if a mailbox is hidden in the Zimbra GAL (global address list), it should then cause the buddy to disappear from the Connect side bar, but the ability to remove chat history and buddies selectively from Zimbra Connect is tentatively planned for a future release, according to the Zextras Road Map ( [ https://www.zextras.com/roadmap-2020/ | https://www.zextras.com/roadmap-2020/ ] ). 

Noah P. asked if chats are archived when the Zimbra Archive feature is enabled, for e-discovery requests. Cine said that they are not currently and that he has not yet seen an RFE (request for enhancement) for such a feature. 

All SSL Certificates Limited To 1 Year Or Less 
Randy L. shared an article ( [ https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-strong-arms-entire-ca-industry-into-one-year-certificate-lifespans/ | https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-strong-arms-entire-ca-industry-into-one-year-certificate-lifespans/ ] ) discussing an upcoming policy change for SSL certificates that will potentially affect many Zimbra installations. Later this year, all SSL certificates will be limited to lifespans of 1 year or less. He commented that it is not clear if web browsers will also enforce this change for Zimbra installations using self-signed SSL certificates, but that it likely would apply, in addition to commercially issued certificates. 

Enforcing a Content Security Policy In Zimbra 
Geert H. asked about implementing a CSP (Content Security Policy; [ https://content-security-policy.com/ | https://content-security-policy.com ] ) in the Zimbra Web Client. He explained that many security scanning tools alert about web facing apps that do not publish a CSP, such as Zimbra. He said that due to the Web Client’s current extensive use of inline JavaScript, that he suspected a liberal CSP would likely be needed. He cited these mentions on the Zimbra sites in trying to determine how to create a CSP for his Zimbra installation: 
[ https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Security/Collab/88#Content-Security-Policy ] 


    * [ https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Security/Collab/88#Content-Security-Policy | https://wiki.zimbra.com/wiki/Security/Collab/88#Content-Security-Policy ] 
    * [ https://bugzilla.zimbra.com/show_bug.cgi?id=58216 | https://bugzilla.zimbra.com/show_bug.cgi?id=58216 ] 
    * [ https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?t=61478 | https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?t=61478 ] 
    * [ https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?t=65492 | https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?t=65492 ] 

Barry D. and John E. said they were unaware of any active efforts to introduce a CSP default policy in Zimbra. 

Nginx Upgrade For Zimbra 
Geert H. asked about the status of the pending Nginx upgrade for Zimbra ( [ https://github.com/Zimbra/packages/pull/112 | https://github.com/Zimbra/packages/pull/112 ] ). He said that this new Nginx version is already working for him in a lab environment. Barry D. said that this is anticipated to arrive in the next quarter, along with a potential OpenSSL upgrade too. 

Contact De-Duplication Feature 
Noah P. asked for recommendations for a contact de-dupe feature for address books in Zimbra. He said an earlier published contact de-dupe Zimlet does not work in recent Zimbra versions and is no longer supported. Mark S. suggested exporting the contacts from the Zimbra Web Client using the Preferences > Import/Export feature into a Thunderbird contacts file format, then importing them into Thunderbird so that Thunderbird’s contact de-dupe feature can be used, as it offers helpful options for merging similar contacts. This would then be followed by exporting the de-duped contacts from Thunderbird and re-importing back to the Zimbra Web Client. 

John W. suggested exporting the contacts to a CSV file format from the Zimbra Web Client, so they can be opened as a spreadsheet, sorted to identify duplications, then re-imported back into the Web Client. John E. said there are some additional supported contact file formats available, starting with about Zimbra 8.8.12. Noah commented that since the Thunderbird de-dupe feature is open source, he wondered if Synacor might consider incorporating it into Zimbra as a native feature. 


Randy Leiker ( randy at skywaynetworks.com ) 
Skyway Networks, LLC 

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