[Users] July 21, 2020 Zeta Alliance Conference Call Summary

[Randy Leiker]

Hello Zeta Alliance Community, 

Here is a summary of this 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: 
        * 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 ] 
        * July 2020 : [ http://forums.zimbra.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68486&sid=f6efb04e7b2efd87cdd77e53d28be082 | http://forums.zimbra.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68486 ] 
    * Constructive feedback on these call summaries is always welcome. 

July 21, 2020 Conference Call Summary 

Working With Exchange ActiveSync Filters 
Following up on a topic discussed in the July 14th Zeta Alliance call ( [ https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68486&p=298396#p298396 | https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68486&p=298396#p298396 ] ) related to repeated full synchronizations that fail on iOS devices, Mark S. said that Zimbra includes 3 default EAS (Exchange ActiveSync) filters and that he is attempting to add a new filter to selectively upgrade the iOS devices experiencing this issue to EAS 16.1. He asked, if he adds a new blocking EAS filter, does he need to move it up in the list order for it to take effect, using: 

zxsuite mobile doAddEASFilter account user at mydomain.com subtract 16.0,16.1 blocking false 

Cine said that filters are used in the order provided and suggested using a limit filter instead, with Mark’s new filter being placed just above the last of the 3 default EAS filters. Cine suggested using: 

zxsuite mobile doAddEASFilter account=user at mydomain.com fixed 2.5,12.0,14.1 
zxsuite mobile doMoveEASFilter 4 3 

Mark asked if he renames a filter, will it cause the filter to appear at the bottom of the filters list. Cine said yes, any filter change will cause it to go to the bottom of the list and that in the event of conflicting filters, both will be applied, which is an undesirable situation. Mark S. also asked what happens to an existing phone that’s configured to use EAS 16.1, that is then re-configured by an EAS filter to revert to an earlier EAS version, such as EAS 14. Cine said the phone should go back to the prior EAS version in about 24 hours when it automatically re-checks with Zimbra for the supported EAS version, or when a full synchronization on the device takes place, whichever occurs first. He said the exact device behavior depends on the client as to how it handles the EAS downgrade. Documentation for using the EAS filters is available at: [ https://zimbra.github.io/adminguide/latest/index.html#_eas_filters | https://zimbra.github.io/adminguide/latest/index.html#_eas_filters ] 

WHMCS, cPanel,And Plesk Integrations With Zimbra 
John E. said he is looking for anyone using WHMCS for a discussion about use cases with a Zimbra integration. He said he is aware of one Zimbra integration done by ModulesGarden ( [ https://www.modulesgarden.com/products/whmcs/zimbra-email#tab-open-source-version | https://www.modulesgarden.com/products/whmcs/zimbra-email#tab-open-source-version ] and [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCbW6nqVLf8 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCbW6nqVLf8 ] ). He also asked if anyone has done an integration with Zimbra in cPanel or Plesk. Marc G. said the cPanel/Plesk integrations do not work for him, since both control panels assume full control of all aspects of the infrastructure (DNS, email, etc.). John said that Zimbra had an earlier integration for cPanel, but he did not feel it worked particularly well at the time. Noah P. said that he found the cPanel integration difficult to use, and he encountered a problem of who controlled the billing for the customer. John E. explained the reason for this topic is that he is re-visiting an exploration of ways to tie in billing and automation for Zimbra with the control panels. 

Marc G. said that if there were a nice integration of Zimbra in to the control panels, it would be useful for approaching the white-label crowd, where they could private label Zimbra, as provided by Zimbra BSPs (Business Service Providers). John E. said the white-label email space is very competitive, and he is aware of at least one company, OpenSRS, which is currently a large player in the white-label email space with an estimated 5+ million mailboxes, based on Open-Xchange. Marc G. said he thinks a white-label service which includes an ActiveSync feature is important, but the current price point that Synacor charges is too much to make this possible. Noah P. suggested looking at Open-Xchange’s model for pricing for ideas on pushing features, such as ActiveSync, down to some of the lower priced Zimbra product tiers. John E. said that Synacor is researching the pricing pressure applied to North American BSPs from Microsoft with their Exchange mailboxes (Office 365). Mark S. described losing large customer deals that had significant mobile-based sales forces that needed ActiveSync capabilities, but did not find the Professional-level price tier in Zimbra’s pricing competitive. In one case, the customer simply wanted a GAL (Global Address List) and calendar syncing on their mobile devices (requiring ActiveSync), but did not want the added setup work of manually configuring CardDAV or CalDAV on all of their devices. Mark S. said that in another instance, he had a customer that was confused why they could use ActiveSync on their mobile devices at the Zimbra Professional-level price tier, but had to pay extra for EWS (Exchange Web Services) to use ActiveSync on their desktop computers. Marc G. commented that micro-businesses (about 5-10 users) are a great fit for Zimbra, but the Zimbra pricing and features need to be right. Mark S. said that he felt that if ActiveSync were available as a separate add-on for lower Zimbra pricing tiers, that it would be helpful to his business in marketing to customers. 


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

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